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Wedding (song)

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Wedding (song)

"Wedding" is a song written by Swedish musicians Benny Andersson and Svenne Hedlund, first recorded as the eleventh single by their group the Hep Stars in May 1966. "Wedding" was the second single in which the Hep Stars ventured into baroque pop, something that they'd done on their previous single "Sunny Girl" in March 1966.

Upon release, "Wedding" continued the Hep Stars chart success, reaching number 1 on both Kvällstoppen and Tio i Topp that same year. The song was later included in altered form as the final track on their eponymous second studio album The Hep Stars in December 1966. As a result of this, "Wedding" became the Hep Stars first single to be mixed in true stereo.

In March 1966, the Hep Stars released "Sunny Girl" as a single, a song which was written by Andersson and was a departure from their previous rock and rhythm and blues influences, instead dabbling into baroque pop. "Sunny Girl" became their first self-written song since 1965's "No Response", and was hugely successful on Kvällstoppen and Tio i Topp, reaching number 1 on both of them, topping the charts for several weeks. However, the success of "Sunny Girl" had led Andersson on a quest to become a respected songwriter. Even before the single had exited the charts, Andersson had already started working on a follow-up to the song. They were by this point still heavily touring Swedish Folkparks, which brought them to a man named Valter Pettersson in Falkenberg, Halland, who had lent them his house for 10 days where they rehearsed for these concerts.

Pettersson also managed to gain access to Skrea Church, located in Skrea, a bit away from Falkenberg, something he told Andersson. Andersson took this opportunity and played on the church organ during nighttime, with an increased interest in classical music along with corresponding artists, something attributed to Pettersson. Andersson had started writing on the melody before introducing it to Hedlund, who liked the sound of it; the remaining parts of the composition and the majority of all lyrics were written in Pettersson's house. Andersson composed the majority of the introduction, middle eight and ending, while Hedlund contributed with other parts of the composition.

The parts that are perhaps the most important in the song, the introduction, the middle part and the finish, he wrote himself. But the rest of the melody was pretty much 50-50, and the lyrics as well.

— Svenne Hedlund, in Carl Magnus Palm, Benny's Road to ABBA, page 112

Andersson and Hedlund became a highly productive songwriting partnership, despite only writing a handful of songs. Considering this, Andersson largely took help from Hedlund in writing lyrics, due to Andersson not grasping the language completely. According to Hedlund, not all parts of the song were finished in Pettersson's house; some parts were written while the Hep Stars were on tour.

We had a lot of fun when we wrote that song, we sat one night at the bar at the Hotel Opalen in Gothenburg and wrote the lyrics, which took quite some time. I remember that we were very pleased with ourselves.

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