«Chimes at Midnight»
When Madrugada regrouped to celebr… Read Full Bio ↴Madrugada
«Chimes at Midnight»
When Madrugada regrouped to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of their classic debut album «Industrial Silence» in 2019, they quickly realised that interest in the band had not waned in their absence. It had, in fact, increased, not least on the European continent.
What’s more, they realised that they loved being back together. Being in Madrugada had never been quite this much fun.
Says vocalist and guitarist Sivert Høyem: «It was if as the last piece of the puzzle had snapped into place. I’d never felt so self-assured on stage before. It was no stress at all, whereas in the past it had always been very stressful to me».
The tour was a triumph, with the band selling out shows in the their native Norway, plenty of festival dates and a host of concerts throughout Europe, where the band now sold out halls that were twice the size of the places they used to play back in the day.
10 years on from when the band called it a day after guitarist Robert Burås passed, the three remaining original members – Høyem, Frode Jacobsen (bass) and Jon Lauvland Pettersen (drums) – felt rejuvenated and ready for more.
They wanted to play more shows. In order to do so, new music had to be made. The trip they were on couldn’t be strictly nostalgic. And so it was that Madrugada, a band that usually takes its sweet time to agree on just about anything, ran straight off the stage and back into the rehearsal room in December 2019.
Jacobsen: «We were on a tight schedule. We booked time at Sunset Sound Studio in Los Angeles at the end of February, and had about a month and a half to come up with the material and whip it into shape. It went rather swimmingly. We were still high from touring, raring to go».
Høyem: «Everyone brought something – melodies, ideas – to the table. And then we’d all be let loose on it. We had the «Industrial Silence» album in our bloodstreams after playing it live on the tour, and I felt there was a direct line back to our formative years. Everything came out sounding like Madrugada».
The band worked in their own rehearsal space/studio in Oslo, in another studio, Velvet Recordings, 45 minutes outside the city, and spent a further week woodshedding in Berlin. 70% of the material they came up with, is spanking new. But they also rescued a couple of older songs from oblivion. «The World Could Be Falling Down» hails from the time of their first album. «Slowly Turns The Wheel» first reared its head somewhere between the third and the fourth.
Lauvland Pettersen: «The process was very different from when I recorded my last album with the band [«The Nightly Disease», 2011]. That was a case of ‘second album syndrome’. We didn’t have much going in, and had to come up with the goods on the clock. This time the material was not only written, but thoroughly arranged too».
The band arrived in Los Angeles in late February, happy to be recording in a legendary studio where classic albums by Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, The Doors and the Rolling Stones had been conceived.
Lauvland Pettersen: «It was a boyhood dream come true, for sure. A terrific gift: I’m here, I’m with my dear friends and we’re having the time of our lives».
Producer Kevin Ratterman (Ray LaMontagne, My Morning Jacket, The Flaming Lips) was waiting for them, and the plan was once again to get in the flow and work fast.
The band had given themselves two weeks to put the music, recorded live in the studio, to analogue tape. They met their deadline, and a good thing too. No sooner was the last song on the album, «Ecstasy», in the can, before the world as we knew it shut down. It was March 2020, and the plan had been for Madrugada to go home, rest up for a week and return to do overdubs and mix the album in a studio in Silver Lake. Instead, they had to go home, and stay home.
Høyem: «It was a ‘last flight out of Saigon’ kind of scene. And the tickets weren’t cheap».
Up until this point, the making of «Chimes at Midnight» had been a whirlwind affair. When it became obvious that the world would remain in a state of emergency for quite some time, it was important not to lose momentum. The album would have to be finished by unorthodox means:
Namely by Zoom and via big screen-TVs, with Ratterman and the American team on one end in Los Angeles, and Madrugada on the other, in Oslo, Norway. Frustrating? Oh yes. But the esprit de corps remained strong.
Jacobsen: «The technology enabled us to do overdubs in real time, with Kevin producing us from the other side of the Atlantic. Unusual, to say the least, and quite interesting. But the process became a lot slower».
It goes without saying that Høyem, Jacobsen and Lauvland Pettersen are painfully aware that one of Madrugada’s founding members, Robert Burås, very sadly isn’t around to work his magic anymore. But what other developments have the nigh-on 14 years since their fifth and hitherto last album, «Madrugada» (2008), and «Chimes at Midnight», begot?
Høyem: «The songs are a reflection of who we are in the present time. We’re older. We’re all fathers. I believe I have a more nuanced view of life than I had 20 years ago, a greater ability to feel several things at once. Madrugada’s aesthetic was very New York City and Berlin, we were a punk band that played the blues. All those elements remain. But this time around it felt appealing to explore the more dreamy aspects of what we do. The city we recorded in encouraged us to do so».
Jacobsen: «Chimes at Midnight» is not a conceptual album, it doesn’t point in one particular direction. That makes it somewhat different, in my mind. But it’s made to played live, just like the other albums».
