The Cardigans

Released: March 24, 2003

Songwriter: Peter Svensson Nina Persson

Producer: The Cardigans Per Sunding

[Verse 1]
Oh, my heart can't carry much more
It's really really aching and sore
My heart don't care anymore
I really can't bear more

My hands don't work like before
I shiver and I scrape at your door
My heart can't carry much more
But you couldn't care less, could you?

Your face don't look like before
It's really not like yours anymore
Your eyes don't like me no more
They quiver and they shift to the floor

My heart don't beat like before
It's never been this slow
No, my blood don't flow anymore
And you couldn't care less, could you?

[Chorus]
Could we stop and sleep for a spell
We can turn this ditch into a well
And send that old devil back to hell
But we really don't care, do we?

Baby, let's stop and sleep for a spell
We can turn this ditch into a well
And send that old devil back to hell

[Verse 2]
Your back's not straight like before
You really shouldn't carry me no more
I'm much too heavy for you
I'm really quite a mess, yes

We just don't care anymore
We're crooked and we're cut to the core
We're just not there anymore
But we really don't care, do we?

[Outro]
No, we couldn't care less
We couldn't care less
Could we?

One of the most pleasing pop groups of the ‘90s, the Cardigans specialized in sugary confections that would grow annoying very quickly if they weren’t backed by solid musicianship and clever arrangements. The band’s 1995 breakout album, Life, reflected the Cardigans at their most saccharine – the sunny disposition of vocalist Nina Persson being the major argument in favor – and critics inserted the group into the space age pop revivalist camp. the Cardigans later proved that they were more difficult to pigeonhole, however.

Even the band’s origins showed that their later appearance was quite misleading; two heavy metal fanatics formed the group in October 1992 in Jonkoping, Sweden. Guitarist Peter Svensson met bassist Magnus Sveningsson in a hardcore group, though he had previously trained in music theory and jazz arranging. The two later grew tired of metal and decided to form a pop band with vocalist Nina Persson – an art-school friend who had never sung professionally – plus keyboard player Lars-Olof Johansson and drummer Bengt Lagerberg.

All five Cardigans moved into a small apartment in 1993 and began recording a demo tape that entered the hands of producer Tore Johansson later that year. He liked what he heard and invited the group to record at his Malmö studio. Signed to the dance-oriented Stockholm label, the Cardigans released Emmerdale in May 1994. The single “Rise & Shine” became a hit on Swedish radio soon after the release of the LP, and a readers poll in Sweden’s Slitz magazine voted Emmerdale the best album of 1994.

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