List of recent and up-coming projects.
Scroll down for further details on each heading.
Lyric: Matheson Bayley, Edward af Sillén, Daniel Réhn
I come from a country that’s hard to find
Somewhere near the icy pole
But though we are freezing, please bear in mind
Sweden’s gonna warm your soul
Our people are cold, but our elks are hot!
A horny horde in every fjord
Our moose may be loose, but they hit the spot!
On our Swedish Smorgasbord
A tour of our nation is certain to impress
We’ve quite a few surprises for you
A Swedish chef and Death playing chess
And a girl with a dragon tattoo
Pah-pah-poo!
By winning this contest you get the chance
To host a show you can’t afford
But then sell your country through song and dance
Here’s our Swedish smorgasbord!
We’re green to our planet, with eco-pride
Recycling is in our hearts.
Mamma Mia! Ikea has gone world-wide!
Good luck assembling all the parts!
We’re strict and we’re structured, and seldom vent
Don’t show emotion; never whine!
Not easy to please, but we’re quite content
When we get to stand in line!
Does anyone know what this line is for?
Well… I’d better stay and find out…
Proper and polite and private is our style
Never ever talk on a train!
And if we see a stranger throw us a smile
He’s either a drunk or insane!
Every day we face it
Fly on up and taste it!
Try our Swedish Smorgasbord!
Beneath the midnight sun
The blondes have all the fun
And if you long for stockings, say “Amen!”
From Vikings we’re descended
It’s frightening what those men did
But see how we’ve evolved since then…
Our roles are reversing
Our daddies are nursing
In all of our cities
Though men don’t have titties
They can still stay at home to raise the kids
And our girls can handle their balls With the best kickline of them all…
You may now kiss the groom
Follow our example!
Come and try a sample
Of our Swedish Smorgasbord!
It’s time for some dinner – we pray you’ll stay!
Come and try our favourite course!
We eat all our meatballs the Nordic way:
Seasoned with a hint of horse
For Strindberg
And Bergman
And Celsius – all rise!
For Thor and Björn Borg
And the great Nobel Prize!
There’s Volvo
And Garbo
The best lingonberry
And all of our problems
Digesting our dairy!
We gave you Carola, and Waterloo
And Diggi-Loo – who all adored
We’ll take you to heaven, Euphoria too…
Come and join our party
Come on up and chill
There’s room for everybody
Gravad lax and dill
On our:
Aquavit, crayfish
Yucky salty liquorice
Randy Scandinavian race –
With H&M ’n’ Ace of Base –
Our hurdy-gurdy-super-duper
Fab-as-ABBA-Super-Trouper
Swedish Smorgasboooooooooooord!
 |
 |
 |
 |
Matheson is curretly working with the circus arts & HIV charity, Cirque For Life, as artistic director, musical director & composer.
Details of upcoming U.S. tour to be announced.
Visit the Cirque For Life website.
 |
Hear Matheson's orchestrations on the début album, F Sharp, of extraordinary singer/songwriter, Mark Hole. Release date to be announced.
Hear selected tracks at Mark's myspace page
 |
Hiding in Public's new album, Worlds Away, Yards Apart, featuring orchestrations and performances by Matheson, is now available as a pre-release!
Fronted by Jamie Moses, known to many as the rhythm guitarist of Queen + Paul Rodgers, Hiding in Public is a pop rock project driven by songwriter David Holland.
Check out Matheson's orchestrations and performances on the following tracks:
The tracks No-One To Save Me & She Was Mine both received awards from GarageBand:
 |
 |
For the hit avant-garde theatrical show, "2", by Dimitris Papaioannou (Δημήτρης Παπαϊωάννου), director of the 2004 Athens Olympics Opening Ceremony, Matheson translated the spoken Moldovan, Arabic, Albanian & Russian in the show into English for the subtitles for the DVD release.
 |
 |
Matheson is currently collaborting with Taim-Laps Animation Studios and Greek composer and producer Nassos Sopilis, on a new CG animation feature: The Mouse Who Wanted To Touch A Star.
