Tim: Red Sleeping Beauty, a band from the early 90s that named themselves after a 1986 British protest song. They’ve been quiet for 19 years, but are now officially back, with an album out in a few months time and this as the lead single.
Tim: As much as it may sound like a terrible idea for anything, this is a case of title first, then song. Says lead singer Niklas, “I knew I wanted the song to be called ‘Mi Amor’. A quick Google search made it clear that ‘tu calor’ is the standard rhyme in most Spanish songs. For the words in-between, we got help from Spanish speaking friends.”
Tom: Amazing work. Lyricists over the globe are applauding.
Tim: Well, quite. It ended up being about a long distance relationship (‘long’ being in this case 1500 miles, the distance between him in Sweden and her in Spain). He’s refusing to move to Spain (he’d rather put up with the rain), and she doesn’t want to go to Sweden (despite it looking like the Garden of Eden). On top of that, with a view of the Mediterranean, she can’t appreciate the things Scandinavian – not even the Northern Lights, girl, they’re the perfect scene for a fights, girl.
Tom: My jaw dropped open when I heard that. It’s a terrible, terrible lyric. It’s the kind of clunker that’s made to parody clunkers.
Tim: You may wonder why I’m just typing out the lyrics – it’s because I love them. I don’t know if they’re meant to be funny, or if I’m just in a slightly silly mood, but either way I’m very annoyed I don’t know enough Spanish to find out the conclusion to their dilemma that is no doubt present in the chorus. Do they half and half it and move to Stuttgart? Probably best not to, but the other option to choose is being possibly the first couple in history to break up for meteorological reasons. Which is it? I WANT TO KNOW.
Tom: We should probably talk about the music at some point, Tim. Because oddly, I like it.
Tim: Yeah – it is odd, but I like it as well. Like yesterday, we’ve got instruments that don’t normally sit together (synths and a calypso guitar, really?), and yet they don’t sound anywhere near as disjointed as you’d think. Nice track, even if I can’t shake the feeling that with its tale to tell, it’s not far off being a novelty track.
Tom: That’s spot on. This is a really, really nice song, perfectly produced despite its dissonant components. It’s just those damned lyrics.