Biography
Johnson is from the small town of Ängelholm in the south western part of Sweden, but the surroundings and the media compare her with the biggest stars in the music business. By the age of four, she had decided that she wanted to become an artist. She was highly encouraged by her local choir leader.
She now lives in a hunting lodge in the Western Gothlandic woods of Sweden, but also has a home in Stockholm.
As a 12-year old, she started off as vocalist in a Country & Western band, Tomboola Band, touring in Norway and Denmark. She signed eventually with EMI-Medley in Denmark and recorded an album, produced by top producer Paul Bruun. The title-track, Sugar Tree, became a hit in Denmark. In 1996, she had her first Swedish hit with Kommer tid, kommer vår”, a duet with Jan Johansen.
In 1998, she performed Kärleken är at Melodifestivalen, winning the Swedish finals and going on to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest. This established Johnson as one of the prime Swedish artists. The success was followed by the hit album När hela världen ser på and a successful tour.
In mid 1999, Johnson went to L.A. to look for material for her second album. At home, she worked with Andreas Carlsson (ASCAP Writer of the Year 2000), who is known for several massive hits, the biggest , so far, being Celine Dion's That's the Way It Is. She also tried out a few local new-comers and the album Daughter of Eve was released in early 2000. It was very well received and Johnson was compared with some of the world's best artists.
In 2000, she received a platinum-record in Denmark for the sound-track Promise To Love from the Danish block-buster, "Eneste Ene". Later that year, Johnson started to collaborate with other songwriters such as Jenny Orenstein, Charlie Stefl, Mary Green [Biem Writer of the Year 2001]. This resulted in her receiving a Publishing contract in Nashville Tennessee. Consequently, in 2002 Johnson's album entitled "Good Girl" came to be with the help of producer Scott Bagget and some of Nashville’s top musicians. This album secured Johnson's artistic sound and style and once again she was extremely well received by the press in their reviews where she was described as an artist of International calibre.
In the Swedish finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 she qualified at fourth place (out of 32 entries) but and her song “Crazy in Love" became a hit and received a great deal of radio play and was followed by a successful tour.
Johnson's collective "Discography" CD was released in late March 2003. It contains the 20 most popular songs since her debut in 1995. This Cd went straight into the sales charts for best selling CDs in Sweden. The single “Crazy in Love” stayed at No 1 in the Swedish Top Charts (Svensktoppen) 12 weeks consecutively and No 2 for 15 weeks. "Discography" sold Gold in Sweden and Johnson also got a Grammy for this album.
The new album "Roots and Wings" was released in November 2003, recorded and produced by Amir Aly in Sweden and by Scott Baggett in Nashville, USA. "Roots and Wings" sold gold in less than two weeks and platinum a few months later. The album "Being who you are" was released in Sweden in late March 2005 and sold gold in only a few weeks. Johnson was the host of the 2005 Swedish finals of the Eurovison Song Contest in Stockholm
No Surrender
Jill Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a 3-minute record, baby
Than we ever learned in school
Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound
I can feel my heart begin to pound
You say you're tired and you just want to close your eyes
And follow your dreams down
Well, we made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Like soldiers in the winter's night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Well, now young faces grow sad and old
And hearts of fire grow cold
We swore blood brothers against the wind
Now I'm ready to grow young again
And hear your sister's voice calling us home
Across the open yards
Well maybe we'll cut someplace of own
With these drums and these guitars
'Cause we made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Blood brothers in the stormy night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim
The walls of my room are closing in
There's a war outside still raging
You say it ain't ours anymore to win
I want to sleep beneath
Peaceful skies in my lover's bed
With a wide open country in my eyes
And these romantic dreams in my head
Once we made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Blood brothers in a stormy night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Ohhhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhhh
Ohhhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhhh
Ohhhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhhh
Ohhhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhhh
The lyrics of "No Surrender" by Jill Johnson highlight the wisdom acquired through life experiences different from the formal education system as well as the lifelong commitment to cherished memories and beliefs. The initial lines of the song, "Well, we bursted out of class, had to get away from those fools. We learned more from a 3-minute record, baby than we ever learned in school" express the belief that real-life experiences and music are more beneficial for personal growth rather than the education system which only provides theoretical knowledge. This is followed by an invitation to pursue dreams, and the resolve to no surrender or quit, "We made a promise we swore we'd always remember, no retreat, baby, no surrender...With a vow to defend, no retreat, baby, no surrender."
