oh jens

Jens Lekman - Life will see you now

…”if you’re gonna write a song about this, then please don’t make it a sad song”
which was something a friend once said to me.
I didn’t think much about it when I wrote it but there is a feeling
on this album as if I was aware that every time I write a song,
I have the power to decide if it’s going to be a happy memory or a sad memory.
If there is a way out or not.

it’s about these people and it’s like they’re sitting in a waiting room, waiting for life to start.
and then the nurse comes out and says “life will see you now”.

Here’s what I ended up writing about:
I wrote about being close to someone who’s seriously ill but not knowing exactly how close you are.
About fear of conflict and the first big fight in a relationship.
About a wedding I once played where I had to do some last minute counseling.
About choosing who you want to be with.
About a perfume that’s been haunting me for years and the memories attached to this perfume.
About the sadness of not being able to express love or being vulnerable with another man.
About a mormon missionary I once met.
About figuring out why we’re here on earth.
About the bridges we cross and how they burn behind us.


Latest Jens Lekman album is gorgeous.
His songwriting is up there with Jarvis Cocker and Alex Kapranos lyrics for me.
See for yourself:

story of how we met, the long version

Nothing became something.
Turned itself inside out.

Subatomic particles became atoms, became stars, became galaxies.

The earth’s crust became solidified.
The planets became perfectly aligned,
Jupiter blinked with its little red eye.

Oxygen replaced methane.
A party started in the ocean:
Trilobites and crustaceans,
A Cambrian explosion.

A conga line headed up on land
Out of the water and into the frying pan
A layer of iridium paved the way
For furry mammals with big, beautiful brains.

The Congo River divided the chimpanzees,
The peaceful bonobos from the ones like you and me.
As soon we stood up, picked an apple from a tree
Someone pointed a finger, said, “That apple belongs to me.”

And people fought and loved and died
And everywhere babies opened their eyes
And had their hearts broken, laughed, and cried,
Watched the planets slowly collide.

And one day I asked if I could borrow your bass guitar,
Not that I needed one…
But I didn’t know where to start.

One magic night in an empty backyard
You grabbed my arm and kissed me quick
Under a heaven full of stars.

And that’s the story of how we met.
The long version.

And you can call it fate or chance
But we made it happen,
We made it happen, we made it happen.

And one old song with a perfect video:

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About kuzzzma

Artist, photographer, papercraft designer, doll and action figures collector, traveller. Speaking Russian and English.

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