2017 - July 27 - Sola Skinner

Today I will indulge in playing one of my favorite summer songs ever. I remember when I first heard this song - my good friend in middle school, Stig Erik, brought me over to another friend's house, and he had this single by a new Norwegian band, Jokke & Valentinerne. This single was 2 Fulle Menn - or 2 Drunk Men - but the song that really stood out was still the lead off track on the B side: Sola Skinner (The Sun Is Shining). The lyrics included everything wrong or taboo: Cigarettes, alcohol, coupling and copulation - but it was honest. In many ways, it was brutally honest. This would have been about 30 years ago = the summer or fall of 1987. Jokke himself (Joachim Nielsen) died in 2000 from a drug overdose, 36 years old. His poetry was always naked, raw, and honest - and his musicianship was driven by passion more than skill. He is sorely missed - but Sola Skinner still gets me in a great mood whenever I hear it!