The Swedish singer/songwriter’s latest is a witty, catchy, vividly detailed 10-minute narrative centred around a nervous wedding singer worried about being seated at the singles table with oddballs, and heralds his new Songs For Other People’s Weddings, out on 12 September via Secretly Canadian. The song is inspired by his own experience at playing at friends’ weddings. As he explains: “I think I was subconsciously inspired by Lou Reed’s ‘Street Hassle’ when I was writing it. In the song we find J, the wedding singer in our story, in a rather desperate and vulnerable state as he makes his way to a wedding gig in Leipzig. There he’s placed at the dreaded singles table, consisting of a bunch of loners and weirdos. And through stories told at the table, he begins to ponder what it means to be alone.”
Lufthansa 4-0-5
Is boarding soon, right on time
Please, hurry your ass up and get to gate 29
Families are boarding first, and all you, lonely losers, come second
We felt sorry for you from the moment that you checked in
I check my phone and no, she still haven't read my text
For some reason, it doesn't help that I constantly check
Someday, I wanna play the part of the one who doesn't wait
But it's not within the lover's nature, to wait is a lover's fate
Well, there's love, and there is work, and you do what you gotta do
You get up and wash your face, and you put on your suit
It's lonely work, but we're all left to our own devices
Got a wedding in Leipzig, wedding in Leipzig
Toccata and Fugue in D-minor is being played from the church
I think this is the church where Bach himself used to work
The priest greets me, leads me into the sacristy
And together with the organ player, we go over the ceremony
I ask why he became a priest and he says, "For the love of God"
Well, the guy is German, I don't know if that's a joke or not
He asks why I sing at weddings and I say it makes me feel like a midwife
Like I deliver these people into the next phase of their lives
The priest says, "Well then, you stand in the middle, but still stand at the side"
"You observe and study but you don't really participate in life"
I pretend I don't hear him as I cut an apple into slices
At a wedding in Leipzig, wedding in Leipzig
At the dinner afterwards I'm at a table with four other persons
Two sisters who look like Patty and Selma from the Simpsons
An elderly man whose lungs sound like a broken whistle
And a man who's the embodiment of a full-blown incel
So this is the singles table, these are my people
Does anyone have cyanide, a razor blade, or a pistol?
One of the sisters lean in and ask if I have a girlfriend
I say it's complicated but we're gonna get back together again
Patty says, "Well, regardless, it'll be good inspiration"
And I think, "Not really 'cause I've already written that album"
They all look sympathetic though, they know that it's a nice wish
At a wedding in Leipzig, wedding in Leipzig
Patty has been married, Selma has not
But Selma is really the big romantic of the lot
She tells us a story from when she worked as a volunteer
Near a war zone with Médicins Sans Frontières
Everyone worked in shifts she says, and shared houses, even beds
When you woke up, you took your sheets and the night shifter would sleep there instead
Their shifts never overlapped and all that she knew
Was that he was Belgian and smelled of chamomile and Camel Blue
One night when she came back, he had forgotten to take his sheets
And she crawled right into them, into his scent so sweet
She left an apple on his pillow, he left a cigarette
But nothing ever happened, the two of them never met
Patty looks like she's heard this story one too many times
She's just about to say something when the wine glasses chime
It's time for a speech, the father of the bride
Says marriage and family is what gives meaning to life
"Or" whispers Selma, "it's a fear of dying alone"
A reserved double room under the same tombstone
"It's just a feeling" she says, "and I don't mean to disparage
But is there anything lonelier than a lonely marriage?"
The bride waves me over, asks if I'm ready to DJ
Gives me a look like she's asking if I'm okay
She says my table mates are weirdos and apologizes
At a wedding in Leipzig, wedding in Leipzig
Selma makes me company when I'm playing "Dancing Queen"
Says the song makes her sad, it reminds her of being 17
She used to love to go out clubbing but she stopped when someone told her
"Everybody knows you're a narc since you're the only one here who's older"
A scream cuts through the night and a hole forms on the dance floor
The elderly man from my table has collapsed and is carried out the door
They say it might be his heart while they try to remember what his name is
The bride says, "You have to keep on playing, the night can't end like this."
"Young Hearts Run Free"? "With Every Heartbeat"?
Every song seems inappropriate, I quickly flip through my MP3s
It doesn't matter, the dance floor never really recovers
All that's left is old confetti and a couple of sobbing lovers
I finally end the night with "I Wanna Know What Love Is"
And Selma slow-dances on her own in her summer dress
She looks like she knows the answer to the question the song comprises
At a wedding in Leipzig, wedding in Leipzig
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Feel free to recommend more new songs and albums and comment below. You can also use the contact page, or find more on social media: Song Bar X, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: