The Knife won a Swedish Grammy award for best pop group of the year 2003, but they boycotted the ceremony by sending two representatives of another artist group dressed as gorillas with the number 50 written on their costumes, apparently as a protest against male dominance within the music industry. Their album Deep Cuts was also nominated for a Swedish Grammy as the best record of the year 2003, although that award went to The Cardigans. It was also in 2003 that the The Knife was featured as Artist of the Week at HitQuarters, which helped them gain greater attention in the worldwide music community.
The group became prominent in late 2005 when José González covered "Heartbeats" on his 2003 album, Veneer. The song was used by Sony in a commercial for Bravia television sets, and released as a single in early 2006. The group commented on this in a Dagens Nyheter article, claiming that Sony paid a large sum of money to use the song. In view of the group's left-wing views and non-commercial philosophy, they excused this transaction on the basis that the money was needed to establish their record company.
The Knife's song "We Share Our Mothers' Health" from their album Silent Shout was featured by the iTunes store as a free song of the week in late 2006. This song was also featured in the ABC series Ugly Betty, as well as an episode of CSI: NY.
In February 2005, the Knife performed their first ever live show at London's ICA, appearing with Rex the Dog and playing in front of a video created for the event by artist/film maker Andreas Nilsson. With this one live performance The Knife embarked on a major tour in 2006, and after selling out shows worldwide, a DVD of the tour was announced. The DVD was released in Sweden on November 8, 2006, and is titled Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experience.
Silent Shout was named the best album of 2006 by Pitchfork Media.
At the Swedish Grammy awards in January 2007, The Knife won in all six categories they were nominated in: Composer of the Year, Music DVD of the Year, Producer of the Year, Pop Group of the Year, Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. Again, they did not attend the award ceremony.
In 2009 the duo wrote the opera Tomorrow, In a Year, celebrating 150 years since Darwin's Origin of Species was published.
In April 2013 they released the album Shaking The Habitual.
In 2014 Karin Dreijer revealed in a interview that the Knife were calling it quits for good. "When we finish the tour now in November we will close down, it’s our last tour," they said. "We don’t have any obligations to continue, it should only and always be for fun."
High School Poem
The Knife Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Who wants to be sweet
Who wants to know mid-term
Which hasn't been dried for weeks
Which hasn't been dried for weeks
The Knife's High School Poem is a commentary on the desire to be unique and exceptional, even in the often mundane or oppressive environment of high school. The lyrics suggest an aversion to conformity, with lines such as "Who wants to be ordinary" and "Who wants to be sweet." The repetition of "Who wants to know mid-term" suggests the anxiety and boredom that can accompany a high school education, with mid-term exams being a symbol of the tedium and stress of academics. The final line, "Which hasn't been dried for weeks," may be interpreted as a metaphor for the stagnant and depressing atmosphere of the school environment, or the emotional difficulty of dealing with adolescent feelings and experiences.
The song itself is a melancholic and introspective synthpop track, with singer Karin Dreijer's haunting vocals and the sparse, electronic instrumentation adding to the somber tone. It was released in 2001 on the album The Knife, before the Swedish duo achieved significant mainstream success with their later albums Deep Cuts and Silent Shout. Despite this, High School Poem is still considered by many fans to be a standout track from their early career.
Line by Line Meaning
Which hasn't been dried for weeks
Referring to the mid-term paper, which has been left unfinished and untouched for weeks
Who wants to be ordinary
Who desires to be ordinary and similar to everyone else? The singer's use of the rhetorical question conveys a sense of sarcasm towards those who want to be ordinary
Who wants to be sweet
Who desires to be thought of as sweet, kind, or nice? The singer is again using a rhetorical question to criticize society's preoccupation with being liked and accepted by others
Who wants to know mid-term
Who wants to be confronted with their academic progress through a midterm exam? This line reflects the artist's disdain for the pressures of academic life
Contributed by Lily I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
K
this song is perfect. i love songs that leave you wanting more,like this one.
DonnieDarko1
YOoo WTF are these guys getting more and more incredible to me????!!!! its like am addicted to them, every nite or so just trying to look up ANYTHING about them, COME TO LOWER MANHATTAN! OMG, I think am a fan, I am indebted to all the others for putting up their old music vids b/c w/out them, i'd never find out anything bout' em. These guys are absolutely incredible, you people are incredible, please put up more stuff of theirs!!!!
shinryohji
Short, powerful with a bitter sweet feeling and that hint of imature angst in the lyrics that that perfectly suit the title. A really good song.
Sara Rose Mimieux
oh man it's been years since I heard this!!! sooo good
Luis S.
Who wants to be ordinary Who wants to be sweet Who wants to know mid-term Which hasn't been dried for weeks Which hasn't been dried for weeks
Meizter Prophet
all that matters is that you have discovered them and enjoys their music!
ha11ett323
this beat is HEAVY!!!
charlie adams
I wish this song was longer!
54321Adela
Pure beauty.
Ivan Garcia
I need a long version of this .. Is amazing !!!!