Lauvland Pettersen: «It’s got maybe more of a singer/songwriter vibe to it, I think. If I want to write a ballad and give it the full orchestral treatment, I’m welcome to do it. It’s been therapeutic too. The shows were pure pleasure, and the album’s given me a feeling of closure».
Høyem: «‘Chimes at Midnight’ was born of an atmosphere of true joy and goodwill. To me, it’s a passionate album».
The members’ respect for their shared history is at the top of their minds at all times.
Jacobsen: «I’ve always had romantic ideas about bands in general, and our band in particular. I never wanted to make music outside of Madrugada. I wanted to make it with the people I started out with».
Madrugada are
Sivert Høyem
Frode Jacobsen
Jon Lauvland Pettersen
with
Cato Thommassen and Christer Knutsen
Album discography:
«Industrial Silence» (1999)
«The Nightly Disease» (2001)
«Grit» (2002)
«The Deep End» (2005)
«Madrugada» (2008)
«Chimes at Midnight» (2022)
Biography from their site: https://madrugada.no/#biography
Theres's another band from the 70's that use the same name:
2) Madrugada was a band from Bergamo, Italy, formed around 1970, and had a long life that lasted until 1978. The group derived from some 60's beat bands like I Condor, that included bass player Alessandro Zanelli and keyboardist Franco Orlandini (from Mat 65 and who later worked with Equipe 84 and Claudio Rocchi), and later changed name to Le Lunghe Storie, and along them from Le Bugie and Gruppo 3. But the basic nucleus came from Terza Classe, which also gave birth to Perdio.
Though not properly a progressive rock album, their first one, only released in 1974 by Philips, contains some interesting parts.
It contains seven tracks, some of which were arranged and signed by Roberto Vecchioni (a singer-songwriter that's still very popular nowadays), while three songs were composed by Mauro Paoluzzi.
The first side shows some influences by a West Coast styled sound, with multivocal parts very well executed but not particularly original. Second side contains the long Mandrax, led by Gianfranco Pinto's keyboards, that's probably the best album track.
Except for a limited use of acoustic guitar on Uomo blu the band didn't use guitars and their sound was strongly based on keyboards and richly arranged vocal parts.
Second album came three years later, this time the trio was helped by some guest musicians like Lucio Fabbri on violin (Piazza delle Erbe and later PFM), the jazz saxophonist Gianluigi Trovesi, and Luciano Ninzatti (from Eugenio Finardi's band Crisalide) on guitar.
With a much better production and sound, this can be considered the best of their two albums, with long tracks like the opening Romanzen or Aragon showing a very good composition quality. Another nice song was È triste il vento, that had previously been played by another group from Bergamo that had a close connection with Madrugada, Perdio.
Like in the first album there are some odd different-styled tracks, like the folky Noter de Berghem and the silly Katmandu (that was also released on single with È triste il vento, but with no success), but Incastro can be surely appreciated by progressive music fans. Unfortunately it didn't have a good promotion by the record company.
In concert, Madrugada played on tour with Area, Claudio Rocchi and Biglietto per l'Inferno, and in Lugano (Switzerland) with Kevin Ayers. Moreover they played in many concerts for political movements like Avanguardia Operaia and the Radical Party and the Re Nudo magazine. The band split at the end of the 1970s.
Pinto and Zanelli collaborated with Mauro Paoluzzi in his shortlived Pangea project, which produced only a promotional album in 1976.
Keyboardist Pinto has collaborated with many Italian and international artists (Patty Pravo, Roberto Vecchioni, Adriano Pappalardo, Riccardo Fogli, Gianna Nannini, Brian Auger), and in the late 90's with the reformed progressive group Perdio.
He works in a music school in the Parma area and still plays now in studio, with live bands and in the piano bar circuit.
Bass player Billy Zanelli formed the semi-punk group Judas, with an album on Spaghetti label in 1978, and later played with Roberto Vecchioni.
Discography
LPs
Madrugada (Philips, 1974)
Incastro (Philips, 1977)
CDs
Madrugada (AMS/BTF, 2006 / Universal, 2010)
Incastro (AMS/BTF, 2006 / Universal, 2010)
Singles
Katmandu / È triste il vento (Philips, 1977)
What's On Your Mind?
Madrugada Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I heard you knocking but I didn't care at all
I had been in all night just staring at the wall
I didn't really want to see you anymore
Coming from the road
You took your coat off and you threw it on the floor
You said "I can't believe you wanna hurt me so"
Well, I just had to let you go
(Chorus)
What's on your mind?
When you're lost in time
What's on your mind?
Tell me why
Why does it have to be this way?
