Langer writes the majority of his repertoire alone, but also collaborates with among others Marcus Winther-John , Tim Christensen , Daniel Ahearn , Edie Kuhnle , and Justin Hawkins . Tim Christensen has contributed to several songs with backing vocals, guitar and bass on Langer's earlier albums, and Justin Hawkins sings backing vocals on Langer's upcoming album. He has announced that he will also be working with several artists and producers from the United States, including Ryan Tedder . About his approach to music, Langer says: "I'm very inspired of the way Keith Jarrett just lets his hands run out of control and create big poetic moments out of improvisation. The same can be said for other big artists like Ryan Adams and Jeff Buckley. I can relate to all three because they all seem to let their intuition and playful musicality take them to beautiful places. My own music originates in the same way.” Other musical influences he names are Chris Cornell , John Mayer , Prince , Coldplay , Rickie Lee Jones , Stevie Wonder , The Beatles , Nick Drake , The Band , Radiohead , Fionn Regan , Bob Dylan , Neil Young , and Ray Lamontagne . His voice is often compared to Thom Yorke's and Jeff Buckley's. His band, both in the studio and live, is composed of Søren Lund on guitar, Nis Tyrrestrup op bass, and Asger Møller on drums and percussion. On March 30, 2011, Langer introduced Simon Luth as his sixth band member and announced he will be the opening act for his shows in May 2011. Langer plays among others guitar, piano, Mellotron, and keyboard.
Langer grew up in the town of Skive, Denmark. His parents are both teachers and share a love for music. At age three, he started learning the piano and he listened to his father's record collection. When he was 15, he dreamt of moving to New York and becoming a rock star. In high school, he was in a Rage Against the Machine cover band. After finishing high school, a local audition in Skive got him in touch with a talent scout who suggested him to move to Copenhagen and present his homemade demos there. He studied jazz piano at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, but eventually he just started writing music It was during this time he started playing guitar. Ultimately this landed him a record deal with Copenhagen Records. Langer debuted on March 20, 2006
in Denemark with Attention Please, an album containing potent pop rock songs. It was scheduled to be released a year earlier, but in post-production he connected so well with Søren Balsner of Carpark North that Langer requested his label to scrap the recordings and start over with Balsner as producer. Despite an intense media hype and good reviews, the album had limited success in Denmark. According to Langer, his record label is to blame for raising unrealistic expectations: "As it often happens, when something is overhyped, then the media just gives you the finger afterwards when it comes out. Because of course this record isn't a masterpiece, but I think it's a very good debut for a very young guy, but that's never where we came to because they had been told that it was a masterpiece from the record label. So the minute it came out, it flopped." The song "Breaking News" became a hit. The American spotter Sat Bisla picked up on him which enabled Langer to perform in Great Britain and Germany, to move to New York City and from there often travel back and forth to Los Angeles, where he among others played before record company executives. This media circus life was taxing on him at such a young age, he had grown tired of other people's visions on his career, questioned his talent and got homesick, so in 2007 he quit his rock star life and returned to Skive. Equipped with only a map and his guitar, he roamed through Europe like a troubadour, playing about 100 acoustic shows (other sources say about 60[6]) for gas money to fuel his c. 1987 Volkswagen Polo which he bought after his return. He lived off the money he collected by selling his CDs after each show. The tour helped him to find himself again and garnered him a growing fanbase. Later in 2007, he composed and conducted the Danish performance of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Nørrebros Theater in Copenhagen starring Anders W. Berthelsen.
For his second studio album, Langer had written over 90 songs, of which he wrote "Say No More" together with Tim Christensen. He explains the cause of this large quantity as follows: "A minute doesn’t go by, not even a second, without a stream of new musical ideas or familiar phrases running through my head. My songs spring from that source." The record was eponymous because he felt this album made it clear in which direction he is headed in style and genre, whereas he felt the songs on his first album did not reflect him, but were what he thought others wanted from him. The album was released in Denmark on February 9, 2009. The critical reception was bland; critics judged that the music was more of the same and lacked a soul because it was too polished. He did score hits with "Wake Me Up in Time" and Fact-Fiction, a song he wrote in the United States in less than ten minutes and describes his confusion during that time. He started his tour as opening act for Tim Christensen and The Script before continuing his tour as main act. The songs "The River has Run Wild" and "Beauty of the Dark" have been used in the American television series The Vampire Diaries, On En Hyldest til Sebastian ("A Tribute to Sebastian"), released in October 2009, Langer covers the song "Stille Før Storm" ("Silence before the storm"). Sebastian originally wrote this song for Lis Sørensen, which led to her breakthrough.
