Nergaard's musical journey began early. At age 16, she stepped on stage joining a jam session at Moldejazz, Norway’s international jazz festival, with a band comprised of musicians from the band of the late jazz bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius. The country's jazz journalists applauded the young talent. Since that day, she has steadily developed as a composer and become popular for her unique voice and talent for songwriting.
Since her 1990 inaugural jazz album, Tell Me Where You're Going, produced by jazz guitar maestro Pat Metheny, Nergaard has become one among very few Norwegian artists to have had commercial releases in major music markets around the globe - including Brazil, Germany, the U.S., and the United Kingdom - and doing so with great success.
Her later albums, Port of Call (2000), At First Light (2001), and Nightwatch (2003), have all proved resounding commercial successes and received rapturous critical praise. With Nightwatch she also made history: no other jazz artist before her had shot straight into the Norwegian sales charts twice to reach #1 within the first week of release. In 2004 she received a Norwegian music award for Musician of the Year.
With the 2007 release of her critically-acclaimed Darkness Out of Blue, Nergaard finally realized her dream of working with Grammy Award winner and renowned arranger Vince Mendoza, (Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock), who contributed string arrangements to two songs in the album, Paper Boats and Let Me Be Troubled, with his beautiful sound and touch.
A year or two earlier, Nergaard had already decided to make a change in her music, which meant having to change some of her musicians, who had been touring with her for the past several years. As much as the style and 'voice' they had developed together were important to her, she came to realize that "you come to a point where you know you need to have a new challenge."
On October 4, 2007, it was officially announced in the Netherlands that Darkness Out of Blue had garnered Nergaard the Edison Award, the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy. The prize was presented to her by the Norwegian ambassador to the Netherlands at the Edison Music Awards Gala on November 6 in Eindhoven, during which Nergaard also performed the two songs from the album that Mendoza had arranged, backed by The Metropole Orchestra.
The new and promising musical collaboration between them in Darkness led inevitably to Mendoza's involvement once again in Nergaard's latest studio project, A Thousand True Stories, which was released in Norway on February 9, 2009, and will be available internationally in the autumn. The songs from the album were written the previous year and recorded in August 2008 with The Metropole Orchestra from the Netherlands, and arranged by its conductor Mendoza.
Here's a press kit video of A Thousand True Stories, with all interviews in English.
Watch the making of Nergaard's latest project, A Thousand True Stories:
video clip 1 (9:34) | video clip 2 (9:54)
Official website: http://www.siljenergaard.com
Silje on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/siljenergaard
Silje on Facebook: click here
The Waltz
Silje Nergaard Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Love songs to haunt me and I will stay
But when it comes to a waltz
Both words and music will ring false
For you waltzed in and spun my world
Around in dizzy dance I swirled
But suddenly you waltzed away from me
So no careless hand with a bow
May play on the strings of my heart
And make me remember how lovers part
How you waltzed in and spun my world
Around in dizzy dance I swirled
But suddenly you waltzed away from me
Strike up the band let it play
Whatever it chooses and I will say
Play me a waltz if you will
I'll sit here and listen waiting until
My love returns to take my world
And spin it 'round in dizzy swirl
Where girl loves boy and boy loves girl
And feet don't touch the ground
The song The Waltz by Silje Nergaard tells a heart-wrenching story of lost love and betrayal. The opening lines tell us to “strike up the band” to play love songs, which will haunt the singer, as she decides to stay, even though she has lost her love. However, the waltz, a dance that typically requires two people moving in unison, reminds her of the betrayal, and how her partner, who once made her world spin around a dizzy dance, suddenly left her. The violins that are associated with the waltz, which evoke emotions of passion and love, must be silenced in her heart, as it reminds her of the painful memory of being left alone.
The song describes how the singer is willing to listen to the music of love, and how she waits for her love to return, so they can dance the waltz together again. The lyrics capture the pain of being betrayed by someone, how it hurts, and how silence sometimes is the best medicine to heal the pain. The Waltz by Silje Nergaard is a song that perfectly encapsulates the feeling of losing someone you love, and how music can soothe the soul and work as a balm for the broken heart, but also a powerful reminder of the past.
Line by Line Meaning
Strike up the band let it play
Start the music and let it play
Love songs to haunt me and I will stay
Play me love songs that will make me stay
But when it comes to a waltz
However, when it comes to a waltz
Both words and music will ring false
The words and music of a waltz will be false
For you waltzed in and spun my world
Because you came and turned my world upside down
Around in dizzy dance I swirled
I danced in circles, feeling dizzy
But suddenly you waltzed away from me
But then suddenly, you left me alone
Those violins, they must go
I don't want to hear the violins anymore
So no careless hand with a bow
I don't want anyone to play the violin carelessly
May play on the strings of my heart
And make me remember the pain of a broken heart
And make me remember how lovers part
And remind me of how painful it is when lovers separate
Strike up the band let it play
Start the music and let it play
Whatever it chooses and I will say
Whatever song it plays, I will listen
Play me a waltz if you will
Play me a waltz if you want
I'll sit here and listen waiting until
I'll sit here and wait, hoping that
My love returns to take my world
My love comes back and turns my world around
And spin it 'round in dizzy swirl
And dances with me in circles, making me feel dizzy
Where girl loves boy and boy loves girl
Where both the girl and boy love each other
And feet don't touch the ground
And they feel like they're floating in the air
Contributed by Eva T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
__s1_______
Strike up the band let it play
Love songs to haunt me and I will stay
But when it comes to a waltz
Both words and music will ring false
For you waltzed in and spun my world
Around in dizzy dance I swirled
But suddenly you waltzed away from me
Those violins, they must go
So no careless hand with a bow
May play on the strings of my heart
And make me remember how lovers part
How you waltzed in and spun my world
Around in dizzy dance I swirled
But suddenly you waltzed away from me
Strike up the band let it play
Whatever it chooses and I will say
Play me a waltz if you will
I'll sit here and listen waiting until
My love returns to take my world
And spin it 'round in dizzy swirl
Where girl loves boy and boy loves girl
And feet don't touch the ground
Mait Mägi
It became the opening waltz in my wedding this friday :) I so love this song:)
Mijael Ben Shajor
Silje is the sweetest voice I ever heard. peace
Maria Rosa Villar
I LOVE HER VOICE SO MUCH AND THE MELODIES OF HER MUSIQUE ....CHEERS!
amandang18
we got married gonglee couple brought me here! i honestly LOVE this scene with this couple. it was just so simple and so loving. It felt so magical without any effort. you can feel true love with this song. It makes you want to sway slowly with your love ones. it really pulled my heartstrings and gets my heart fluttering! #gonglee #love #jongyeon
Alistaire Bella
amandang18 same
__s1_______
Same, same, same!!!!!
klarapiano
i love her voice.you can dream and dream........
daringd
Oh my oh my .... thank you for sharing this song. Thank you. It's one of the song that left imprints in my heart. Thanks for sharing.
Damián Fernández
i think everybody should listen to this song to get to know what beauty means...
Kimberly Tsan
I love this song omg