Oddvar Bros - Wedding Presents

One of the first things Softcocks did after acquiring the 8-track tapemachine and mixer was to record a song for a friend's wedding. One day while being in our rehearsal space we just started to discuss how we could mark this occassion (this was one of the first friends of ours to get married). I can't remember who, but someone proposed to record a cover-version of a song by The Wedding Present (geddit?), and since Ole B. was marrying what we thought to be a blue eyed girl (no, not in the metaphorical sense), called Irene, we decided to go for the then fairly recent Blue Eyes (from their one-7"-a-month scheme). We also decided that the song needed written-for-the-occassion lyrics... in Norwegian. So, over the next couple of hours, we tried to remember how the song went chordwise and structurewise (we did not have the record available), rehearsed it, wrote new lyrics (all chipped in, but as I remember it, Håvard O did most of the writing), and recorded it. Per Terje was away most of the time that autumn, so Håvard K. did the singing, which led us to use another name for the project. Oddvar Bros was a name we had discussed before settling on Softcocks, and was related to our early song in Norwegian Legenden, a flat out praise of cross country skier Oddvar Brå. Since the wedding song also was to be in Norwegian we decided to resuscitate that name.

A few months later, another friend, Erlend E. married Sissel, and we were so happy with the results of the previous gift, that we decided to repeat our success. Only this time, preparing for it. We therefore, prior to the actual writing and recording process, discussed which song would be suitable, and went for Dare from TWP's absolute masterpiece, Seamonsters. This provided an opportunity to decipher the chords and the structure of the song before meeting to record our version. Although we came in better prepared, the recording process did not go as smooth as the previous one. The writing of the lyrics was harder, rehearsing the song was harder - not least because we decided to record it as a waltz (at least the first half of it), and in general I think we were not as happy with the result this time around. In hindsight, though, I must say that we made a more interesting cover-version with this one. But I'm not sure if the others agree. Per Terje was once again prevented from participating, so Håvard K. did the singing this time as well.

The lyrics, for both songs, are quite hilarious actually, but they mostly contain in-jokes, so if anybody have any questions concerning their meaning, just PM me.

Now, please, nobody say anything about this post to Gedge.