If I find the right type of song, I have a habit of listening to it repeatedly while exercising. This often means our time together is short – a relationship that burns fast and bright. If it hits just the right way though, it will accompany me on playlists and at the gym for years.

The Swedish pop singer Robyn’s music often breaks through this barrier. Electronic heavy songs where she is the featured vocalist are a sweet spot. One I initially kept coming back to was Royksopp’s The Girl and the Robot. Looking for similar vibes, I found another one: Robyn – Cobrastyle (Bloody Beetroots remix). Right away I could tell it was right for me. Now it’s on regular rotation for years; the changing beat, vocals and repetition click with my brain.

Some extra fuel to its staying power is contained in its origin. Initially I wasn’t so focused on the lyrics, just the beat and feeling. As I kept listening I got more curious. So I listened to the non remixed version which is also great and has a breezier feel. It doesn’t take deep musical analysis to hear the opening lyrics (I press trigga, I don’t press people button) and not expect them to come from a Swedish woman like Robyn. I found what it was based on: this (quite popular) song – Teddybears Cobra style1. That song in turn makes heavy use of Mad Cobra’s Press Trigger. That song’s origin is on an album called Buzz Riddim, where artists created their songs over an iconic beat (Sean Paul’s Give Me the Light is also on this album).

So the full timeline:

A pretty amazing path. The number of ears and hands involved, the amount of inspiration and amount of variation along the way. Influence and inspiration in art has some direct lines and some abstract ones – samples and covers in music provide one of the most tangible ways of seeing these evolutionary branches2. Part of the beauty is that there is no “best” version, each song has its own appeal. If you listen to all the iterations I’d be curious which you prefer.



I often spend Wednesday mornings at the meditation center IMC doing a half day retreat. The head teacher Gil Fronsdal will end the day with a simple dedication of the day of practice, hoping that any good that comes from sitting peacefully will spread out into the world. He will give small examples of just being a bit more patient in traffic or friendlier to someone at a cafe. The ripples of actions we take are both more profound and more widespread than we can imagine. It’s hard to know all the ways we affect the world, so I like this clear example of a path of songs. The producer Troyton Rami would have no way to know all that would come from his creation of the beat. In fact it is quite likely is he is not even aware of the song that I traced backward to his beat. So too with most of our actions - the cause and effect is much more abstract, the consequences unknowable. Acting with kindness and care toward the world (importantly including ourselves!) as outlined in Gil’s dedication of merit is the sensible approach to this reality. I have seen the value in inclining my mind toward the wholesome and taking small actions that can have a positive impact in the world. And that is my intention of writing, even if just one person reads something and gets inspired, who knows how those ripples will spread.

  1. Interestingly the next line in Robyn’s version is Nobody tjaffs come face me with something and in the original it is Nuh bodda chat come face mi wid somethin. So she added her own Swedish flair to it. The production and instrumentation are also quite different, although also produced by Teddybears. 

  2. I would like to write another post about samples becoming memes. I find these to be a more positive aspect of collaboration on the internet.