Oceania

I was thinking, What the f— am I going to do with this melody ? So it was perfect when they (Olympics) asked me. I mean, how grand can you get ? The Olympics, right ? But I tried to write the lyrics and I couldn’t. I just came up with rubbish like ‘Pull up your socks and run through the ribbon,’ ‘All the nations hold hands,’ and stupid stuff like that. Pathetic ! So I ended up asking my friend who’s a poet [frequent collaborator Sjón] to write the words.

Entertainment Weekly - 03.09.2004