Which artist sang the chorus on One 2 Many's "Downtown" before she became a world star on the same record label? What were the lyrics on the demo that Jan Øvland pitched to Dag Kolsrud like? Read more here about it and Dag's story about how the song took shape.
/ 29/01/2015 / Janne SieversThe One 2 Many adventure from 1987 to 1989 was short but intense. Regardless, the song “Downtown” contributed to yet another Billboard chart position for a Norwegian band, and a diamond in the world’s pop lexicon that still evokes fond memories.
Text: Kai Lofthus, Photo: Aud Berggren/VG/NTB scanpix
It sounds so divinely simple and straightforward, but One 2 Many's frontman Dag Kolsrud describes a time-consuming and creatively challenging effort to arrive at “Downtown” as we know it: the start with the soaring grand piano strumming, then guitar riffs, drums, sparkling synth sounds, and the goosebump-inducing vocals of Camilla Griehsel, where she sings what many of us would like to hear on an evening when everything is tough: “…let me show where you wanna be, let me show where you can be free, let me take you to the place I know, let me take you where we come, let's go!”
Demo shopping and rewriting
The whole story begins with an acquaintance of Dag's from Gjøvik, Jan Øvland, visiting him in London. Jan and Dag had played together in the band Response, among other things, and while Dag was living in the English capital, Jan was in another band, Dark Side, with Jan Gisle Ytterdal, Ingar Amlien, Astrid Graasvoll, Dag Veidal and Gordon Field.
– Jan had written a song as a kind of ballad, says Dag. – Since we were friends, I played the song for several people, including Geoff Downes from Asia and Yes, who was the European head of Warner and several others. It only got negative feedback. The guy from Warner said that if it was going to have any chance it had to be more pop. So it required a lot of rewriting. I wrote the hook and the chorus, and then we eventually made three demos at Alf Emil Eik's Cross Studio in Kristiansand.
TONO Magazine has been in contact with Jan Øvland and he sent the lyrics to the song as he pitched it to Dag Kolsrud. At the time, it was called "Center of My Dreams". Jan adds:
– Dags hit-gen was what was needed to lift an otherwise anonymous rock song up and out to the people.
1st verse
Come on with me to the center of my dreams
Listen to the feelings of your soul
Just forgot about the hard times left behind
And think of where you really want to go
2st verse
Think of all the times when you were down and out
Had no money and no place to go
Think of all the times when you were on your own
No-one seemed to care, no friends, no love
(chorus)
Let me show you where you want to be
Let me show you where you can be free
Let me take you to the place I know
Let me take you with me — come, let's go
(guitar solo)
(chorus)
Let me show you where you want to be
Let me show you where you can be free
Let me take you to the place I know
Let me take you with me — come, let's go
(outro)
Published with permission from the author Jan Øvland.
Historically of great interest
With those demos, 17 English record labels eventually offered One 2 Many, according to Dag. At the same time, there were a number of changes in the band. Of Dark Side's original line-up, only Jan Gisle Ytterdal remained, while Camilla Griehsel became vocalist. (Most of the other members, including Ytterdal, later formed Oceans Apart and released the very fine “Paradise Now” album on Mercury/PolyGram in 1989).
Together with his English manager, Dag led the effort to land the English record and publishing contracts. They had interest from, among others, Muff Winwood who was then working at Island Records, as well as RCA, Polydor, Virgin and several others. It eventually ended with A&M Records for the recordings and Rondor to manage the publishing rights.
– My greatest wish was to get Trevor Horn as a producer, and Chris Briggs, who was A&R at A&M, had contact with both him and Robert John 'Mutt' Lange, so I picked them out early, he says.
More rewriting and production
Although Trevor Horn was not involved, they received brilliant assistance from other legends.
– After we signed with A&M Records, we were still not completely satisfied with the song, and contacted Don Black who polished the lyrics for us, says Dag.
He had worked with the likes of Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, John Barry and more. For the production they hired John Hudson, the man who still runs the legendary Mayfair Studios on Primrose Hill in London, where the debut album “Mirror” was recorded. Dag’s working tools at the time were that he wrote by hand and used a Korg as a workstation, while others controlled the other technological aids. One day while working on “Downtown” John asked:
– “Hey, you play the piano, don’t you? Why don’t you give it a try and see if it fits.” This was before I was supposed to meet Camilla’s parents for the first time. They suddenly come into the control room, so I started improvising a bit and rushed off before I was supposed to meet them. Camilla said it sounded really good!
But other things were hard to fit in, and Dag says that John called him in a desperate moment one night:
– “Hey, I can't get it to work.” Sure, you can, I replied. – At half past four he called back and said he had got it working.
In what would later turn out to be an ironic coincidence, Sheryl Crow was brought in as a backing vocalist for the song. At the time, she had performed with Michael Jackson on his “Bad” tour, but had not yet released her own debut album “Tuesday Night Music Club,” which was released on the same label as One 2 Many, A&M, in 1993.
Ultimately, the work was registered with Dag Kolsrud (TONO), Jan Øvland (BMI) and Don Black (PRS) as co-lyricists and composers, with publishing shares divided between Dejamus Ltd (owned by Stephen James, whose father – publishing legend Dick James – ran the Beatles' publisher Northern Songs and worked with Elton John and Bernie Taupin) and Rondor Music.
The road to the charts
As if getting the song out wasn't difficult enough, A&M Records decided it shouldn't be on the album.
– It was a hot topic for a long time that it should not be included, says Dag. – I think it was pointless to drop it, so I managed to get it included.
He then recounts the later moment when he and Jan Gisle were sitting in a London taxi and heard the song on BBC Radio 1. He had been close to that rush before. After October 1985 when a-ha paraded to the top in the US with “Take On Me”, Dag was hired as an additional keyboardist and musical tour leader on the “Hunting High and Low” tour. But on March 25, 1989 and for another 12 weeks, it was his own turn to experience seeing his name on the Billboard charts: “Downtown” peaked at number 37 in the US, number 43 in England, number 29 in the Netherlands, number 38 in Belgium and number 1 in Norway.
The Billboard debut made Dag quickly have to change his plans. He was on a skiing holiday in Oppdal when the receptionist called his room and asked if he had seen the VG front page that day stating that the song had entered the Billboard charts.
“Then they called from England and said, get on the plane right away. See you in LA,” Dag says. It took two days before he landed at LAX and attended a planning meeting at A&M’s legendary premises at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and North La Brea Avenue.
What happened after that is a subject for another column, but it should not be overlooked that “Downtown” is an important contribution to Norway’s international pop history and that foreign A&R staff began to open their ears to what came from here. What is also a shame is that the song is not available on iTunes, Spotify, Wimp or other digital services (except that the video has been made available by fans on Youtube). Kjell Petter Askersrud, who heads the Norwegian department of Universal Strategic Marketing (USM) at Universal Music, says that it is still the English department of the company that owns the recordings and that they have tried several times in vain to get a relaunch.