Guitarist and vocalist Artur Rojek (born 1972) started the band in 1992 as "The Freshmen", taking the initial name from the movie The Freshman starring Marlon Brando - which indicates a fascination with cinema that would become a characteristic feature throughout the band's career. The early phase was characterised by a somewhat debonair punk attitude, as Rojek admits: "I started Myslovitz in 1992. I was twenty then and I had no idea how to make good music. Surely, I was a big fan of a few British groups (Ride, The Stone Roses, My Bloody Valentine, The Housemartins) but I couldn't play the guitar at all. After several months of rehearsals [...] I decided that I should cover the holes in my musical education by [...] chaos (the bigger the better)." [1].
Even so, they soon caught the media's attention, winning several important competitions for young musicians; this enabled them to make their first professional recordings in the studio of Radio Lodz. In 1994, Myslovitz were signed by MJM Music Polska and recorded their self-titled debut album with British producer Ian Harris, who had previously worked for, amongst others, Joy Division, New Order, and The Exploited. Upon its release in 1995, the album received euphoric reviews and was declared "Debut of the Year" by several music magazines. Some critics compared it to Oasis, who were at the peak of their popularity at that time.
In 1996, Myslovitz were joined by a third guitarist and keyboarder, Przemek Myszor, and released the second album Sun Machine on Sony Music Polska. The album spawned two somewhat beatlesque airplay hits - Z twarzą Marilyn Monroe ("With the Face of Marilyn Monroe") and Peggy Brown, the latter being a cover version of a fellow Mysłowice rock band, with lyrics originally by the Irish "national bard" Turlough O'Carolan (in a translation by the Polish lyricist and translator Ernest Bryll).
The following year, the third album Z rozmyślań przy śniadaniu ("From meditiations over breakfast") was released, displaying a tendency towards a more "polished" sound and more introspective lyrics. Also, Myslovitz's now typical fascination with cinema began to take centre stage with numerous allusions and hints in the lyrics and track titles, and a certain "cinematic" atmosphere in the music itself.
The band's interest in cinema also showed in their contributions to soundtracks. In 1998, they recorded the unconventional track To nie był film ("That was no film") for the Polish movie Młode wilki ½ ("Young Wolves ½"). The lyrics referred to a wave of violent crimes committed by juvenile delinquents, which was controversially discussed in Polish mass media in the mid-1990's. The explicit depiction of violence in the lyrics and the accompanying video clip (which later won a Fryderyk award as "Video of the Year") caused further controversy and led Polish broadcasting networks to boycott both the song and the clip.
Also in 1998, Myslovitz had their first appearances abroad with gigs in Sweden, Germany, and the United States.
The final breakthrough for the band came in 1999 with their fourth album entitled Miłość w czasach popkultury ("Love in The Time of Pop Culture"), which went platinum (i.e. 150,000 copies sold) soon and has by now achieved "double platinum" status in Poland. The single Długość dzwięku samotności ("The Length of the Solitude Sound") became the biggest hit for the band so far.
In 2000 Myslovitz again contributed to soundtracks, writing and recording the song Polowanie na wielblada ("Camel Hunting") for the movie Duże zwierzę ("The Big Animal") by the legendary Polish actor and director Jerzy Stuhr, and the single plus another two (previosly unreleased) tracks to director Waldemar Szarek's movie "That's Us" (To my). In 2003 Myslovitz continued their cooperation with Stuhr, creating not only the title song for his movie "Tomorrow's Weather", but also appearing in walk-on roles - as neophyte monks.
In 2002, the follow-up to Miłość..., entitled Korova Milky Bar appeared; the title being an allusion to Stanley Kubrick's classic screen version of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange. Strikingly, the melancholic elements took over almost completely, with both music and (sometimes sarcastic) lyrics creating an almost depressive overall mood. Nonethelss, the album sold even more copies than its predecessor had in the same time, with the singles Acidland and Sprzedawcy marzeń ("Dreamsellers") repeating the success of Długość... three years earlier.
The reason for the new material's popularity, as some critics surmised, was that its atmosphere closely conformed to a presumed resignative-recessive mood within Polish society at large - which guitarist Przemek Myszor seemed to confirm in an interview for the Montreal Mirror: "For us, the Korova Milky Bar [from Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange'] is a place where something different may happen to your mind. It's a place like today’s Poland. You know, Poland is a place where very strange things happen to your mind. It's a country full of crisis and everything around you is very sad, very dark, very fucked. There is an economic crisis here. People don't have money, politics are fucked. The lyrics on our record are sad because of this. We sing a lot about being in a strange state of mind" [2].
