It’s Friday again and time for another song off my iPod. This week we have a song from the favorite band of Beth’s BFF, Brianna. This time the conversation went like this as I was driving Beth and Brianna to school this morning.

Me: So Beth, any idea for the song of the week?
Beth: Hey Bri… do you want HIM or how about Bullet [For My Valentine]? (We were listening to Bullet For My Valentine at that moment.)
Brianna: I don’t know. (In the cutest little shy voice.)
Me: (Imitating Brianna) I don’t know. You sound so shy.
Beth: (Laughing) Yeah, until you get to know her!

So this week’s song is “Join Me” by HIM. HIM is a hugely successful goth/alternative rock group from Finland. The group which formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko Lindström, and bassist Mikko Paananen, is the only group from Finland to have a gold record in the United States. They have released six studio albums to date. When the group was formed, HIM stood for “His Infernal Majesty” as a protest against Haile Selassie but the group abandoned that name and now Valo makes up something every time he is asked about it in an interview.

The group has had many hit songs in Europe. Join Me (In Death) released in 1999, has been their biggest hit as it was featured in the movie The Thirteenth Floor. Although superficially the song sounds like it is about suicide, Valo says the song is about giving up yourself for love. “It’s not about suicide, that song. It’s about giving it all away,” Valo said in an interview with Modern Fix magazine.

Join Me (In Death)
Baby join me in death
Baby join me in death

We are so young
our lives have just begun
but already we’re considering
escape from this world

and we’ve waited for so long
for this moment to come
we’re so anxious to be together
together in death

Won’t you die tonight for love
Baby join me in death
Won’t you die
Baby join me in death
Won’t you die tonight for love
Baby join me in death

This world is a cruel place
and we’re here only to lose
so before life tears us apart let
death bless me with you

Won’t you die tonight for love
Baby join me in death
Won’t you die
Baby join me in death
Won’t you die tonight for love
Baby join me in death

this life ain’t worth living
this life ain’t worth living

Won’t you die tonight for love
Baby join me in death
Won’t you die
Baby join me in death
Won’t you die tonight for love
Baby join me in death

Written by Valle Vola

The video is some kind of Finnish, Goth ice queen vision but what’s with the guy with the cowboy hat?