Langer grew up in the town of Skive, Denmark. His parents are both teachers and share a love for music. At age three, he started learning the piano and he listened to his father's record collection. When he was 15, he dreamt of moving to New York and becoming a rock star. In high school, he was in a Rage Against the Machine cover band. After finishing high school, a local audition in Skive got him in touch with a talent scout who suggested him to move to Copenhagen and present his homemade demos there. He studied jazz piano at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, but eventually he just started writing music It was during this time he started playing guitar. Ultimately this landed him a record deal with Copenhagen Records. Langer debuted on March 20, 2006 in Denemark with Attention Please, an album containing potent pop rock songs. It was scheduled to be released a year earlier, but in post-production he connected so well with Søren Balsner of Carpark North that Langer requested his label to scrap the recordings and start over with Balsner as producer. Despite an intense media hype and good reviews, the album had limited success in Denmark. According to Langer, his record label is to blame for raising unrealistic expectations: "As it often happens, when something is overhyped, then the media just gives you the finger afterwards when it comes out. Because of course this record isn't a masterpiece, but I think it's a very good debut for a very young guy, but that's never where we came to because they had been told that it was a masterpiece from the record label. So the minute it came out, it flopped." The song "Breaking News" became a hit. The American spotter Sat Bisla picked up on him, which enabled Langer to perform in Great Britain and Germany, to move to New York City and from there often travel back and forth to Los Angeles, where he among others played before record company executives. This media circus life was taxing on him at such a young age, he had grown tired of other people's visions on his career, questioned his talent and got homesick, so in 2007 he quit his rock star life and returned to Skive. Equipped with only a map and his guitar, he roamed through Europe like a troubadour, playing about 100 acoustic shows (other sources say about 60) for gas money to fuel his c. 1987 Volkswagen Polo which he bought after his return. He lived off the money he collected by selling his CDs after each show. The tour helped him to find himself again and garnered him a growing fanbase. Later in 2007, he composed and conducted the Danish performance of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Nørrebros Theater in Copenhagen starring Anders W. Berthelsen.
For his second studio album, Langer had written over 90 songs, of which he wrote "Say No More" together with Tim Christensen. He explains the cause of this large quantity as follows: "A minute doesn’t go by, not even a second, without a stream of new musical ideas or familiar phrases running through my head. My songs spring from that source." The record was eponymous because he felt this album made it clear in which direction he is headed in style and genre, whereas he felt the songs on his first album did not reflect him, but were what he thought others wanted from him. The album was released in Denmark on February 9, 2009. The critical reception was bland; critics judged that the music was more of the same and lacked a soul because it was too polished. He did score hits with "Wake Me Up in Time" and Fact-Fiction, a song he wrote in the United States in less than ten minutes and describes his confusion during that time. He started his tour as opening act for Tim Christensen and The Script before continuing his tour as main act. The songs "The River has Run Wild" and "Beauty of the Dark" have been used in the American television series The Vampire Diaries, On En Hyldest til Sebastian ("A Tribute to Sebastian"), released in October 2009, Langer covers the song "Stille Før Storm" ("Silence before the storm"). Sebastian originally wrote this song for Lis Sørensen, which led to her breakthrough.
In December 2010, Langer offered a free download of "The River has Run Wild" off this album to anyone who joined his mailing list. In March 2011, the single "Microscope" was offered to new subscribers instead. "Microscope" entered the Italian charts at #25. It was written in around 30 minutes and came out of nothing. It was intended to be a happy song, but turned melancholic as the lyrics were written. Langer has already explained the theme of some of the other songs. "Last Flower" was written in memory of a Danish fan who committed suicide. In her suicide note she requested Langer to play at her funeral, where he performed this song. "Death has Fallen in Love" is about stopping to realize that someone you love could die too. The idea for the song came about while Langer' girlfriend was brushing her teeth.
A song that has not made its way onto the album is "Bowie and Champagne", which refers to a girl he fooled around with when he was growing up, but who tried everything and ended up a drug addict. The original lyrics were written after Langer woke up from a dream and jotted a few lines down about Aerosmith and wine. At that time he thought they might just be the best lyrics in the world, but when he checked them over the following morning, he felt they were too cheesy but could be improved with some changes.
From May 11 through to 14, Langer will go on a mini-tour through Denmark.
www.madslanger.com.
Contact:
Sue Whitehouse:
sue@whitehousemanagement.com
Booking ( Europe except Denmark)
Adam Saunders: adam@xraytouring.com
Booking (Denmark)
Malte Erbs: mbe@PDH.DK
www.madslanger.com
www.youtube.com/user/madslanger24
www.facebook.com/pages/Mads-Langer/99879780312
www.myspace.com/madslanger
Éléphant
Mads Langer Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As she is walking towards me
Oblivious, I'm oblivious
To what is happening around me
She's covering her face
And I try to catch her eyes
Mysterious, mysterious
Delirious, I'm delirious
I surrender myself to the twilight of her
We're covered in the hay, yea
And I try to read her eyes
And she is so beautiful
And I'm afraid of breaking her
And I feel like
I am an elephant in a porcelain shop
I wanna lay her down in a sea of roses everywhere, and just float away
I wanna carry her all around town
And I'll show her to everybody
But I feel like
I am an elephant in a porcelain shop
I'm serious, serious
Losing myself
I'm curious, curious
Where this might end
How I like to feel, oohhh
Her eyes on me
When I look away
'Cause she is so beautiful
And I'm afraid of breaking her
And I feel like
I am an elephant in a porcelain shop
I wanna lay her down in a sea of roses everywhere, and just float away
I wanna carry her all around town
And I'll show her to everybody
But I feel like
I am an elephant in a porcelain shop
An elephant in a porcelain shop,
Oh, how I wish that I wouldn't break everything around me
She is so beautiful
And I'm afraid of breaking her
And I feel like
I am an elephant in a porcelain shop
I wanna lay her down in a sea of roses everywhere, and just float away
I wanna carry her all around town
And I'll show her to everybody
But I feel like
I am an elephant in a porcelain shop
The song "Elephant" by Mads Langer appears to be about the delicate nature of falling in love and being afraid of ruining something beautiful. The lyrics describe a mysterious girl walking towards the singer, who feels oblivious to everything happening around him. She doesn't say a word but the singer surrenders himself to her and they find themselves covered in hay. However, despite his desire to lay her down in a sea of roses and carry her all around town, the singer feels like an elephant in a porcelain shop, afraid to break everything around him, including the girl he has fallen for.