With Korova Milky Bar, Myslovitz appeared at several festivals throughout Europe, including the big, traditional German festival for Alternative acts (Bizarre) and the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival. Also, they supported Iggy Pop and the Simple Minds on their European tours that year. Also, they received an MTV Europe Music Awards in Barcelona for Best Polish Act, having been nominated twice in previous years.
In November 2002 Myslovitz signed a new contract with EMI's Polish outlet Pomaton. The first album to be released on the new label was an English-language re-recording of Korova Milky Bar, which war released in 27 countries (including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Spain, Russia, Turkey and South Africa). In addition to the Korova... material, this version also included English versions of older tracks. Długość dzwięku samotności now became a single as The Sound of Solitude (an earlier English version had somewhat awkwardly but more correctly entitled The Length of The Solitude Sound had been a Polish b-side). A video clip for this song was directed Janusz Kaminski, the Polish Hollywood cinematographer who had won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography with Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, and had declined an offer from Martin Scorsese in order to work with Myslovitz. Kaminski declares himself a "fan" of Myslovitz, saying "I only work for Spielberg and Myslovitz [...] Money is not a factor in this. What one doesn't do for one's idols!" [3] The clip got frequent plays on MTV Europe and the album received positive reviews in the European music press, particularly in Germany. However, radio airplay was sporadic and largely limited to Alternative programmes (such as John Peel in the UK), as a consequence, Myslovitz so far failed to enter the upper reaches of the charts outside Poland.
Also in 2003, Myslovitz performed with Travis and Skin (of Skunk Anansie fame) on The Road to Edinburgh, where they received another MTV Europe Music Award for Best Polish Act.
The same year, Sony Music domestically released an obligatory end-of-contract compilation album, entitled The Best of. The lead single Kraków was an older song re-recorded with 1970s Polish folk rock stars Marek Grechuta and Anawa.
In the summer of 2004 Myslovitz were touring Europe again, starting with a concert for the German public radio and television broadcaster WDR on the eve of EU enlargement. Apart from headlining smaller venues and playing festival slots (including the largest Swiss open air event in St. Gallen, they again opened for Iggy Pop & The Stooges on their European dates, as well as for The Corrs in the UK and mainland Europe.
In December 2004, EMI released Myslovitz's most recent album entitled Skalary, mieczyki, neonki ("Angelfish, swordtails, neon tetras") - an out-of-schedule release with outtakes from the Korova Milky Bar recording sessions; longish, psychedelic-experimental and mostly instrumental soundscapes with an utterly melancholic mood to them. On Skalary..., Myslovitz appear about as close to the Radiohead reference as they are likely to get; there are also some tangible similarities with Pink Floyd.
At the time, the band had finished recording of their new album "Happiness is easy", which is planned to appear on 12 May 2006. The album will include 13 new songs and the first single promoting it is "Mieć czy być" ("To have or to be"), inspired by the book of the same title by Erich Fromm.
Myslovitz's success arguably contributed to a revitalisation of the Polish alternative rock scene in the late 1990's and early 2000's, which spawned bands such as eM, Kombajn do zbierania kur po wioskach, and Lili Marlene.
Chciałbym umrzeć z miłości
Myslovitz Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Jakoś tak nie jest mi nawet żal
Czy ty wiesz jak chciałbyś żyć, bo ja też
Chyba tak chciałem przez cały czas, lecz
Jeśli muszę i wybrać będę mógł jak odejść
To przecież dobrze, dobrze o tym wiem
Wieje wiatr, pachnie wiosną i wiem
Że ty łatwo tak zgodziłaś na to się i
Jeśli muszę i wybrać będę mógł jak odejść
To przecież dobrze, dobrze o tym wiem
Chciałbym umrzeć przy tobie
Jeśli kiedyś wybrać będę mógł jak to zrobić
To przecież dobrze, dobrze o tym wiem
Chciałbym umrzeć z miłości
Nie na krześle, nie we śnie
Nie w spokoju i nie w dzień
Nie chcę łatwo, nie za sto lat
Chciałbym umrzeć z miłości
Nie bez bólu i nie w domu
Nie chcę szybko i nie chcę młodo
Nie szczęśliwie i wśród bliskich
Chciałbym umrzeć z miłości
The song "Chciałbym umrzeć z miłości" by Myslovitz expresses the desire for a deep and passionate love that is worth dying for. The opening lyrics "Świat wypadł mi z moich rąk, jakoś tak nie jest mi nawet żal" signify that the world has slipped from the singer's hands and they don't feel much sorrow about it. This feeling could stem from the realization that true contentment lies in finding a love that is worth everything, even death. The chorus, "Chciałbym umrzeć przy tobie" translates to "I would like to die with you" and is repeated throughout the song, emphasizing the intensity of the singer's desire for love.