The book and lyrics are by the world-renowned poet and author of children's books, Eugenio Tribizas, and Matheson and Nassos have adapted and set poetry from the original book to music (+ orchestrations, production, sound design, and foley).
The première of the film is to be shown at Athens' largest concert hall, Megaro Mousikis (Μέγαρο Μουσικής), followed by a television broadcast on Greece's National Television Station, ΕΡΤ, and a DVD release.
Above: Pre-production sketches of three of the characters in the film.
 |
Due for release in April July 2013, Matheson's latest album, The Spice of Life, can be pre-purchased from this order form, or you can subscribe to the newsletter if you'd rather receive an email upon its release with details as to where to buy.
Featuring 4 rearrangements of popular songs & 10 eclectic original compositions by Matheson, the album vacillates between the satirical and the serious, the parodical and the pioneering, with as may hilarious moments as there are melancholy.
A few tasters from the album:
Somewhere Out There
A prestissimo patter-song with a politico-geographical bent...
 |
See www.the-countries-song.com for more information.
“...I'll search Belarus and Bahrain, Uganda and Spain
The Gambia, Zambia and The Ukraine
Trinidad & Tobago, The Congo and Togo and Tonga and Tajikistan...
Costa Rica, Barbados, Afghanistan, Egypt, Japan
Then in Cyprus, Benin, The Bahamas, Iran
Nicaragua, Monaco, Cuba, Nauru
Vanuatu, Lesotho, Peru:
I'll travel by boat or by bike or by train
Helicopter or hovercraft, parachute, plane
Because somewhere out there though I've no idea where
Is my dream come true...!”
The Elements: Part II
Another patter-song: an 'update' to Tom Lehrer's original The Elements, exploring the heavy nucleuses discovered since 1959 when Tom penned a mere(!) 102 to the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan's I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General.
Extra verses take us up to 116 elements, followed by an intrepid foray into the tongue-twisting world of subatomic particle nomenclature...
 |
See www.the-elements-song.com for more information.
“Then came hahnium, dubbed 'dubnium', with dubious applications
— More protons in its nucleus than Cruella has Dalmatians!”
“But why reject cause and effect — the cosmic chain reaction;
The predetermined universe and physical attraction?
If up until they prove free will, you claim it's an illusion…
…We can all commit adultery and blame atomic fusion!”
A beautiful Celtic-influenced ballad written & performed by the soft, sensitive vocals of American-born Karen Solomon, and arranged & produced by Matheson.
The mix is scheduled for June 16th... Thanks to everyone who's expressed an interest, but please - no more emails! :-) It'll be posted here towards the end of June for all to hear!
And no, the rumours weren't entirely accurate! So, in an attempt to answer a multitude of emails in one posting, here is the instrumentation (all recorded live, save two samples):
|
Matheson worked on six tracks for Christos Alexandrou's album One Look, Play Music record label.
Born in Germany and raised in Greece, Christos trained at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London, and has starred in several musicals including the rôle of Jamie in Jason Robert Brown’s musical The Last Five Years, Joseph in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, and Phantom in the promotional campaign of the 2004 film: Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera.
| Title | Genre | Origin | Matheson's involvement |
| She's Like The Wind | Musical Theatre Rock-Tango | Patrick Swayze's song from Dirty Dancing | Arrangement, orchestrations, programming, musical direction, production |
| Come What May | Pop ballad | From the Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge | Arrangement, orchestrations, various live instruments, programming, production |
| Make Your Darkness Light | Pop | Original composition by Nassos Sopilis | Co-lyricist with Stratos Sopilis |
| Moving Too Fast | Musical Theatre Jazz-Rock | From Jason Robert Brown's musical The Last Five Years | Piano, arrangement, production |
| If You Ask Me To Lie | Ethnic Musical Theatre Ballad | Original Composition by Matheson | Music, lyric, orchestrations, production, various solo instruments |
| Remember | Pop Ethnic Ballad | James Horner's song from the hit movie Troy | Arrangement, orchestrations, various live instruments, programming, production |
Click the above icon to make a secure online donation towards up-coming projects. How will your donation be used?
|
You are visitor number: |
|
Site last updated: 20th June 2013 Under development: songwritersrhymes.com |
