Technically a ‘Swedish American’ duo but it’s Sunday so we’ll put the American bit on a side dish for today, Crying Cojones consists of Jan Ricknell and Fredrik Jonasson, two singers and musicians who have previously been heard in several other bands and who have now come together to “find their natural musical home.”
‘Broken Hearts’ is the first single to be taken from their debut album that will be released by the COMEDIA label early next year.
It’s an intriguing name to say the least isn’t it, Weeping Balls. It definitely has a ring to it. And there’s plenty of meat to go with the two veg.
This is starting to sound like a porn magazine or an early episode of ‘Benidorm’ (British readers will know what that is.)
It sort of suggests that the song might have a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek feel to it and that suspicion is enhanced by the fact that both Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have recorded songs called ‘Broken Heart’ and by opening bars that are a perfect parody of Lobo’s ‘Me and you and a dog named Boo’.
It turns out it’s quite a serious piece about their collective abject failure to land the partners of their choice. Or any partner for that matter. Like, ever.
As Bill Bryson said in one of his books, at 20 he was so shorn of love that he’d take any woman as long as she had her own teeth and limbs. And the limbs were negotiable.
And their justifiable concern is that they will die with broken hearts, perhaps even because of them.
“Will someone ever save our souls? /will we forever be in the cold?
With no-one to love and no-one to hold/are we damned forever to live, with broken hearts?”
You can’t but hope for a change of fortune at the end, like catching a mermaid on a fishing line, but none is forthcoming.
It might sound too depressing but I guarantee you it’s a laugh a minute compared to any of Taylor’s efforts.
There are a couple of lines early on that I can’t get my head around. If I heard them right it seems to suggest they are banged up somewhere and that adds to the sorrow surrounding their plight:
“Underneath the stars/far behind the bars
Forgotten by the guards/we live with broken hearts”
Musically, it’s Americana but not as we know it, Captain, and this variety of subject matter – being separated from your man/woman by circumstances beyond your control is standard Country & Western fare after all.
There’s some traditional folk in there though, mixed up with a weird early bridge that sees it flavoured with a Bossa Nova beat.
Interesting. I can’t quite pigeonhole these two guys yet. The album will surely reveal more.
I can’t find any social media for them yet. If and when I do it will be posted here.
