Both of these songs fall into that rare category of ‘instant liking‘, both highlights in the immense Roxette catalogue…well, for me anyway.
I love acoustic Roxette, and thankfully, these are one of many in that style. We should have an acoustic collection, watch this space.

In the meantime…

The First Girl On The Moon

Let’s start with this unusual ditty. Placed slap bang in the middle of the ‘Crash! Boom! Bang!‘ album together with ‘Place Your Love‘. It was a clever break amongst all the guitars and bigger numbers, like a live show. The acoustic duo effortlessly sparkled on their own.

“I wrote this just before Christmas of 1992, for Roxette’s Crash! Boom! Bang! album.
Started with that lovely title, and from there it could go anywhere. Marie’s vocals are just beautiful.”

It’s an usual song and lyric, but it’s just charming isn’t it. Marie gives a great performance of Per’s music and lyrics here, together creating a stand-out track. A song about a very determined lady. Wonder who it was actually about and did she really go to the moon?

The song for some reason always reminds me of a UK TV show from the eighties, ‘Button Moon‘.

Does anyone else remember this? Such a cute little TV show, if you don’t know it, do look it up.

Couldn’t resist doing a specific ‘Button Moon‘ version of Roxette…

It could have had a cool animated video, how cool would that have been?

Place Your Love

“Written in November of 1992 for Roxette’s Crash! Boom! Bang! album.
We had this idea of having a middle section in the album with a couple of acoustic songs.
A tiny interlude between all the big production tricks. This became one of them.
The other one was ‘The First Girl on the Moon’.”

‘Place Your Love‘ reminds me very much of one of my favourite songs from The Beatles, called ‘Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)’. Perhaps this was a subconscious inspiration for Per, who as we know is massive fan. If you don’t know it, here it is:

‘Place Your Love‘ remains firmly as one of my all-time favourite Roxette songs. It’s just beautiful, and it will be played later this year during my own Wedding Day. Perfect soundtrack, along with a few other Rox + Co songs too!

It was great to see ‘The First Girl On The Moon‘ performed live during promo and of course on Tour. It was a shame we never got to hear her ‘brother’, ‘Place Your Love‘. Maybe one day.

No doubt you’ll recognise the cover artwork we’ve used here – it’s another outtake from the ‘Crash! Boom! Bang!‘ album photoshoot by Jonas Linell. This time with no paint effect that you’ll have seen in the 30th Anniversary Edition. It’s a great shot, and we love sharing some of the outtakes. More to come in other album eras too from our own TDR Archives.

What do you think of these two marvellous acoustic tracks? When I think of the album, its these two songs that instantly spring to mind.

Currently on Streaming

01 The First Girl On The Moon (T&A Demo – Dec 20, 1992)
02 The First Girl On The Moon (Album Version)
03 Place Your Love (T&A Demo – Nov 10, 1992)
04 Place Your Love (Album Version)

05 Place Your Love (T&A Demo – Nov 10, 1992) – In Conversation with Sven Lindström

Missing from Streaming

– The First Girl On The Moon (MTV Most Wanted 1994)
– The First Girl On The Moon (Live Johannesburg 1995)
– The First Girl On The Moon (Baby Rox Vol.1 Lullaby Version) – I did forget about this album!