After two unsuccesfull attempts to win the Swedish Melodifestivalen, Peter Jöback now moves in a new direction with this release. It’s an album containing 11 French songs with newly written Swedish lyrics plus 3 new songs under the double titel Livet, Kärleken och Döden, La Vie, L’Amour, La Mort. (Life, love and death in English).
Track 1: Jag Såg Mig Redan Dår (Je Me Vois Déjà).
Its a happy energetic opening for the album, even though the lyrics deal with how plans sometimes don’t turn out the way you thought, but how things walways work out in the end.
Track 2: Jag Har Dig Nu (new song).
A nice powerful tune, a classic love song, which perhaps should have been enteredin the swedish Melodifestivalen? One nice little feature is the female voice singing in French that opens the song and features throughout.
Track 3: Vad Gör En Man Till En Man (Comme Ils Disent).
A semi slow song, in the style of a night club. What makes a man a man is the main theme in the song, it dosen’t give the answer. But the song itself is good.
Track 4: Häromdan När Jag Var Ung (Hier Encore).
A sentimental song about lost youth and friends with the final realization of what’s lost is lost and that we shouldn’t take life and friends for granted. If you don’t water your plants they’ll die.
Track 5: Tiden (Le Temps).
An uptempo song, with lyrics similar to the theByrds Turn! Turn! Turn!, just not quite as good. All in all a nice little song.
Track 6: De Desperata (Le Désespérés).
Track six is infused with a march tempo, which becomes a bit boring. The song is about lonely people and their dreams.
Track 7: Precis Som Vanligt (Comme D’habitude).
We all know this song as My Way, one of this world’s most loved songs. In this version, with its newly written Swedish lyrics, it’s no longer about facing the consequence of choices one makes in life, but about how life goes on day after day with no changes.
Track 8: Jackie (La Chanson De Jacky).
A Spanish sounding tune, fresh and really lovely. The lyrics are about how life could be so much better if one could change one’s identity.
Track 9: Sång För Gamla Älskande (Le Chanson De Vieux Amants).
A classic romantic love song, which opens with a nice piano solo, building nicely as the song progresses. It’s about how one still can be in love with a person that once was your lover.
Track 10: Släpp In Mig (New song).
A pop song with a twist of jazz, really not much to say about it, its one of those songs youll find on almost every album. What’s it doing on here , apart from being album filler?
Track 11: Allt Finns Kvar (New song).
Peter Jöback reverts back to the Eurovision style with this melancholic ballad. I find it a bit boring, and if you want to skip a song, this would be my choice.
Track 12: Jag Har Levt (J’ai Vécu).
A spritely pop song, and a definite plus to the album. It’s about living your life to the full, so when you arrive at heaven’s gates, you can only conclude “Jag har levt” . Its very simple but works surprisingly.
Track 13: En Förtvivlan Vän (Voir Un Ami Pleurer).
In my humble opinion, this is the strongest song on the album, a wonderfull ballad. The lyrics are about the fact that it’s easier to see the problems and wrong things in the world than confronting the problems of a close friend. I simply love it. If you don’t want to buy the entire album, buy this song, it’s definitely worth it.
Track 14: Om Du Lämner Mig (Ne Me Quitte Pas).
A simple song, about the fear of beeing forgotten by the one you love.
In conclusion its not a bad album. The fact that Peter Jöback didn’t just take some songs he liked and made an album instantly but took his time to write Swedish lyrics to them appeals to me. He has without doubt given them a new lease of life when transforming them into Swedish songs, and in doing that, he shows that the spoken word is the strongest weapon we have.