You were in that dream that I was dreaming
I was dreaming in a dream
Your nylon dress and I was floating back downstream
I wanted love to come and swallow everything
Everything gets real
Sooner or later, doesn't matter how you feel
You slammed that door shut on the night of glass and steel
I cannot blame you for believing what you believe
Well, I just had to let you go
(Chorus)
Why do you always stay
Miles away
And two steps behind
Where the past is still living
Beautiful and forgiven
Do you not see
That you live in a dream
Hey
(Chorus) x2
The song "What's On Your Mind?" by Madrugada is a melancholic ballad that explores the inner turmoil of a failed relationship. The song starts off with the singer hearing a knock on the door from their past lover but not wanting to answer, indicating that they have become indifferent to their presence. The lover enters and accuses the singer of hurting them, to which the singer responds by admitting to being in a dark place and not wanting to be in the relationship anymore.
The second verse delves into a dream sequence where the singer sees their lover in a dream, emphasizing their longing for love to conquer all the hurt and pain caused by the breakup. The chorus repeats the question of what's on the lover's mind when they're lost in time, and why things have to be the way they are.
The song concludes with the singer questioning why their lover always stays miles away and two steps behind, still holding on to a beautiful and forgiven past, unwilling to let go of their dream. The haunting melody and lyrics of the song capture the universal struggle of moving on from a relationship and coming to terms with the fact that sometimes love just isn't enough.
Line by Line Meaning
You were at my door
You came to my home
I heard you knocking but I didn't care at all
I heard you, but I chose to ignore you
I had been in all night just staring at the wall
I had been alone all night, doing nothing but gazing at the wall
I didn't really want to see you anymore
I had lost interest in seeing you
Coming from the road
You arrived from outside
You took your coat off and you threw it on the floor
You removed your coat and carelessly dropped it to the ground
You said 'I can't believe you wanna hurt me so'
You expressed disbelief that I intended to harm you
I said 'I'm not supposed to be like this, you know'
I explained that my behavior was not intentional or normal
Well, I just had to let you go
I had to end our relationship or interaction
What's on your mind?
What are you thinking about?
When you're lost in time
When you're absorbed in memories or fantasies
Tell me why
Explain to me the reason
Why does it have to be this way?
Why can't things be different or better?
You were in that dream that I was dreaming
I envisioned you in my dream
I was dreaming in a dream
I experienced a dream within a dream
Your nylon dress and I was floating back downstream
I imagined your dress and felt as though I was drifting downstream
I wanted love to come and swallow everything
I desired for love to consume and overcome everything
Everything gets real
Everything becomes genuine or authentic
Sooner or later, doesn't matter how you feel
Eventually, things become real regardless of your emotions
You slammed that door shut on the night of glass and steel
You forcefully closed the door during that night of chaos and danger
I cannot blame you for believing what you believe
I don't blame you for holding your current beliefs
Why do you always stay
Why do you consistently remain distant
Miles away
Far from reach or proximity
And two steps behind
Following behind at a distance
Where the past is still living
Where the past events or memories still persist
Beautiful and forgiven
Pleasant and absolved
Do you not see
Don't you comprehend or realize
That you live in a dream
That you are living in an illusory or imaginary world
Contributed by Isabelle F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@nikikera
You were at my door
I heard you knocking but I didn't care at all
I had been in all night just staring at the wall
I didn't really want to see you anymore
Coming from the road
You took your coat off and you threw it on the floor
You said "I can't believe you wanna hurt me so"
I said "I'm not supposed to be like this, you know"
Well, I just had to let you go
(Chorus)
What's on your mind?
When you're lost in time
What's on your mind?
Tell me why
Why does it have to be this way?
You were in that dream that I was dreaming
I was dreaming in a dream
Your nylon dress and I was floating back downstream
I wanted love to come and swallow everything
Everything gets real
Sooner or later, doesn't matter how you feel
You slammed that door shut on the night of glass and steel
I cannot blame you for believing what you believe
Well, I just had to let you go
(Chorus)
What's on your mind?
When you're lost in time
What's on your mind?
Tell me why
Why does it have to be this way?
Why do you always stay
Miles away
And two steps behind
Where the past is still living
Beautiful and forgiven
Do you not see
That you live in a dream
@konstantina_st
This piece is such a treasure! The depth of his voice, the music, the lyrics... I don't know if we could call it a masterpiece, but I fell in love with it, it warmed my heart and dazed my mind into a dream. True expression.
@BenSHammonds
absolutely, it defies my ability to describe and Im a poet, is perfect
@farner8452
Wow, a norwegian band, with a name in portuguese, lyrics in english and is loved in Greece.
@yiannislagaras7344
Greeks always have their way with multiculture :)
@farner8452
Awesome.
@veeno3983
madrugada is a spanish word :)
@yiannislagaras7344
Not Portuguese?
@farner8452
Portuguese too, then. I'm brazilian.
@fuzzy11200
Danke an den Tatort „Rhythm & Love“.
@lolguidesgerman6193
Haha genau von da kam ich auch😂