"Hey Mr. DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)" is a song by Swedish musician

Per Gessle Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was disbande ...

, released on 1 February 2006 as the second single from his 2005 album ''

Son of a Plumber ''Son of a Plumber'' is the fifth solo album by Swedish singer-songwriter Per Gessle, released on 23 November 2005 by Capitol in conjunction with Gessle's own label Elevator Entertainment. The record was originally issued pseudonymously as Son of ...

''. A

duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

with Swedish musician

Helena Josefsson Helena Marianne Josefsson (born 23 March 1978) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist in the band Sandy Mouche and has collaborated with Per Gessle, Roxette, Arash Labaf, The Ark and various other Swedish musical proje ...

, who contributed vocals to several tracks on the album, numerous publications praised her vocals and described it as the best track on the record. The song written by Gessle and produced by him alongside

Clarence Öfwerman Clarence Öfwerman (born 22 November 1957) is a Swedish record producer and musician, best known as the longtime producer of Roxette, having been with the band from their debut album, ''Pearls of Passion'', in 1986, through to 2016's '' Good Ka ...

and

Christoffer Lundquist Carl Christoffer Lundquist (born 16 January 1970) is a Sweden, Swedish musician and producer. He was once in the band Brainpool (band), Brainpool, where he started as a bass player and backing vocalist, but moved to play both the bass and the g ...

. The single was a hit in Sweden, peaking at number 23 and spending over three months on the

Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from IFPI Sverige. It was formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and has been known by its current name s ...

. It also entered the

Dutch Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Du ...

. A music video featuring

Roxette Roxette is a Swedish pop rock duo originally consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, both of whom were already established musicians in Sweden prior to the band's formation. Fredriksson had released a number of successful solo albums, ...

vocalist

Marie Fredriksson Gun-Marie Fredriksson (; 30 May 1958 – 9 December 2019) was a Swedish singer, songwriter, pianist, and lead vocalist of pop-rock duo Roxette, which she formed in 1986 with Per Gessle. The duo achieved international success in the late 1980s an ...

's children was created for "Hey Mr. DJ". The single contained the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

"Plumber in Progress #1", a compilation of song fragments recorded by Gessle in his home studio. Several remixes of the A-side were created, and were issued on a

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

single on 1 March. A separate EP titled ''Dancing Plumber, Vol. 1'', also containing two remixes of album track "I Never Quite Got over the Fact That the Beatles Broke Up", followed on 6 April.

Composition and style

"Hey Mr. DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)" was written by

, recorded at Aerosol Grey Machine in Vallarum,

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

, and produced by Gessle alongside

and

. The song is a

with Swedish vocalist

, who provided vocals to several tracks on the ''

'' album. Gessle compared it to the work of American rock band

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, saying: "It's very easy for songs like this to become pure parodies and we were in a bad mood for a while, but in the end we got it right, I think. It's very neat." The song contains

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

and brass instrumentation.

Critical reception

Swedish publications compared "Hey Mr. DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)" to the work of

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

, with ''

Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...

'' also comparing it to the work of

The Carpenters The Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter, Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinctive soft musical style, combining ...

. Multiple publications described it as the best song on ''Son of a Plumber''. Josefsson received praise for her vocals. A writer for ''

Svenska Dagbladet (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily List of Swedish newspapers, newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the 1900s the pap ...

'' said her performance "must be highlighted", saying her voice "leaves me wanting more". They claimed the track would have been better had Josefsson sung it entirely, saying her voice was preferable to Gessle's. Despite giving the album a negative review and calling the song "sugary", ''Dagensskiva'' praised Josefsson's vocal performance. ''

Expressen (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden. Describing itself as independent liberal, was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or " to your rescue". The newspaper awards the cultu ...

'' called the song "a lovely duet", while ''

Göteborgs-Posten (), abbreviated GP, is a major Swedish language, Swedish-language daily newspaper published in Gothenburg, Sweden. History and profile was first published in 1813, but ceased publication in 1822. It re-appeared in 1850. Publication seven day ...

'' said the song was "amazing" and "completely irresistible".

Release and promotion

The first CD single for the song was issued in Sweden on 1 February 2006. This release contained "Hey Mr. DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)" as the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

alongside an exclusive B-side: "Plumber in Progress #1". "Plumber in Progress #1" is a compilation of song fragments recorded by Gessle in his home studio, one of which features Gessle's son. Another single containing two remixes of the A-side was issued on 1 March. An EP titled ''Dancing Plumber, Vol. 1'' followed on 6 April. This release was only issued digitally, and contained two remixes of the A-side and two remixes of ''Son of a Plumber'' album track "I Never Quite Got over the Fact That the Beatles Broke Up".

Music video

vocalist

's children appear as members of an orchestra in the song's music video. The filming of the video was one of only a few occasions Gessle and Fredriksson spent time together following her 2002

brain tumour A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...

diagnosis. Gessle commented: "She is doing well. I invited her to the recording of the video 'Hey Mr. DJ'. Her children are part of the orchestra in the video, so I was able to spend some time with her. She's fine and having a great time."

Commercial performance

The single entered the

at number 27 on the chart dated 9 February 2006, peaking at number 23 two weeks later. It spent a total of fourteen weeks on the chart. The single also entered the

Dutch Singles Chart The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, w ...

Formats and track listings

* CD single (0946 354274 2–4) # "Hey Mr. DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)" (Original Version featuring

) – 3:36 # "Plumber in Progress #1" – 8:20 * Remix CD single (0946 359143 2–0) # "Hey Mr. DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)" (Original Version feat. Helena Josefsson) – 3:36 # "Hey Mr. DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)" (Love-For-Sale Remix feat. Helena Josefsson) – 3:50 # "Hey Mr. DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)" (Jimmy Monell Treatment) – 3:43 * ''Dancing Plumber, Vol. 1'' (0946 359872 5–6) # "Hey Mr. DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)" (Love-For-Sale Remix feat. Helena Josefsson) – 3:50 # "Hey Mr. DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)" (Jimmy Monell Treatment) – 3:43 # "I Never Quite Got over the Fact That the Beatles Broke Up" (Jimmy Monell Short Treatment) – 2:27 # "I Never Quite Got over the Fact That the Beatles Broke Up" (Jimmy Monell Long Treatment) – 5:39

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the CD single liner notes. Recorded and mixed by

and

at Aerosol Grey Machine, Vallarum,

. * Kjell Andersson – cover design *

Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director, and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner" ...

– cover photography * Per Gessle – composition, vocals, instrumentation and production * Lennart Haglund – assistant engineer * Jens Jansson – drums *

– vocals * Christoffer Lundquist – vocals, instrumentation, engineer, production, string and horn arrangement; remixing ("Love-For-Sale" Remix) * Jimmy Monell – remixing ("Love-For-Sale" Remix; Jimmy Monell Treatments) * Clarence Öfwerman – vocals, instrumentation, production, string and horn arrangement; remixing ("Love-For-Sale" Remix) * Pär Wickholm – cover design * The Funky Färs Härads Chamber Orchestra – strings and horns

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2005 songs 2006 singles Capitol Records singles Per Gessle songs Song recordings produced by Clarence Öfwerman Songs written by Per Gessle