Bengt Gessle: “My brother writes poor lyrics”
Written by Judith on August 4, 2004 to Per Gessle.
STOCKHOLM - The Swedish tabloid Expressen published a short interview with Bengt Gessle, Per’s older brother, today. According to Bengt, Per writes poor, uninteresting lyrics and Per admits it himself.
“I mentioned this to him last year and he simply said that he can’t write any other way, so he sticks to what he can write,” explained Bengt to Expressen’s reporter Tony Kaplan. On the other hand, Per’s brother, who is a lawyer in Helsingborg, believes that Per has improved - a lot! - as an artist throughout the years. “He has learnt his routine on stage and that makes him more confident.”
“I’ve seen Gyllene Tider twice this summer and will see them again in Göteborg,” Bengt said, “but I am not a real Gyllene Tider fan.” Bengt revealed his favourite artists are Tommy Körberg, Eva Dahlgren and Helen Sjöholm with Benny Andersson’s orchestra. “And among the international artists, my favorites are John Lennon, the Beatles and the Stones.”
- Expressen’s article (in Swedish)
- Tommy Körberg
- Eva Dahlgren
- Helen Sjöholm
Other articles with the same topic
- New Per Gessle single "Silly Really" (October 6, 2008)
- More than 100 million SEK to Swedish songwriters (June 16, 2008)
- Per enters Swedish album chart (May 25, 2008)
- The word according to Gessle (May 14, 2008)
- Movie with Gessle song wins top award at New York film festival (May 6, 2008)
30 comments
xarrrr said on August 4, 2004 17:33:
heheheh!!! kinda harsh, but if thats how he feels then :P
Judith (moderator) said on August 4, 2004 18:07:
haha no - specially if you compare with Lennon :P
Kiwein1 said on August 4, 2004 18:08:
Well, define GREAT lyrics! :-)
And what lyrics are poor? Any examples?
ally77 said on August 4, 2004 18:49:
How to get yourself cut out of Per’s will.... ;)
Denstandigaresan said on August 4, 2004 18:51:
ally. :D HAHAHAHA.
They’re poor lyrics, but Per ain’t. ;) So he’s doing something right!
I like cheesy lyrics. :D
Judith (moderator) said on August 4, 2004 20:54:
can’t define “great” lyrics as this is up to each one.. but I guess he means poor as in not compromised, kinda superficial, lalala, quite simple (simple words) songs made in Gessle :)
Kiwein1 said on August 4, 2004 21:22:
Like “feed the pigeons”, “gå och fiska”, “take off them shoes”, “it takes you no time to get here”-bubble-gum-pop! But hey - he doesn’t do it that often anymore. ;-)
Fernandinha said on August 5, 2004 02:01:
Thanks God he’s Per’s brother. Imagine if he wasn’t???
Bengt go to work !!!!
Fernanda - Brazil
ncurran said on August 5, 2004 04:02:
they are basically pop lyrics, to fit a melody....not exactly deep stuff, but why should they be really. Thats what he writes....pop songs. Having said that, i have read the lyrics to some of his songs and thought....”this is really terrible”, and i think it would be nice to hear per try to write a song with a deeper meaning sometime.
AURYTE said on August 5, 2004 06:13:
THEY are brothers, you know what I mean. If BENGT had said “I love PER’s lyrics”, it wouldn’t have been so interesting.
On the other hand, it is harder to write straight, simple pop songs than ’deep’ lyrics to ballads.
Loki said on August 5, 2004 10:35:
Everybody has his ups and downs. Having heard the Roxette songs, I can say that Pelle is, no doubt, able to write very deep and interesting lyrics. But may be he got tired of that and now it’s just a period of simplicity in words as well as in melodies and arrangement. This way of work also has its charm, but still I can’t wait for the really deep, original and touching songs like those of Roxette before “HAND”. And being a brother to Per does not automatically mean being able to understand him :)
StillFar said on August 5, 2004 14:14:
yeah, everyone who ever criticizes Per must be jealous of him
Emil__BG said on August 5, 2004 15:10:
maybe there is a jelous in it maybe not..that doesn’t matter..
i only can say that the equation E=mc² isn’t a complex either ;-)))
sometimes the complex things can be dedcribe with simple words PERfect :-)
seriosly–watch just few ours of MTV and you will understand what “poor lyrics” means
Mari said on August 5, 2004 18:06:
Oh god, some people have no sense of humour. Grown up and don’t take things so serious. And Fernandinha, Bengt is a lawyer.
Fernandinha said on August 8, 2004 00:28:
Mari I know Bengt is a lawyer. I told that not because he doesn’t work but because he’s boring.
Fernanda
roxnl said on August 24, 2004 10:40:
My God, a brother may say this about a brother/sister or whatever.
My God people don’t get to upset about this.
Nobody is jealous about anybody. Everybody has the right to have an opinion :-)
And afterall Bengt seem to be right, when Per even admit this himself there is nothing to be “angry” or “upset” about....
Have a nice day!
Kiwein1 said on August 4, 2004 17:17:
Well, some lyrics are great, some are extremely bad..so what?
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