In his latest novel, Songs for Other People’s Weddings, David Levithan delivers an often funny, sometimes sad, but always entertaining story about what it’s like to be a wedding singer.
J is a moderately successful Swedish singer-songwriter: “If you live outside of Sweden, it’s unlikely you’ve heard any of his songs on the radio … unless you are one of the bookish, folkish sort who listen to bookish, folkish stations that play bookish, folkish ditties. Then you might know exactly who J is.” On his first album, he included a song, “If You Ever Need a Stranger (to Sing at Your Wedding),” which led to a side gig as a wedding singer, a job that enables him to live off his music — because “there is no stability in being paid $0.003 every time your song is played.”
Levithan collaborated with real-life Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman, who provided the songs for each wedding in the novel. Lekman actually wrote a song called “If You Ever Need a Stranger (to Sing at Your Wedding),” which did indeed lead to a side career as a wedding singer. According to the authors’ notes, Lekman’s own experiences are not part of the book (except for once getting stuck in a wedding cake), but the two men had an interesting creative process. For half of the songs, Levithan wrote the chapter and sent it to Lekman for appropriate music. For the others, Lekman wrote songs and sent them to Levithan to write chapters around.
Levithan’s J doesn’t just churn out generic nuptial tunes. Before the wedding, he meets with the couple, finds out how they met and what they love about each other, and from those discussions writes a song just for them.
The weddings themselves run the gamut: There is a gay couple who share a tuxedo. An elderly couple tie the knot for the fourth time (with each other). At a very rich couple’s wedding, J thinks he might be the only person there who is not a showpiece. But in general, he likes these gigs. He likes the couples. Although he may not always admit it, he likes love.
Readers who have spent any time at all at weddings will recognize the variety. Some couples are soulmates. Some have concentrated so much on the wedding that you wonder if they’ve even thought about the marriage. And some make you want to shake your head in disbelief. But J invests his talent and energy in all of them.
That is, until his girlfriend V has to move to New York for work. She is not sure when she’ll be back, and the work is so consuming that she has no time for long (or short) telephone chats with J. All of this uncertainty throws him off balance, and the question becomes, “Can you write love songs for other people when you’re unsure of your own relationship?” After all, Levithan writes, “These people want a canary, not a Cassandra. J worries that if he attends one more wedding, he will become the person who raises an objection.”
To be honest, readers may find J annoying at this point. He desperately tries to find a wedding job in New York so he can meet up with V, even after she makes it clear that she simply doesn’t have the bandwidth for him. This leads to J’s appearance at a performance art wedding that features one of the sadder couples in the novel. Then he returns to the city for a story in The New Yorker, which involves him spending a day writing impromptu songs for weddings at City Hall. Through all this, he’s unable to stop calling and texting V. But even the most judgmental readers, upon reflection, might recognize in themselves the desperation people feel when they are no longer sure of a loved one’s devotion. J’s behavior might be annoying, but it’s not unrealistic.
Of course, few wedding singers, unless they sing at the weddings of friends or celebrities, ever know whether the marriage will be a success or a failure. In general, J (along with Levithan) falls on the side of love and hope. And readers will find themselves rooting for these eccentric brides and grooms — as well as for J himself.
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