Music World Shaken to Its Foundations:
The Strangest Recording Ever!
You may have heard of the failed opera diva Florence Foster Jenkins ( try
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMu9PKWthLE ;). And maybe even the strangest
Elvis impersonator on the planet, Eilert Pilarm ( go to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MiJTxlEdtQ ;). But not about one Leif
Andersson, who in 1974 walked into a record studio convinced he would become a
new Frank Sinatra.
The result was the strangest recording ever!
He paid for the record himself, but so Elvis too when he cut his first vinyl
as a present to his mother. The record label September was a so called vanity
label. The small orchestra in the studio couldn't find the right key to the
melodies, the way Mr Andersson sang, so they gave up. But he was confident:
"I'll do it a capella then!"
And this was the historic result:
"Med andra ord", a Swedish translation of "Fly Me to the Moon":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgFZ7JE4f_U "Fly Me to the Moon";
"Kind mot kind", a Swedish version of "Cheek to Cheek":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxpDUBynaTU "Cheek to Cheek";
(Published by Mellotronen)
50 single records were printed, but when Wannabe-Frank a few days later
received them he realised he perhaps wouldn't fill Royal Albert Hall or Madison
Square Garden. He threw all the neatly printed, yellow records away.
On the way to the garbage dump a few records went astray. Three copies of
"Med andra ord/Kind mot kind" are believed to have survived. And the tracks
found their way to Youtube and national Swedish Radio (SR).
Its channel P4 journalist Stefan Sundberg became fascinated with the unknown
singer, did a documentary and commenced a nation-wide search for Leif
Andersson. "The Story of Sweden's Strangest Record", from the spring 2015,
became SR's most downloaded documentary ever (here if you know Swedish:
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/652879?programid=3103 ;). He tried
everyone in the Stockholm region phone book named "Leif Andersson" - a very
common name - and he followed up with announcements in other programs for
anyone who knew the unknown artist.
In the southern Swedish city of Karlskrona (once known for unwelcome visits
by Soviet submarines) someone heard the SR program. Leif has changed surname,
but doesn't he write for our magazine Presspunkten, and...
Presspunkten was first with breaking the news in the spring of 2016: "The
Strange record" ( "Den märkliga skivan" ) in Google Translate version:
https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2016/february/den-markliga-skivan.html&prev=search
(original http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2016/february/den-markliga-skivan.html ;
). A local newspaper quickly caught on, "Mythical Singer Found in Karlskrona",
https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.blt.se/karlskrona/mytomspunnen-sangare-funnen-i-karlskrona/&prev=search
(Swedish original
http://www.blt.se/karlskrona/mytomspunnen-sangare-funnen-i-karlskrona/ ;). And
in May 2016 SR did a second documentary, "The Man Behind Sweden's Strangest
Record" (here if you know Swedish:
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/722311?programid=3103 ;).
The word began to spread among the fans of incredibly strange music. We
would soon be able to meet Leif the Man himself - in flesh.
And that happened August 25th at Södra Teatern in Stockholm, organised by
Magnus Nilsson and Burt von Bolton of the music club Sunkit. I have written
about Sunkit before, a club going on for more than two decades for fans of the
weirdest kinds of music. It is the crowd MADE for the talents of Leif Andersson
(though his surname is now Källberg).
Lots of people turned up. Along one wall was a table with a newly printed,
new edition of Leif Andersson's record. Sales seemed to go very well and people
could get their record signed later in the evening.
A number of people I know from Sunkit was there. Camilla and Calle, Dan S and
his friend Robin (who treated me with a beer and a tequila shot - thanks!),
Grosshandlare Lindberg, Monica, two Michaels - one who discussed guitar riff
and another one who used to work for the famous underground comics publisher
Horst Schröder (who I know) and others. Martin was unfortunately away on a Very
Important Dinner.
My friend Fredrik a Trampe was host. Stefan Sundberg from the radio program
was first guest. It is his fault, all of this! As long as the songs were only
on Youtube with 147 views it doesn't amount to much. It takes the power of
radio activity and and the dedication of an investigative journalist to start
things rolling. He told about his fascination for the strange sounds coming out
of this record and his efforts to find the man. It is in a way to call the
recordings "bad" - the are made with love, honesty and conviction.
Next was the sound technician from the record studio, Björn Burlin. He told
us that the small orchestra they had ready couldn't find the note Mr
Andersson was singing and claimed the ears began to ache. So Leif Andersson did
without them, in one take on both tracks. Mr Andersson said the recordings
sounded OK, but Burlin noted he couldn't have heard them.
