As we already heard it from Per, there is a new show on Nordic Rox called Twelve Peaks. The essence of it is Per Gessle choosing 12 songs according to the actual topic and he and Sven Lindström are discussing them. Sven made the first 2 shows available via Evgeny Perekopskiy. Huge thanx for that! You can check them out at the links below.
I encourage you to listen to these shows, it’s really worth it. I always love listening to Sven and Per talking to each other. They always have a very nice, relaxed conversation, a friend to friend discussion about music. All smiles and laughs and jokes and meaningfulness. You just have to love Mr G’s enthusiasm when he is talking about songs and music in general and Sven is a fab partner in that. Magnificent is the word.
Per Gessle’s 12 favourite Xmas tunes
The part with Per starts at 50:14, right after Church of Your Heart being played, but because of all the gorgeous music you can hear on Nordic Rox, I suggest you listening to the complete, 3-hour-long programme.
- John Lennon & Yoko Ono: Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
- Wizzard: I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
- Bob Dylan: Must Be Santa
- Slade: Merry Xmas Everybody
- Roxette: It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted)
- The Crystals: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
- Brainpool: The Last Christmas
- The Pogues: Fairytale of New York
- Elvis Presley: Blue Christmas
- Mud: Lonely This Christmas
- David Bowie & Bing Crosby: Little Drummer Boy
- Nick Lowe: Silent Night
At the Bob Dylan song Sven asked Per how it looks like when Mr G is dancing around the Xmas tree and he replied it’s exactly like what you can see in the hilariously good video of the song. So check it out! 😉
It’s impossible for Per to present a Xmas song list without It Must Have Been Love. Here he tells the well-known story of the song, starting out as a Christmas song, how it became the soundtrack to Pretty Woman, Billboard No. 1., etc.
Nice to see Brainpool’s latest single on the list. Per says it’s a cute little song and it’s very Swedish in a way.
About Elvis Mr G says he wasn’t really an Elvis fan, his sister was. His brother was a Beatles fan.
About Christmas in general Per says it’s nice to have a white Christmas. However, if he didn’t have a big family, he would probably leave for a mild climate place with lots of sunshine during Xmas time, to Miami or LA. But he likes it in Sweden. They are talking about Per not being a winter guy. We know he doesn’t ski, but now it turns out he doesn’t swim in the ocean, because there are fish there. So he prefers the pool. Fish-free pool. 🙂
12 songs Per Gessle wished he had written himself
Sven starts the whole show with telling that Per took his time off while recording his new album with Christoffer Lundquist and Clarence Öfwerman. The part with PG starts at 49:10, just after The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye being played. You, see? As I said, it’s worth listening to the complete, 3-hour-long programme.
To the questions how many songs he has written, he says he doesn’t count them, but he probably has 7-800 registered songs [according to an earlier article in Hallandsposten it’s rather 1000!!!], which means he is getting old, he says. Sven says: ”Or you’re writing fast!” Regarding the question that comes up very often during interviews (how can one write a hit?) he says you have to have the ability to make a good melody, but you have to write music that is appealing to yourself, but it’s always a happy accidence of the timing and luck for it becoming a hit.
Songs he listed are mostly the ones that inspired him when he was a kid, when he was just listening to these hits. Now he is listening to the songs as a professional and he is missing listening to songs as a non-pro. Songs are not in priority order, Mr G just listed these 12 hits. Picking only 12 songs wasn’t really easy for him, he says.
- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Refugee
- Buzzcocks: Ever Fallen In Love
- The Who: Substitute
- The Left Banke: Walk Away Renée
- The Zombies: Time of the Season
- Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes
- The Beatles: Dear Prudence
- The Nerves: Hanging on the Telephone
- Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood: Summer Wine
- Paul McCartney: Too Many People
- The Turtles: Happy Together
- Dionne Warwick: I’ll Never Fall In Love Again
Regarding The Beatles Per says they released approximately 140 songs and he wished he had written 110-112 of them.
When they are talking about Summer Wine, he says you can do so many great things when you use a male and a female voice. It’s like talking to each other. It was the theory with Roxette, too.
As Per informed earlier, there are a zillion ”12 Peaks” shows to come, e.g. his 12 favourite pop drummers and his 12 favourite pop intros. At the end of the Xmas special he was even joking about an Easter special, with 12 songs about eggs. 🙂 Can’t wait to listen to the upcoming 12 peaks!
