@marshallclark6266

6 years ago

For me, this is one of the most striking Europe songs I have ever heard, and I've heard a few, some of them more than once! With the reference to Venus, and echoes of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity', 'Pictures' is obviously an artistic rejoinder or companion piece to 'The Final Countdown', 30 years on. Joey Tempest: " 'Pictures' is an idea I've had in my head for some years. Half of that verse has been kicking round in my head for a while and I wanted to try it this time. A few weeks before the final rehearsal, I was at my parent's place (I used to write stuff there on the piano when I was a kid) and I wrote the second part of the verse and I was like "oh yes I've got it!" and I played it for the guys and they thought it was really different and cool. 'Pictures' is one of my favourites because it's out there where we have never really gone before and production-wise it's interesting. Lyrically in the studio, we were there for two weeks and all the decisions were made when we were there. We talked about doing a sequel for 'The Final Countdown' lyric and what happened to the people who were leaving ground in 1986 heading for Venus. We worked together with a guy called Aaron in Nashville that Dave (Cobb) knows and we worked on the lyric to explore what the fate was of the guys and girls floating out there after the journey from 'The Final Countdown'. Therefore, it's kind of a follow up lyrically from that song."

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