The lyrics further emphasize the value of cherished memories and the never-ending resolution to stick to them, as opposed to surrendering to the reality of life's difficulties. The lines "Now young faces grow sad and old, and hearts of fire grow cold. We swore blood brothers against the wind. Now I'm ready to grow young again" highlight that the old past memories are more meaningful and fulfilling than practicality, "And hear your sister's voice calling us home, across the open yards. Well, maybe we'll cut someplace of our own with these drums and these guitars." The concluding lines of the song reveal the struggles and difficulties faced by the singer, which leads her to explore the deeper meaning of life and find joy in dreams, "I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies in my lover's bed with a wide country in my eyes and these romantic dreams in my head."
Line by Line Meaning
Well, we bursted out of class
We ditched school and got away from some people who were bothering us
Had to get away from those fools
We had to escape from the annoying people we were with
We learned more from a 3-minute record, baby
We learned more from a song than we ever did from school
Than we ever learned in school
We didn't learn much from school
Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound
I can hear the sound of a drum from the neighborhood
I can feel my heart begin to pound
My heart is starting to beat faster
You say you're tired and you just want to close your eyes
You say you're tired and want to sleep
And follow your dreams down
And go to sleep and dream
Well, we made a promise we swore we'd always remember
We made a promise that we would never forget
No retreat, baby, no surrender
We won't run away, we'll keep going no matter what
Like soldiers in the winter's night
Like soldiers fighting through the winter
With a vow to defend
With a promise to protect each other
Well, now young faces grow sad and old
We're getting older and more jaded
And hearts of fire grow cold
Our passions have died down
We swore blood brothers against the wind
We made a promise to stick together through tough times
Now I'm ready to grow young again
Now I'm ready to feel young and excited again
And hear your sister's voice calling us home
And hear your sister calling us back to where we belong
Across the open yards
Across the open spaces
Well maybe we'll cut someplace of own
Maybe we should make our own place to belong
With these drums and these guitars
With these instruments to make music
Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim
Tonight, the lights on the street are fading
The walls of my room are closing in
I feel trapped in this room
There's a war outside still raging
There's still a battle going on outside
You say it ain't ours anymore to win
You're saying we can't win it anymore
I want to sleep beneath
I want to go to sleep under
Peaceful skies in my lover's bed
I want to sleep in bed with my lover under peaceful skies
With a wide open country in my eyes
I want to have a broad and open view of the country when I look around
And these romantic dreams in my head
And these dreams of love and romance in my mind
Ohhhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhhh
Ohhhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhhh
Ohhhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhhh
Ohhhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhhh
Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen
Contributed by Samantha P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Mike Barnard
Another great rendition by Swedish Country Super Star! Jill is sensational.
David Sutherland Music
Love the energy and the passion in your performance Jill (and band!). Keep up the GREAT work! Great job and thanks for sharing!!!
Wagar Carey
That is great, but then I have never heard anything bad from Jill Johnson. Thanks for sharing.
Jonas Landstedt
Nu stämmer det bättre :-) No Surrender tolkad av Jill kan jag lyssna på hur många gånger som helst. Du gör den verkligen den låten rättvisa!
Niclas J.W.
-GOOD job, Jill :) well done !
Dave B
Fantastic.
Aldebaragno
Io amo il Boss e questa versione è bellissima 😍😍
Larssoon91
Du får gärna lägg upp resten av låtarna hon gjorde i Nyhetsmorgon! Speciellt den med Göran :)
John Demi
Jill Anna Maria Johnson ,thats a great song ,thanks for sharing. Greetings from Australia.
Linda G
Vilka är det harmoniserar med Jill? De låter iaf riktigt bra ihop!