Inside MusiCast 'Pick Of The Day': “Oxygen” by Nik Kershaw
Inside MusiCast 'Pick Of The Day': “Oxygen” by Nik Kershaw. Selected by Mikael Engström
I have always had a great love for Nik Kershaw, his music and his songwriting, ever since I heard and bought his debut album “Human Racing” upon it’s release back in 1984. For me, he’s one of the greatest and most intelligent songwriters of all times. He’s an artist I always come back listening to. Nik’s been writing songs for so many and possesses a unique craftsmanship as a musician and songwriter. His sense for melodies is truly extraordinary. I’ve had the great privilege to see him perform live on various and different locations over the years. One special moment was back in 1998. Nik had just released his album “15 minutes” after a nine-year long solo hiatus. Now he was on a promo tour for his newly released album and happened to be in Finland. Me and some friends found out that Nik was scheduled to play on a cruise ship between Finnish town Åbo and Stockholm. We booked tickets on this cruise hoping for this to be true. The cruise ship left Stockholm with us on board. Once the ship arrived in Åbo we were happy to see Nik Kershaw with band entering the ship. It turned out to be quite a “strange” and fascinating night with most of the passengers on this cruise trying to dance “cheek to cheek” to Nik’s music while me and my friends were in seventh heaven just digging hard hearing songs from Nik’s vast catalogue. We requested Nik’s song “Oxygen” during the show which I think surprised him a bit, so he picked another one saying he was surprised we knew about “Oxygen”. After the gig we got to meet with Nik and the band. We discussed music and football (I think Nik’s an Ipswich fan, forbid me if I am wrong). He told us about his meeting with Jeff Porcaro during the recordings of “The Works”. And of course, we also got to discuss “My Oxygen” covered by Richard Page on his 1996 solo album “Shelter Me”. We asked Nik if he had recorded his own version of “Oxygen” (as Nik calls it) or if he was planning to do it. He told us he there were no such plans. It was then, backstage after the show, we asked Nik if he could sing us his version of “Oxygen” so we, at least once, could hear his take on “Oxygen”. Nik was kind enough to fulfill our wish. I have no clue if our little conversation on “Oxygen” had any impact on what happened less than a year later. Suddenly, yet another single release appeared from the “15 minutes” album and one of the songs included on this single turned out to be “Oxygen”. Most likely a coincidence but given the meeting and discussion after the show, maybe a seed was sown that night on a cruise ship heading for Stockholm. It was such a great trip, a great night and a musical memory I will treasure for ever. The version included is taken from Nik’s “No Frills” solo acoustic album released in 2010. Album cover show the single release from 1999 that includes “Oxygen”
So, please enjoy the IMC song of the day. “Oxygen” by Nik Kershaw
– Mikael Engström, IMC Correspondent