LASSE MATTHIESSEN Carry Me Down

And you - where did you hide? Crossing through the country in the flickering lightsTrembling with the thought of touching your skinAre you too fallen through with the thought of it?

I was falling into your armsand you into mineI was falling into your eyesand you into mine

In water and salt Was it on your breath?Was it life or the sudden fear of death?The way the wind blows through the treesWe were two fallen through with the thought if it

I was falling into your armsand you into mineI was falling into your eyesand you into mine

In water and salt

I saw you picking up applesthat fell down from the treeWe laid next to each otherin the shadow of the leaves

I hear the fall is coming I see it in the skyWith stories to be toldon cold November nights

And if you’re looking for reasonbe sure, I’m not to tellI’ve been falling out of seasonI know that very wellI fell in love with youand you with my soothing voice when I sangif you’re looking for a reasonyou won’t get it today

All my pride and honorslowly decayYou saw it in my faceas it began to fade

I hear the fall is coming I see it in the skyWith stories to be toldon cold November nights

And if you’re looking for reasonbe sure, I’m not to tellI’ve been falling out of seasonYou know that very wellI fell in love with you hear my soothing voicewhen I singif you’re looking for a reasonyou won’t get it today

Looking for a reasonTonight we drink We drink to dieWe drink to the dead

Tonight we drinkto the namesof our families Tonight we drink to the oneswho will sit here tomorrowinstead of us

Tonight we drink to the women that we love

Tonight we drink to the oneswe used to love

Tonight we drink to the women that we could have lovedWe could have loved

Tonight we drink We drink to dieWe drink to the dead

Tonight we drink drink to those who are dying

Tonight we drink to the oneswho will sit here tomorrowinstead of usand drink to us

Tonight, we drink to die

Tender was the darknessbefore the morning light Did it come like a thief in the night?

Tender were your eyesin the days beforeNow I call upon you judge this fallen man

Help me to forgetHelp me to forgetHelp me to forgiveHelp me

Tender was the softnessof not knowing the truth Now everything shines with darkness

Help me to forgetHelp me to forgetHelp me to forgiveHelp me

She’s gone away

Tender was the nightbefore she found out

Tender was the nightThis place has a darkness to itsomething here resonates in meDid I aim for the right coordinates?On a night like this everything fades

When fall comes soonI’ll buy my self a corduroy jacketfrom that shop in MaraisI’ll wear it ‘till it gets really coldwith that scarf that my grandma madebefore that late late summer dayfour years agowhen I sang Nat King Cole’s Paper-moon to herin her hospital bedBy then she was dead

This place has a darkness to itsomething here resonates in meDid I aim for the right coordinates?On a night like this everything fades

Travelling song

Where the mountainsfall into the seaWhere the ever changing colorof the skyonly answers to meonly answers

Carry me down to the frozen oceanCut a hole in the icefor me to rest my bonesLower my bodyinto that dark blue waterWhere the current is strong enoughto take me off shoreto the place where it tookmy father and his fatherbefore him

Where the mountainsfall into the seaWhere the ever changing colorof the skyonly answers to me

Carry Me Down

Oh, Ulysseshow did you escapeWhen the sirens called your name?

A fable for the goodA fable for the blindA fable for thosewho missed the signs

Muscles were tornBones were shatteredTempted by loveTearing me apart

Laughing in betweenswigs of my silver flaskThis is not the wine you promised me!Blindfold, you fool!

Oh, Ulysseshow did you escapewhen the sirens called your name?

Capricious Athenawhat sacrificewill make the seas safe?

From luring callsand blinding beautythey’ll run us a groundinto the reefswhere the ships go down

Oh, Ulysseshow did you escapewhen the sirens called your name?

Oh, Ulysses

We were caught in a whisperin some distant placeIt still resonates

Though everything dissolvesit still stays the same just in different ways

This is the place where the silence begins.

I left pins on a mappainted numbers on random buildings

I marked the rives by swimming across I left my footprints on the banks I left out words in my songs

This is the place where the silence begins

Lasse Matthiessen, vocals & guitar & glockenspielHalla Norðfjörð, vocals, harp, glockenspiel & banjoIan Fisher, vocals, guitar, thumb piano & glockenspiel

Produced by Lasse Matthiessen, Halla Norðfjörð and Ian FisherMixed by Lasse Baunkilde, Ole Matthiessen and Lasse MatthiessenRecorded by Rasmus Opsahl Photos by Antje Taiga Jandrig

This album was recorded thanks to the loving, cooking and caring, Anders Gaarder Karterudseter.

Lyrics and music by Lasse Matthiessen and by Halla Norðfjörð & Ian Fisher

www.lassematthiessen.com

Where the Silence Begins

In the summer of 2011, I went to a livingroom-concert in Berlin with my friend Ian.  Since we arrived early, we had time to talk about my most recent album, Dead Man Waltz.  I asked him what he thought of the recording of the song “Oh, Ulysses”, which he had heard me perform solo often, but had appeared on the album with a band. He said, “Lasse, ‘Oh, Ulysses’ is a great song, but on this recording it sounds like a fucking christian band!”  While laughing at Ian and his straight-forwardness, I asked him to tell me how he thought it should be recorded. He told me how he’d do it, I liked his idea, and so I said, “well, why don’t we record the song together for my next album?”.  You’re holding this album in your hand right now, so I guess his answer is obvious.

Several months passed and Ian and I found ourselves at yet an-other livingroom-concert.  This time it was in Copenhagen at my own apartment.  Ian had invited this Icelandic songwriter named Halla.  As soon as she opened her mouth to sing, Ian and I knew that her voice was exactly what the album needed.  

Another several months passed and the three of us started re-hearsing.  I instantly began tailoring the songs I had previously written to fit this new trio.  Conveniently, all the songs that I would write soon after our formation seemed to fit themselves to our constellation of three voices and guitars.

I had always thought about recording an album in a remote and isolated place.  Though Berlin and Copenhagen were the first two logical options of places to record, the crazy thought soon occurred to me that we could go to my friend Anders’ cabin in Norway.  Crazy enough, it happened!

In early March of 2012, somehow we all ended up in a little cabin on the southern coast of Norway.  It was bitter cold and snowing, the harsh Nordic wind was whipping, and just beyond the trees you could hear the waves splashing against the rocky shore.  What better place to record songs of winter, fall, ice, death and broken love?

Lasse Matthiessen, March 2013