Per releases EP in German: “A gift to my loyal fans”
Written by roxeteer on April 1, 2006 to Exclusive.
STOCKHOLM - Per never ceases to surprise his fans. To promote the Son of a Plumber album release in German-speaking countries, he has recorded five tracks - in German! The first one is a German translation of “Jo-Anna Says,” then there’s a translation of “Måla mitt minne” which was released by Freddie Wadling last year. The other three songs are previously unreleased.
“Germany has always been a very strong area for Roxette. We have many loyal fans there and in the neighboring countries. This EP is like a gift to them,” says Per. “Most of the new songs were originally written and recorded as demos available for other artists to record. Some are several years old actually. Late last year, when we were having negotiations with the German EMI about SOAP, someone there proposed recording songs in German.”
Per says that he hesitated at first, if only for the fact that he’s never studied any German. “After Roxette had made ’Baladas en Español’, we were asked to do a similar thing in German. It didn’t feel quite right back then and we didn’t really have the time. I’m easier to get along with these days (he laughs) and they found me this great translator, Dieter Lechner.” The songs were recorded in Christoffer Lundquist’s studio between the tight promo tour schedule in March. The demos were originally recorded in 2002 and 2003, except “Manchmal denke ich nur an dich” which is a ballad from 1996, then known as “Only When I Dream”. The Swedish title of “In diesem Augenblick” is “Måla mitt minne.”
The EP will be released as a bonus disc in a special 3-CD limited edition version of “Son of a Plumber”. The EP will apparently be also available as a separate release, at least on iTunes.
The songs to be released are: (English translations within brackets)
- “Jo-Anna sagt” (“Jo-Anna Says”)
- “In diesem Augenblick” (“At This Very Moment”)
- “Vorbei” (“It’s Over”)
- “Manchmal denke ich nur an dich” (“Sometimes I Only Think Of You”)
- “Zwischen 3 & 8 [esse ich kein Frühstück]” (“Between 3 & 8 [I Don’t Eat Breakfast]”)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This too was a part of our little April Fool’s Day joke. We’re glad everyone (almost everyone?) enjoyed them. – LEO
Other articles with the same topic
- Roxette live in Kazan: the set list (February 28, 2011)
- Roxette's Charm School World Tour is underway... with extension planned! (February 28, 2011)
- Per makes another mixed tape (February 25, 2011)
- Plans for Roxette in Canada seem to be coming together (February 13, 2011)
- Per tells TDR that he and Marie are "thrilled" with what's to come in 2011 (January 3, 2011)
21 comments
roxgirl_germany said on April 1, 2006 10:03:
Now I feel very insulted for not having been asked to do the translations for the songs. :P
big-little-girl said on April 1, 2006 10:13:
Hahaha!
Thank God, it’s just an a...l-joke!!! Otherwise it would be VERY embarassing to be Roxette-fan!
I’m from Germany and Per, If you read this: PLEEEAAAAAAAASE NEVER EVER RELEASE SONGS IN GERMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your image is worse enough, people would NEVER take you seriously again!!!!
Cheers!!!
roxgirl_germany said on April 1, 2006 12:02:
Klempner is spelled without a “t” (even though it is spoken - very confusing).
lonely_girl said on April 1, 2006 14:40:
Hahahahahaha!
That one is even better!
:-D
Oh my, Per, if you ever dare to sing in German you’d loose the last bit of credibility ;) !
eltarm said on April 1, 2006 17:21:
I do not think it is a good idea. Sorry Per.
There are two factors that a singer should consider when performing in another language.
1. Translation should be REALLY good, may be even better than the original!
People rarely listen carefully to English lyrics, they just sing along. Especially if English is not their native language. However, Germans will definitely listen to the words of a song in German. The lyrics must be outstanding.
Roxette had a very negative experience with Baladas en Espanol. I myself was very turned off by that project when the album was released because of the new lyrics
2. The singer must have a very good pronunciation and little accent
I personally cannot listen to songs (even good ones) sung by foreign performers if they have a bad accent. The accent is what I hear, not the song. I would prefer to buy a cover done by local artist than the attempt of an original singer to sing in German.
gessle-addict said on April 1, 2006 20:24:
Between 3 & 8 (I don´t have breakfast), HAHAHAHA, that’s one of the funnierst things I’ve read. A very gessleish title. After Milk and toast and honey everything is possible...
CRIZ said on April 1, 2006 22:05:
I woke up this morning and thought..oh..you must check TDR for the Aprils fool joke...Good one....even though I must say that swedish accent in german sounds really sexy...:))
Sparvogamarie said on April 2, 2006 05:07:
LOL Eltarm, you fell for it. Though you made a great point about if Per made something in German, then the German fans would actually understand it....I was with some German friends and one said to me “When you translate Roxette’s lyrics into German, they sound so stupid.” I said...”They’re stupid in English too, it’s not the translation!” My friends were so shocked, they thought the songs just didn’t translate well! They didn’t realize that all this time the songs really did have stupid lyrics!!!! My Spanish friends said the same thing! LOL!
CRIZ said on April 2, 2006 10:06:
I wonder why so many of us germans sleep in school when they have english lessons...
Lars-Erik_Olson (moderator) said on April 2, 2006 14:20:
Marie... never realized this (that people thought the lyrics were strange only because of translating them) ... but it’s very interesting !!!
Sparvogamarie said on April 3, 2006 07:40:
Yeah LEO I think it might explain why Rox are only successful in non-English speaking countries LOL! But yes I met several German and Spanish speaking fans who had no idea the lyrics were so nonsensical. It was the same with Baladas en Espanol, my Argentinian friend asked me if I liked it and I said yes. She said: “THAT’S BECAUSE YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IT!!!” When I read the translations...my god they were bad! It’s funny how you can enjoy a song when you don’t know what they are saying.
Zargo said on April 1, 2006 09:49:
Don’t mention the war.