Johan has been working on a song called Roots. The text and the chord structure for the verses were done. Reinventing the chorus and the arrangement, we decided to record it while in Kiruna. We finished the song at the hotel room (a computer, a microphone, and Mikael Jonasson’s acoustic guitar). Play Roots here:
Lyrics: Johan Sandström
Music: Tommy Jensen and Johan Sandström
Acoustic guitar: Tommy Jensen
Vocals: Tommy Jensen and Johan Sandström
Roots
The grip is strong
Both hands ’round the trunk
I pull with all my power
It starts to give in
I pull with all my power
But it tires me out
Roots in the ground
A city with no roots
It’s not a city
It’s a trailer park
It’s a trailer park
Rootless society
It’s not a society
It’s a marketplace
Rootmaker, rootdigger
Six towers a day
Tunnels made
Roads paved
Empty voids to fill
By trucks, cars and dust
Six towers a day
It’s society, not giving in
It’s society, not giving up
It’s society, in the face of flex-i-bi-lit-y
It’s the roots, that keep pulling back
It’s the roots, that keep us all in place
It’s the roots, that give us all i-dent-i-ty
Roots underground
Subcommandentes of life
A guerilla underneath
Not seen, yet felt
No one can hide
But all can run
Roots underground
Tearing them up
Makes you believe
But then it’s too late
To have them back
When they go
They’re forever gone
Can’t have them back
There’re ghosts in the holes
Spirits of the past
Haunting the cave
Searching for peace
Be freed from it all
These are spiritual roots
These are spiritual roots
It’s society, not giving in
It’s society, not giving up
It’s society, in the face of flex-i-bi-lit-y
It’s the roots, that keep pulling back
It’s the roots, that keep us all in place
It’s the roots, that give us all i-dent-i-ty
A white dog in dissaray
An invisible passenger
Underground stories
Of workers long gone
Who’ll never be again
These are spiritual roots
These are spiritual roots
Time in the mine
Has to be cut
A plague to erase
But it keeps coming back
Time don’t care
It keeps coming back
It keeps coming back
Work must be fast
Time must be slow
Workers cannot be
But time cannot run
Time don’t care
Time cannot run
Time cannot run
It’s society, not giving in
It’s society, not giving up
It’s society, in the face of flex-i-bi-lit-y
It’s the roots, that keep pulling back
It’s the roots, that keep us all in place
It’s the roots, that give us all i-dent-i-ty