Notes on The Big One

Some songs just surface without any effort at all and some songs you really have to dig hard to get out of the ground.

The Big One was sort of both of those scenarios. The chorus just appeared and was more or less finished in a few minutes with most of the lyrics too (which is a bit unusual for me). It was one of those rare flows when everything just falls into place without any conscious effort. I remember I did a quick recording of it the same night (listen to it here) and as you can hear most of it is already in place.
The verse and bridge on the other hand took much longer time. It was very much more a labour than a love and it took quite a few iterations before it fell into place, both with the lyrics and the music.

The Big One was originally performed by my former band Strangers In Wonderland together with singer/guitarist Åsa Girgensohn. But it wasn’t included on the album that we released. Today I can hear why, since it never fully reached it’s full potential as a Strangers In Wonderland piece. But we performed an acoustic live version and also did an acoustic recording that caught a sort raw nerve that is very different from any other version, including Bus Stop Dreams’s take on it. I have put up a link to it here and if you like the song this makes for a different but really good interpretation.

Let me end this post by including the lyrics. I know there is a stroke of darkness in those lines, but to me there is also a stubborn hope if we only can accept that our dreams are just that, dreams, and at times we will fail. And as long as we don’t stop dreaming we will rise again.
Or I just might be reading between the lines.

/Lasse

PS. I you haven’t heard or seen the final result here you can:

Link to listen and download The Big One
Link to watch the video 

—–

You’ve got everything you need
There’s nothing more you want
You are as happy as you can be (or so you say)
Nothing more in this world you want

On your way to work
You’re body starts to shake
Find yourself in a traffic jam
Caught up in a lie
Crying like child
(and then you know)

Life is a roller-coaster ride
And it scares you ’til you cry
Still you want the big one
Life is like driving when you’re blind
You just crash and don’t know why
Still you want the fast one
Life is life is like a knife
A stab in the dark
A cry in the night

You know who you love, and who you don’t
You say there is no other choice
You think you’re always in control
You know your do’s and you know your dont’s

One day in the shower
Your world begins to swirl
You reach out for something to hold
When your legs begin to curl
Crying like child
(and by now you know)

Life is a roller-coaster ride
And it scares you ’til you cry
Still you ride the big one
Life is like driving when you’re blind
You just crash and don’t know why
Still you drive a fast one
Life is life is like a knife
A stab in the dark
A cry in the night