Ane Brun

I had to write something about Ane Brun. She's a singer/songwriter originally from Norway by way of Sweden.
I heard her cover of Alphaville's 'Big In Japan' randomly a few months ago and fell out of the sky for it.
I remember closing my eyes the first time I heard it without being told to-It was natural, and witching. I had been thrust into a dark tunnel that spun with constellations and then was set gently back onto the sidewalk of a Tokyo and the cold air moved over my skin and disturbed my hair before dancing into the sky.
I've only had a reaction to a song in this way a couple of times before, so I knew this was special-Like finding what my mom calls a "Soul-Friend"-One who loves and intuitively understands all of you...I think of it as the friend version of a Soul Mate.

'Big In Japan' Ane Brun


Song Title Meaning:
"Many rock bands that are well past their prime continue to be 'Big in Japan' long after they cannot draw a large audience in the UK or US. The movie Spinal Tap also made fun of this phenomenon, as the band had a hit single in Japan just as they appeared to be washed up." (thanks, Eulbie - New York, NY)

Song Meaning:
In a 1998 interview with the German online magazine 'Re.flexion', Alphaville lead signer Marian Gold explained: "I must admit the only ones who understood the meaning of the song correctly were Bernhard (Lloyd) and our then publisher Andy Budde. Bernhard recognized the quality of the song and Andy the ability of its marketing. 'Big In Japan' tells about a couple of lovers trying to get off Heroin. They both imagine how great it would be to love without the drug: no steal, no clients, no ice age in the pupil, real emotions, true worlds. Till nowadays Berlin station Zoo is an important meeting place for junkies. That's why this place became a venue of the song. In 1977 I was quite regular in a club in Kreuzberg, the SO36. I hoped to meet David Bowie. There was the rumor he would be in Berlin for withdrawal treatment in that period. There was a fellow, who sold stuff of independent bands from US and UK. I bought the album of a British band named Big In Japan. "Big in Japan" meant so much as if you are nothing in your environs, you can be big somewhere else. You can be a king in another world. And if you aren't that, you can tell it at home. Japan is so far away. Anyway that statement fit perfectly to the story of the couple of lovers. So I used it for the refrain of the song."