Third Guest was Kenneth Svensson, editor of Presspunkten magazine where Leif
Andersson works a couple of days per week. (He is a pensioner now, at the age
of around 70, but pops in a couple of days a week.) He said a co-worker who
heard the radio program, and wasn't it the Leif they knew? So they played the
SR program for him and he said "But, yeah, that's me!".
The last man on stage was of course Leif Andersson himself! Host Trampe said
it was a dream which had come true! He heard of this mythical recordings maybe
10 years ago and he couldn't dream that he would one day met him.
Mr Andersson - I use that name, even if it is legally changed - is an
elderly gentleman with thin, grey hair, glasses, a growing belly and a wry
smile. He complained about a bad back but seemed otherwise in good mood. He
lived in the city of Strängnäs in the 1970's, west of Stockholm.
The 40 years late success of his forgotten record came as a surprise. He
liked to sing and often sang popular "schlagers" for himself, wanted to be a
singer and he especially liked Frank Sinatra. But now he hasn't done anything
in music since 1974 when he did his record. When he heard the results he
realised his limits. He saw the recording as a failure. He was unaware of the
buzz created around his efforts 40 years back. He doesn't even have Internet
access ("it's too complicated...though I can access it on Presspunkten").
He didn't give up his stage dreams entirely, and for instance applied to the
actors school of the Royal Dramatic Theatre several times, without success. He
has also studied at the Stockholm University, social studies and English.
Writing for Presspunkten seems to be some sort of volunteer work (he's a
pensioner) and he has written a number of short stories for them (rather good
ones, claims his editor in chief Svensson).
If I heard it correctly the record costed ca 2000 Swedish crowns to make (a
bit over 200 US Dollar) which would be half a normal month's pay in the 1970's.
It was quite a lot of money.
But Leif Andersson got his money's worth today!
The audience gave him long and warm rounds of applause when he agreed to give
us a little singing. "But I have to do it in English, as I'm an old university
student of it..."
So he gave us a few lines of "Cheek to Cheek".
Afterwards I had a chat with the record's producer, Björn Burlin. He had
worked for the September studio13-14 years. Other perhaps more famous names
passed through his mixer board. Hans Östlund was involved in the studio, he
who played the organ in the famous band The Hep Stars (before one Benny
Andersson tool over the keyboard). A group he recorded was Trio Me Bumba, huge
in the 1960's and once having an obscure British band as opening act on that
band's first foreign tour. A band named "The Beatles"
An evening to remember.
--Ahrvid
-----
Sunkit's "Historien om Leif Andersson och Sveriges kanske märkligaste skiva"
("The Story of Leif Andersson and Sweden's Perhaps Strangest
record")http://www.sunkit.com/historien-om-leif-andersson-och-sveriges-kanske-markligaste-skiva/
- Google Translate version:
https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.sunkit.com/historien-om-leif-andersson-och-sveriges-kanske-markligaste-skiva/&prev=search
Stefan Sundberg writes "När verklighet överträffar dikt - mitt osannolika möte
med mannen bakom Sveriges märkligaste skiva" ("When Reality Surpasses Fiction -
My Improbable Meeting with the Man Behind Sweden's Strangest Record")
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2016/june/nar-verklighet-overtraffar-dikt.html - ;
Google Translate version:
https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2016/june/nar-verklighet-overtraffar-dikt.html&prev=search
Leif Källberg (ex Andersson) has written these short stories for the magazine
Presspunkten:
"Otto, Linnea och vargen" av Leif Källberg
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2016/june/otto-linnea-och-vargen.html
"Alice får sparken" av Leif Källberg
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2016/june/alice-far-sparken.html
"Sture går med i fotbollsklubben"
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2015/december/sture-gar-med-i-fotbollsklubben.html
"Sixten och fisket"
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2015/december/sixten-och-fisket.html
"Viola ordnar om"
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2015/december/viola-ordnar-om.html
"Tor söker arbete"
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2016/february/tor-soker-arbete.html
"Ove släpper loss"
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2015/november/ove-slapper-loss.html
"Teaterplanerna"
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2015/november/teaterplanerna.html
"Kriminaliteten"
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2015/november/kriminaliteten.html
"Märta och stölden"
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2016/february/marta-och-stolden.html
"Dagmar adopterar Åke"
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2016/april/dagmar-adopterar-ake.html
"Sandra på lantgård"
http://presspunkten.blogg.se/2016/april/sandra-pa-lantgard.html
--
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