Behind the Music: I'm not the only one

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As the title might insinuate, this song is somewhat bittersweet. I actually almost always get some kind of bittersweet feeling in my songs, especially when it comes to the lyrics even though a lot of the songs themselves are quite upbeat and happy.

I wrote this song the summer 2011. I had just finished my social worker degree att the university, I was feeling a bit tired living in Stockholm and wasn't really sure what to do with my life. On top of that I had a period with quite a lot of anxiety so life actually kind of rough.

Luckily I had some great people around me, family and friends and most of all my to-become wife and the line "I can not sleep tonight, but I'm not the only one" was more or less literally written a night when I couldn't sleep but at least I had someone with me to keep me company.

I wouldn't say it's totally autobiographic though. But I use my own experiences to create a character who sings the song from a first person perspective. And while the lyrics are quite mellow and sad they are also filled with hope and trust.

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The arrangement to this song is maybe the one I'm the most happy with and my friend and producer Ruben from Studio Ljudriket did an amazing job getting my vision for it recorded and Jesper Jonsson a.k.a. The Courage made a great job getting the drums just right, especially the bit quirky 5/4 beat in the intro.

The jazz guitar is the foundation of the sound and the synth playing the same melody in the intro is actually taken from the demo track we used to record the drums. The soundscape to this song is sweetened with some amazing analog synths like Roland Juno 60 and Yamaha CS-10 and of course there's some Hammond organ squeezed in.

And vocally this was maybe the hardest song so a big thank you to Martina from Komplettsångteknikhuset for all the practice to get it right.

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Lyrics

Got nothing left in my pockets
Don't wanna sell my soul, it's nothing worth
Got nothing else here to offer
Look at me I'm broke, i lost control

There's nothing left to see
There's no one else to be
I can not sleep tonight
but I'm not only one

Come lay your arms around me
Come share my goals, come raise my hope
And feel my hair through your fingers
Move them down my bones, just make it slow

There's nothing left to see
There's no one else to be
I can not sleep tonight
but I'm not only one

In the end there's nothing to die for
nothing to show, nothing to adore
Just give my life a new sound
soon we'll be old, so come make me glow

There's nothing left to see
There's no one else to be
I can not sleep tonight
but I'm not only one

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Eclectic Indie Rock/Folk musician from Sweden