CHRISTHER SCHÜTZ
The Unofficial Yellow Pages

The Songwriter

- Quantity does not have to mean quality.
The words are Christher's own, and were spoken in the year 2000 about him having written more than 200 songs.
- I've forgotten most of those songs now on purpose! Some people are still talking about my old songs like if they were the only thing I've ever written, but I don't do old songs. Especially when they're not even good.


If there is a style of music that Christher hasn't tried out yet, you'd better let him know! He has been passing through punk, metal, pop, rock, acoustics, folksongs in the tradition of Swedish/Irish/French/Greek/American, country, blues, jazz, classical - is there anything left?

But we must not forget that his quest now has been stagnating somewhere between blues, country, and folk rock.


The lyricist

Well, perhaps he is right about quantity/quality, but fact is that a lot of the songs Christher has written are really good. It would be wrong to compare his early songs to his latest, because there is a big lyrical difference, but he has always been handling the English language very well. He used to hand his early songs to friends and teachers before he sang them, just to get the grammar right! This in spite of that he has been speaking English since the age of six. For a long time he was struggling in the shadow of Bob Dylan's works, something he was relieved from during his time in London.


The composer

Christher has always had a golden touch when writing melodies/chord patterns. Sometimes using already existing patterns with a small (but significant) change, beginning with the 12-bar blues or the early 60's pop (C-Am-F-G). Other times writing completely unlogical and disharmonious things, but still keeping a small (but significant) thread of sanity. Some of these innovative (strange) songs were written for his band Punch & Judy Show in 1997-98, songs that recently were made part of a rock musical that Christher co-wrote with another former Punch&Judy-member, Johan Pettersson.

Lately Christher has (successfully) stagnated somewhere in the middle of blues, country and folk rock, which will be heard on his forthcoming album Songs From A Glasshouse. His feeling for melody never seems to dry up.


The love songs

Writing love songs are difficult - and dangerous! More than one songwriter have fallen deeply into that trap, so have Christher.
One of his finest love songs, though, must be the piano ballad Seems So Easy which was recorded as a demo in 2000 using one of the most untuned and broken pianos in the world! The lyric and melody is moving beautifully around the simple chord pattern, and the song begins like this:

I saw you wash your hair
Your shoulders like china on your back
The window misted over and I didn't dare
Touch your shy tattoo in case you'd crack


Another fine love song (or whatever you want to call it) is Smile Upon My Wound, a song about wonders. Why are the wonders of the world all man-made things? In the chorus he sings that the only wonder that exists is 'your smile upon my wound'. It's so simple. And it's so beautiful.



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