God's hell is his love for mankind
My hell was my love for you
God surrendered but escaped and now
Your hell is your love for me
The bridge of a song is supposed to stick to the main subject in some way, but still be different from the rest, both as far as lyrics and melody are concerned. I would like to start the introduction of “Hippo in the Den” describing the bridge, and the reason it’s there the way it is.
We don’t live in a perfect word. Every human being on earth will run into some kind of trouble sooner or later, that’s an undeniable fact of life, no escape for anyone. The question is not what kind of problems we experience in our life; it’s how we handle them, it’s how we act when they arise. This way of handling, according to countless experts on the subject, is learnt behavior. And the large majority of us learn it as children, from those we love, in our childhood home, in our family.
So when something is seriously wrong in a family...
The dash between your two numbers, the line in the stone, the one we all get some day…how do you spend it - how do you spend your dash? I share one song only today, from those of us who still have our dash, to those we loved who don't: "With you"
Actually, I was going to write more about the new single(s) today, maybe share the lyrics and a sound clip, but yesterday's sad Norwegian headlines made me change my mind...
Stine-Elise and I have ended up with two hippos in the den, and have decided to release both of them on the same date.
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Stine-Elise made her own naked acoustic piano version of my latest song Hippo in the den. Her version sounds very different from the one the producer (Inge the Angel) and i had planned - and had spent a long time preparing.
What I had asked Inge the Angel to have in mind when making the arrangement for the song (i.e. all the instruments, backing vocals and how they work together), was Queen for the verses, Pink Floyd for the choruses and a touch of the sounds common for Stine's generation for the overall (sound) picture. (Maria Mena was mentioned, although not by me.) A bit like the old good luck saying "something old, something new, something borrowed something blue".
So after Stine had finished her recording, the Angel and I went back into the studio and finished what we had started, the way we had it in mind, and this is how we ended up with two versions of Hippo in the den - Stine's hippo and my hippo.
Both animals (singles) to be released on June 1st 2012!
As previously mentioned, Stine-Elise made her own naked, acoustic, Adele-like piano version of my latest song "Hippo in the den". Her version sounds very different from the one the producer (Inge the Angel) and i had originally planned - and had spent a long time preparing...
I have just added a new audio player (top left), which should work on all devices, including Mac, iPhone, iPad etc, and I’d be really happy to know how it works for you!
21 year old Stine-Elise Borge had never been in a recording studio before she came to record her naked acoustic piano version of my latest song "Hippo in the Den".
If you think going into a professional recording studio and recording a song is something anyone can do, you’re completely right.
If you think going into a professional recording studio, recording a song and making it sound good is something anyone can do, then think again.
Stine-Elise had never been in a recording studio before, and I think she must have been a little nervous when I dropped her off out front of the studio one rainy morning in December.
We are just waiting for Stine-Elise to return from the Coachella Music Festival in Los Angeles, before we publish the story of her first day in a professional recording studio, where she was recording Susi's latest song, "Hippo in the Den".
Stay in touch, we expect her back any day soon!
So we are drinking red wine one evening in November 2011, Stine-Elise's mother and I. That's one of the things we love to do when she comes to visit - sit at my kitchen table, drink red wine, talk, and laugh. Mostly laugh, i would say, as the evening gets late, and one bottle becomes two...thank God she only shows up ablout every six months!
We've known each other for ages, so a million subjects tend to come up. And we never run out of conversation. Sometime during the evening it goes something like this:
- You know Stine-Elise is quite good at singing?
- OK?
I think of all the mothers who believe their daughters can sing, when in fact they sound like suffering cats. (Not MY daughter, of course - she really can sing, but, that's a different story – to come later...)
She seems to read my mind:
It’s time to introduce her. The new Sade. At least that’s what I think she sounds like. When she doesn’t sound like Adele.
Of course she sounds like herself most of the time, but she has these – what should I call them - glimpses. Or vocal escapades. Into Sade. Into Adele. Giving you the goosebumps, making you want to cry!
And nobody knew she could sing, most of all did she not know herself! Then her mother and I were drinking red wine one night...
Check back soon, for the story about how Stine-Elise Borge came to record her piano version of my latest song “Hippo in the den”!
Photo: http://tolleshaugfoto.com/
The English version of the Norwegian Super-hit "I have a dream" ("Har en drøm"), which Susi has translated into English, Spanish, French, German and Greek is now available on YouTube! (Clik YouTube button on the left.)
Welcome to the new susivarming.no!
I will be sharing (almost) everything going on with my music here, and hopefully a lot of other (in some way related) stuff!
I write music about life and the things we humans (sometimes animals!) run...