When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog

by Jens Lekman

Overview

Jens Lekman is a lovable goofball. Coming on like a mix of Beck, Calvin Johnson, Stephin Merritt, and Morrissey (with all the blend of humor and emotion that list entails), Lekman seems destined for indie sainthood. In fact, in his native Sweden he is a bona fide pop star. When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog reached the Top Ten of the album charts in mid-2004. The three EPs on Secretly Canadian leading up to this record have been solid songcraft mixed with pop wackiness. Expect more of the same here, only better. He must have been saving his best songs for the album, because there isn't a dog in the bunch. Kicking off with the warped "Tram #7 to Heaven," which begins with the deathless lyrical couplet "Did you take Tram #7 to heaven/Did you eat your banana from 7-11," delivered in Lekman's best deadpan Jonathan Richman voice, the album is a wild ride punctuated by clever samples, drop-dead gorgeous melodies, tender feelings, and silly jokes. The best songs are filled with moments that leave you startled by the level of invention, enthusiasm, and starry-eyed wonder: the careening steel drum samples of "Happy Birthday, Dear Friend Lisa," the bubbling "You Are the Light," which is a thrilling mix of Dexys Midnight Runners, Saturday Looks Good to Me, and the best baroque pop/soul of the '60s (think the Left Banke mixed with the Rascals), the fluttering violins of the fragile and queasily intimate "A Higher Power," and the tilt-a-whirl harp samples of the aforementioned "Tram #7." The low-key ballads can be affecting too, especially "If You Ever Need a Stranger" (taken from the Rocky Dennis EP), on which Lekman offers his services as a wedding singer and desperate lover ("I would cut off my right arm to be someone's lover"), the folky "Julie," and the sweetly strange "When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog," a song that has Lekman's most intimate and honest vocal on the record. Lekman knows how to craft songs that stick in your mind. Almost every song here is the kind you find yourself humming at odd moments. "When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog" won't even come within sniffing distance of the U.S. charts, but don't let that stop you from discovering one of the goofiest, most artlessly charming talents to arrive since Beck. ~ Tim Sendra

Product Details

Release Date:	09/07/2004
Label:	SECRETLY CANADIAN
UPC:	0656605010724

Tracks

1. Tram #7 to Heaven
2. Happy Birthday, Dear Friend Lisa
3. Do You Remember the Riots?
4. You Are the Light (By Which I Travel Into This and That)
5. If You Ever Need a Stranger (To Sing at Your Wedding)
6. Silvia
7. The Cold Swedish Winter
8. Julie
9. Psychogirl
10. When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog
11. A Higher Power

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Jens Lekman   Primary Artist,Vocals,Guitar
Lilian Olsson   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Bjoern Almgren   Saxophone
Lars Erik Grimelund   Drums
Ben Swanson   Drums
Mikaela Robasahm   Cello
Marcus Cato   Trumpet
Ulrika Mild   Vocals (Background)
Emma Bates   Vocals (Background)
Stefan Sporsen   Horn (Alto),Trumpet
Peter Noos Johansson   Trombone
Mikaela Robsahm   Cello
Ellen Hjalmarsson   Violin

Technical Credits

Jens Lekman   Composer,Engineer,Horn Arrangements
John Stromberg   Engineer
Rasmus Haegg   Design
Jacob Stalhammer   Mastering
Jacob Stalhammar   Mastering
Stefan Sporsen   Horn Arrangements