The lyrics continue to express the singer's willingness to choose death as an option if it meant they could have this love. The line "Jeśli muszę i wybrać będę mógł jak odejść, to przecież dobrze, dobrze o tym wiem" means "if I must choose how to leave, then it’s good, I know that well." The singer doesn't shy away from the idea of dying if it means being with their love. As the song progresses, the singer describes the ideal circumstances where they would want to die for their love - not on a chair or in their sleep, but in the midst of passionate love.
This song conveys a deep longing for love that goes beyond the superficial and materialistic aspects of life. It is about truly experiencing love and finding contentment which makes living worth it. The desire for a love that is pure and passionate is universal and the lyrics speak to the profound nature of this need for a fundamental human connection.
Line by Line Meaning
Świat wypadł mi z moich rąk
The world slipped out of my hands.
Jakoś tak nie jest mi nawet żal
Somehow, I am not even sorry about it.
Czy ty wiesz jak chciałbyś żyć, bo ja też
Do you know how you want to live because I do too?
Chyba tak chciałem przez cały czas, lecz
I think I've wanted it all along, but...
Jeśli muszę i wybrać będę mógł jak odejść
If I have to choose how to leave,
To przecież dobrze, dobrze o tym wiem
Then it's alright, I know that well.
Chciałbym umrzeć przy tobie
I want to die with you by my side.
Wieje wiatr, pachnie wiosną i wiem
The wind is blowing, spring is in the air and I know...
Że ty łatwo tak zgodziłaś na to się i
That you have agreed to it so easily too.
Jeśli kiedyś wybrać będę mógł jak to zrobić
If someday I can choose how to do it,
Chciałbym umrzeć z miłości
I want to die from love.
Nie na krześle, nie we śnie
Not on a chair, not in a dream.
Nie w spokoju i nie w dzień
Not peacefully, not during the day.
Nie chcę łatwo, nie za sto lat
I don't want it to be easy, not in a hundred years.
Nie bez bólu i nie w domu
Not without pain, not at home.
Nie chcę szybko i nie chcę młodo
I don't want it to be fast, I don't want it to be young.
Nie szczęśliwie i wśród bliskich
Not happily and not among loved ones.
Chciałbym umrzeć z miłości
I want to die from love.
Contributed by Amelia E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@hannabartyzel-stompor2127
Kto słucha w 2023roku? Kto słucha i płacze???...
Kocham ten utwór.
@slavslav3437
Sluchamy razem z Toba...
@saweksawek2145
Ja też
@AgaKe1980
JA💪💪💪💪💪💪💪AGNIESZKA 20.03 1980. 🤣💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪👏👏👏
@354NAN
Ja nie płaczę, kiedyś płakałam 20 lat temu, dzis myślę, dlaczego juz nie potrafię płakać...
@ewawieczorek3362
Ja!😢❤
@GrzywPL
Bartosiewicz.. inna półka, nieosiągalna przez dzisiejsze top muzyczny. Gdzieś to przepadło, runęło. Czy lata 90-te naprawdę były tak piękne pod wieloma względami, czy to moja ówczesna nastoletniość sprawia, że postrzegam ten czas tak miażdżąco pięknie?
@midu1683
Komentarz nic a nic się nie postarzał ❤️
@damiant6252
Hmmm nostalgia, ogromna nostalgia, czasy młodości, ideałów. Piękne dni. Utopia czasu tak zwana, czas do którego się wraca z nostalgia, który był dla nas, dla Ciebie pięknym okresem życia, czymś co przeminęło i już nigdy nie wróci, coś idealnego, gdzie nie z perspektywy czasu nie widzi się wad. To smutne, ale i piękne zarazem. Każdy coś takiego przeżył, to nas łączy. A może to coś co nas po prostu nie dzieli
@mareckireszkowski3753
Mam tak samo🤜🤛