Besides being a professional musician for almost 20 years, Jimi Tenor (born Lassi Lehto, 1965, Lahti, Finland) has also practised photography, directed short films and designed clothes and musical instruments. The electro-mechanic instruments built by Jimi Tenor and designer Matti Knaapi are not intended to be pieces of art on display at exhibitions, though have sometimes ended up as such. They emerge from musical needs, and are mainly made of scrap material. The instruments have been used at full blast during recording and on stage, so some of them have been wrecked.
Tenor's music, along with his design and technical innovations, springs from experimental rock. His first recording band Jimi Tenor & His Shamans (1986-1992) was influenced by the early 80's industrial rock, where instruments were made out of scrap metal and plastic. Later during the 90's Tenor moved first towards electronic music, but soon got closer to his roots: 60's and 70's jazz, psychedelic soul and African funk.
Although Tenor spent all of the 90's in Berlin, New York, London and Barcelona, his artistic approach was typically Finnish: technically practical, but saturated with black humour and a national romantic tone. So he was quite at home all over Europe in front of a crowd gone wild, wearing a glittering self-designed costume and a flowing cape, holding a noise-producing device the main components of which were a walkman made in Hong Kong and an East-German bicycle dynamo, performing a song about ancient Finnish forest gods, sounding like a mixture of Gil Evans, Jimi Hendrix and Fela Kuti.
The music industry has found it difficult to operate with Jimi Tenor at times. The hard rock driven Finland of the 80's considered him weird and too marginal. In Britain in the 90's he was seen as a trendy techno jazz artist, but Tenor soon confused the pioneering electro label Warp by delivering an imaginary - and expensive - soundtrack album with a symphony orchestra, instead of making minimalistic hits.
Today Jimi Tenor is an established European artist who operates outside the mainstream. His audience consists of clubbers and alternative rock enthusiasts looking for new perspective, but also of jazz and funk rebels. Those who understand that even unconventional pop music can move your body and heart.
Love and Work
Jimi Tenor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To taxi you home tonight!
I wanna be a good costumer in your dinner,
Where you work.
Because I wanna work to make you laughing!
And I wanna be the guy to wish you good night,
Because I wanna work to make you laughing!
I wanna be the guy in the lockermat,
I wanna be your palmer reader,
So I can lie about your fate!
Because I wanna work to make you laughing!
And I wanna be the guy to wish you good night,
Because I wanna work to make you laughing!
In Jimi Tenor's song Love and Work, the singer expresses his desire to work hard for the person he loves. In the first line, he says he wants to be the taxi driver to take her home. This shows that he wants to be the one who takes care of her, who brings her home safely. He then goes on to say that he wants to be a good customer at the restaurant where she works. This implies that he wants to be an easy person to serve, someone who doesn't cause trouble, and someone who appreciates her work. He wants to work to make her happy, to make her laugh.
In the second half of the song, the singer continues to express his desire to work for her. He wants to be the guy in the locker room who lends her some change. He wants to be her palm reader so he can lie about her fate, which could be interpreted as him wanting to make her feel good about herself even if things aren't going well. He wants to be the one who wishes her goodnight, showing that he wants to be the last thing in her mind before she goes to sleep. All of these actions show that the singer wants to be there for the person he loves, to work hard to make her happy, and to be a constant presence in her life.
Overall, the song Love and Work is a beautiful expression of love and devotion. The lyrics show that love is not just a feeling, but it's also about actions and hard work. The singer wants to work hard to make the person he loves happy and to be there for her in every way possible. It's a reminder that love is not just about receiving, but also about giving.
Line by Line Meaning
I wanna be the taxi driver,
I desire to drive you home as a taxi driver, tonight.
To taxi you home tonight!
I want to provide you with transportation and help you get home safely and comfortably.
I wanna be a good costumer in your dinner,
I aspire to be a polite and respectful customer when I dine at your workplace.
Where you work.
Your workplace is where you spend time working, and it's also where I would like to be a good customer.
Because I wanna work to make you laughing!
My motivation for doing all these things is to bring joy and laughter into your life.
And I wanna be the guy to wish you good night,
I want to say goodnight to you and be the last person to do so before you go to sleep.
I wanna be the guy in the lockermat,
I would like to be present in the locker room, perhaps to provide assistance or offer friendly conversation.
To give you a change!
I want to offer you change or some form of assistance in the locker room.
I wanna be your palmer reader,
I wish to read your palm and offer predictions about your future.
So I can lie about your fate!
I want to make witty and humorous predictions about your future, even if they are not true.
Because I wanna work to make you laughing!
Ultimately, my goal is to bring joy and laughter into your life.
And I wanna be the guy to wish you good night,
I want to bid you goodnight and make sure you have a peaceful sleep.
Because I wanna work to make you laughing!
Above all else, my purpose is to bring happiness and amusement into your life.
Writer(s): Jimi Tenor
Contributed by Camden J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.