He concentrates on creating inspiring melodies and gentle but finely observed, often wry and quirkily observant lyrics. Since the release of his debut album, he has toured non-stop.
In 2006, in between performing at many major European festivals, Teitur started to record his second album. Stay Under The Stars, debuting in the Top 10 in Denmark, subsequently going Gold there and earning him the accolade of Best Singer at the Danish Music Awards (Grammies) in March 2007.
Teitur was born and spent his early years in The Faroe Islands. These bleak, but beautiful windswept, rain lashed, rocky outcrops in the Atlantic are due north of the UK and lie roughly mid way between Norway and Iceland. First settled by Irish monks and later Vikings, the Faroes were initially part of Norway and then latterly Denmark, of which they are still an autonomous region. The forty seven thousand Faroese who inhabit the Faroes are fiercely independent, even refusing to join the EU with Denmark. They retain their own language, with Danish only being used for commerce. It was this isolated upbringing with an inevitable sense of alienation and separation that informs much of Teitur's writing.
"Music is one of our main social activities," says Teitur. "There are always instruments in our homes. I started on my own music at thirteen, but the guitarist in my band was so much better than me and I was left at the back, playing acoustic. However I wrote all the lyrics from the start and in English. My native Faroese music is a part of me, but what really attracted me was pop music. Pop is almost all in English, which I find it gives me a bigger ocean of vocabulary," Teitur has more than one ocean of vocabulary to choose from as he speaks five languages. He finally decided to leave the islands, as many young Faroese do, at the age of 17 to study in Denmark. Then after a brief spell in Rome, he decided to base himself in London in 2002.
In mid 2007, Teitur started to pull together the songs that make up his third album: The Singer:
"The songs are written over a time-span of one to seven years. They are stories of events and experiences - like drinking beers on a musty hotel floor with mysterious blues musician Chris Whitley, before he died of cancer (Legendary Afterparty), or stories that I have come across in my lifetime..."
In October Teitur travelled to an island off the coast of Sweden called Gotland with his sound engineer Jonas and arranger Trondur, and recorded the album on a 19th century Swedish Princess' estate, normally a summer destination as a hotel, but at this time of year a beautiful, windswept and somewhat deserted piece of tranquility; interrupted only by the various musicians and singers who came to play or sing on the album, who all stayed at the hotel, during their work on the album.
"This album was made in tranquility and isolation. The result is a very natural and somehow nordic sounding record. Furthermore it has similarities to a musical or a book of short stories."
"On the cover of the album is a the picture of a cartoon figure which stands inside the room of an empty dollhouse. It looks almost like a skeleton and it has no face. The figure is a caricature of "The Singer" "
One And One
Teitur Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That I would land just where you are after all this lonesome traveling
I took one look in your eye, and reached out to hold your hand
This is when I realized what I could never understand
Do you want to be my one and only love?
Do you want to be my one and only love?
Oh, with you, I do confess
I can't be one without the other
That was hard for me to say
I hope I said it right
Whichever, come what may, you see I need to know tonight
Do you want to be my one and only love?
Do you want to be my one and only love?
Do you want to play these cards, do you want to lay them down?
Do you want to run away or do you want to stick around?
Do you want to be my one and only love?
Do you want to be my one and only love?
Teitur's song "One and Only" is a romantic ballad that speaks about a traveler who didn't realize that his true love has been right beside him all along. The song starts with the singer confessing that he has been wishing to find someone special for a long time. He looks up to the stars as a symbol of hope and one day ends up meeting the person who he least expected. He finds himself in the presence of someone who completes him on all levels. As soon as he sets his eyes on the person, he is drawn to take their hand, and at that moment, he realizes that this is where he is meant to be.
The chorus of the song is where the singer lays his intentions out in the open. He asks if the person he has fallen for wants to be his "one and only love." It's more of a plea than a request. He wants to make sure that the other person has understood that his intentions are true and that he is serious about them. The second verse picks from the first, and the singer confesses that he needs both love and friendship from his partner. He can't imagine having one without the other, and this is challenging for him to admit. He wants his partner to know that he needs them to be present in his life the way they have been until now. At this point, he is laying his cards out and asking the question, "do you want to stick around?"
In a nutshell, "One and Only" is a love song about two people who have found each other after a long search. The singer realizes that he needs both love and friendship from his partner and wants to make sure that they want to be his "one and only love." The song is a beautiful expression of love, pangs, and requited emotions that are familiar to anyone who has ever been in love.
Line by Line Meaning
I've been wishing on a star, but I could never have imagined
Despite years of hoping for love, I never thought I'd end up with someone like you
That I would land just where you are after all this lonesome traveling
After a long and lonely journey, I'm grateful to have found you
I took one look in your eye, and reached out to hold your hand
When I first saw you, I knew I had to be close to you
This is when I realized what I could never understand
Being with you made me see what I had been missing in my life
Do you want to be my one and only love?
I need to know if you're willing to commit to being with me forever
So you want to be my friend, so you want to be my lover
I appreciate the friendship we share, and want to take our relationship to the next level
Oh, with you, I do confess
I feel comfortable being honest with you
I can't be one without the other
I can't imagine being your friend without also being your lover
That was hard for me to say, I hope I said it right
It was difficult for me to share my feelings, but I hope I expressed them well
Whichever, come what may, you see I need to know tonight
Regardless of your answer, I need to know where we stand
Do you want to play these cards, do you want to lay them down?
Are you willing to take a chance on us and see where this goes?
Do you want to run away or do you want to stick around?
Are you committed to facing whatever challenges come our way?
Do you want to be my one and only love?
Above all else, I need to know if you're willing to be my forever partner
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Jeffrey Cohen, Teitur Lassen, Michael Hunter Ochs
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind