David Myhr - Soundshine

“Veronica” / “Oh Susie” – new single from David Myhr featuring covers by Elvis Costello and Secret Service

Posted: March 23rd, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: post | Comments Off on “Veronica” / “Oh Susie” – new single from David Myhr featuring covers by Elvis Costello and Secret Service

Both tracks also featured on two recently released American compilations.

Very excited today to present to you my new single out on Lojinx featuring cover versions of two songs from my own record collection that was spinning around heavily in my head in my late teens around the time when I first started out writing pop music. (Download available here).

The A-side is my take on Elvis Costello’s 1989 classic “Veronica” which also was my contribution to the recently released American compilation Beyond Belief: A tribute to Elvis Costello for which I was invited to participate together with among others Matthew Sweet, The Rubinoos and Lojinx label mate Mike Viola. The highly recommended compilation is out on Spyder Records and the proceedings goes to charity.

I chose “Veronica” based on the fact that it’s my favourite Costello song but the fact that Paul McCartney co-wrote it can be seen a logical bonus considering my life-long obsession with the Beatles (more about that in the the day I met Paul McCartney blog post).

Here’s a video for “Veronica” made by Simon Hjortek. The same talented guy who also made lyric videos to all songs from my solo debut album Soundshine.

I remember Elvis Costello’s video for the original version was fascinating. What I loved most about it was the fact that one could actually hear in the video Costello half-singing the song over the track. Very cool! In my old home town Piteå in the north of Sweden there was a very nice cellar pub called “Kajutan” in the late 80’s where we (the origins of The Merrymakers) used to play a lot acoustically as “troubadours”. There was also a laserdisc video jukebox and whenever I could I used to put on “Veronica”. Way before YouTube!

The B-side of my single is “Oh Susie”, a cover of the debut single from 1979 by the Swedish new wave/pop band Secret Service. This track is also featured on an American compilation called Even More Superhits of the Seventies to which I was invited to participate together with among others Lojinx label mates (again!? coolest label on earth, isn’t it?) Marshall Crenshaw and They Might Be Giants.

When I first discovered this song it was evening sun in Piteå. I was eighteen and cruising around in my first car  when this song suddenly came on the radio. It immediately struck a chord with me. Its melancholy seemed to me to have an almost Harrison-esque vibe. I found out it was from a Swedish band from the seventies called Secret Service and we used to include it in our otherwise sixties dominated cover repertoire. The singer Ola Håkansson had been a star already in the sixties with Ola & The Janglers and later became, and still is, a legendary music business mogul. It was he who first gave my former band The Merrymakers our first record deal releasing our 1992 debut single “Andrew’s Store”.

The original has a distinct disco flavor but co-producer Andreas Dahlbäck and I decided to try to give it a more timeless appeal. We’re especially proud of the fact that we give the beautiful little melody from the guitar solo a much more dominant role in our version played by a string section.

It would be wonderful if you wanted to buy the single on iTunes (and by doing so, help me to pay the wonderful musicians listed below) or stream it (shortly) on Spotify. Sharing this blog post or the video would be highly appreciated. Also please remember to get your copy of both compilations albums mentioned above (this one and this one). Both have an amazing line-up of artist, are great, AND for a good cause!Since iTunes and Spotify haven’t yet figured out how to include credits and liner notes – please check them out below the picture of the artwork..

 

LJX094_1400

 

 

Catalogue number: LJX094D (only available digitally)

“Veronica”

(Elvis Costello / Paul McCartney)

David Myhr – lead and background vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, harpsichord, glockenspiel
Andreas Dahlbäck – drums, tambourine
Rikard Lidhamn – bass
Marcus Olsson – piano, organ
Anders Pettersson – electric guitar
Elin Andersson – trumpet

Produced by David Myhr
Engineered by Raoul Hamilton, Petter Näse, and David Myhr. Mixed by Marcus Black at Jelly Road.
Recorded at Durango Recording, Stockholm, and Strong Melody Studio, Stockholm.

“Oh Susie”

(Tim Norell / Björn Håkansson)

Produced by David Myhr & Andreas Dahlbäck.

Recorded at Durango Recording, Stockholm, and Strong Melody Studio, Stockholm. Engineered by Andreas Dahlbäck and David Myhr. Mixed by Marcus Black.

David Myhr – vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, harpsichord
Hanna Ekström – violins, violas
Andreas Dahlbäck – drums, tambourine