So, it’s Valentine’s Day again, which means it’s time to reflect on the songs I’ve written in the past. A year ago, I wrote a post on a Carmen Gray track called “Fall In Love.” This year, I’ll take a look at a more recent song, “You Are The One” by my current group The Impersonators. Like “Fall In Love,” this track brings back a lot of memories, fantastic memories in fact.
It’s funny. I always felt my songs are to me what diaries are to most folks. Of course, with The Impersonators this is not as clear cut, since I am not the main lyricist of the group. Lyrics are my bandmate Antti Autio’s turf. Be that as it may, when he sent me a poem titled “You Are The One” on June 24, 2014, I was deeply in love with my wife-to-be and hence, Antti’s words (inspired by his then girlfriend) really resonated with me. I remember reading what he had sent me and repeatedly saying out loud, “yes.” I immediately edited the poem into a set of lyrics that worked with the melody I had in mind and cut a rough demo of the song. And then for some reason, completely forgot about the tune – to this day, I don’t understand why.
Three years later, in June 2017, I stumbled on the demo of the track when I was cleaning up my computer, deleting all the unnecessary files, attempting to make the bloody thing run a bit faster. I gave it a listen. The melody and the lyrics worked well; the version wasn’t optimal but I knew to expect that. As it happened, we had just signed with FBP Music Group and were in the process of trying to find a song for our debut single. I emailed a more refined demo of “You Are The One” to our producer Janne Saksa, who we had just begun collaborating with a week or so before. He called me back and said, “We’ll do this one. It’s great. I’ll produce it with Pet Sounds and the late-sixties Fab Four in mind.” And boy did he ever! All I can say is that Janne’s production floored us completely with its incredibly seductive string arrangement and tasteful horn section, both of which still continue to send shivers down my spine. Aside from producing The Impersonators with me, Janne is also a very talented multi-instrumentalist and plays a fair amount of what you hear on our records. It’s not an overstatement to say his contribution to our songs is priceless.
As I already mentioned, “You Are The One” was written during the time I had just met my wife. We weren’t married yet but dating and of course, still in that phase of our relationship where the other person could do or say nothing wrong. It was magical, the stuff of dreams. I’m very lucky to have experienced what falling in love and being head over heels in love with someone feels like. It’s like a thousand bolts of lightning hitting you from all directions at once – an incredible feeling. It’s also a feeling that’s rather difficult to describe. I can still remember the sleepless nights, my heart pounding with excitement, being unable to think about anything else expect her. From what I’ve gathered, not everybody gets to experience this and that’s too bad. “You Are The One” was inspired by this indescribable feeling.
To deliver a bit of extra trivia with this post and to celebrate Valentine’s Day, I’ve decided to do something I’ve never done before: I’ll include below Antti’s original poem sans my edits. It’s wonderful and should be revealed to the world as a poem in its own right. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Hope this moves you in the same way it moved me. Enjoy.
It was there from the start
When you took my hand
Something no-one could fake
No-one could have planned
You are the one
Your heart is shining down on me
You are my sun
Be mine
Be mine eternally
The lights are on in every city
Every fairground, every lonely town
To me you are as beautiful
As pretty as the day when you were found
I was someone buried under pain
You gave me light, you made me feel
Like I could feel again
Dancing like the stars a million light years from the rain
I’m free again
You are the one
I’ve known it all along
Your heart is shining down on me
You are the one
You are my sun
Be mine
Be mine eternally
The world may fall away
It will still be beautiful to me
As long as you are here, my love
As long as you are here to stay with me
Track Sponsor Of The Month: Effigy by The Impersonators
“Effigy” describes that moment in all our lives, when we realize that we‘ve grown tired of protecting our ego, that moment when we are done worrying about how we appear to others. Rather than wanting to be cool or important, we want to be happy and discover our true identity. And the best way to achieve this is to kill our ego.
You can learn more about The Impersonators here:
About the curator - Tommi Tikka
Tom Tikka is a linguist, poet, professional songwriter, recording artist and a music aficionado. He started playing guitar when he was four and writing songs when he was six. Consequently, he doesn't remember a time when he wasn't playing or writing. It's fair to say, music and lyrics are not just something he loves to engage himself in; to him, they are a way of life.