The "elephant in a porcelain shop" metaphor beautifully captures the vulnerability that comes with falling in love. The singer feels like a clumsy elephant in a delicate and fragile porcelain shop, afraid to touch anything for fear of causing damage. He is so in awe of this girl that he is willing to do anything to show her off, but at the same time, feels paralyzed with the fear of ruining everything.
Overall, the song captures the feeling that comes with falling in love – the ecstasy, the confusion, and the fear of losing something beautiful.
Line by Line Meaning
Mysterious, mysterious
The woman walking towards the singer is intriguing and difficult to understand.
As she is walking towards me
The woman is approaching the singer, who is focused on her.
Oblivious, I'm oblivious
Despite his focus on the woman, the singer is unaware of what is going on around him.
To what is happening around me
The singer is not paying attention to anything else going on besides the woman approaching him.
She's covering her face
The woman is hiding her face from the singer.
And I try to catch her eyes
Despite her attempt to hide from him, the singer tries to make eye contact with the woman.
She don't even say a word
The woman does not speak to the singer.
Delirious, I'm delirious
The singer is overcome by the woman's presence.
I surrender myself to the twilight of her
The singer is giving himself up to the woman without explanation or reason.
We're covered in the hay, yea
The singer and the woman are concealed in a haystack.
And I try to read her eyes
Despite her silence, the singer tries to understand the woman's thoughts through her eyes.
And she is so beautiful
The woman is attractive to the singer.
And I'm afraid of breaking her
The singer is scared of causing harm to the woman in some way.
I wanna lay her down in a sea of roses everywhere, and just float away
The singer wants to romantically be with the woman and escape from reality.
I wanna carry her all around town
The singer wants to show off the woman to everyone he encounters.
But I feel like
I am an elephant in a porcelain shop
The singer feels like he is clumsy and could ruin the relationship with the woman.
I'm serious, serious
The singer is genuinely invested in the relationship with the woman.
Losing myself
The singer is becoming completely immersed in the relationship with the woman.
I'm curious, curious
The singer is intrigued by the unknown in the relationship with the woman.
Where this might end
The singer is uncertain about the outcome of the relationship with the woman.
How I like to feel, oohhh
The singer enjoys the feeling of the woman's gaze on him.
Her eyes on me
The woman is looking at the singer and he is enjoying it.
When I look away
The woman is only looking at the singer when he is not looking back.
An elephant in a porcelain shop,
Oh, how I wish that I wouldn't break everything around me
The singer wishes he could be more delicate and cautious in his relationship with the woman.
Contributed by Caden R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Bjørk Jacobsen
One of my favorite songs ever. Such an amazing artist
SasGirl15
So damn proud he's gotten this far! I saw him with my class before he got all famous, and I thought he was awesome then too! My fave song at that time was Helpless, but I don't know which is my fave anymore, cuz he's just that awesome!
Rhaegar Targaryen
I loved Fact Fiction, and came looking for more from this band, and then I came across my new favourite song! Seriously these guys are just so underrated, am buying all the albums right now! Just wow!
Anna Sofie Laue
Mads you are my all time favourite artist. I have never heard anyone with a voice like yours before. You are one of a kind. I was to your concert in Sønderborg, and it was just so awsome. Stay real ;-D
Lina Sophie
I was here I'm Denmark for holidays, heard this song in the radio and tried to find it on YouTube! I really love it! Greetings from Germany! :)
Line Berthelsen
Helt igennem fantastisk sing-and songwriter. Så stolt over han endelig har fået sit gennembrud. Han fortjener al den success han får.
Alejandro Marín
Wow! This song is amazing! ¡Me encanta!
Susanne Møller Pedersen
I alle mine unge dage, blev jeg kendt som en elefant i en porcelænsbutik.🐘
Det var ikke ubegrundet...
Kommer altid til at tænke på den gang, når jeg hører Mads suveræne popnummer.🥰🎶
Candace R
My last love, he sent this to me from Denmark. He is gone now but this song always makes me smile ❤
Chelsea Them
what do u mean with hes gone hes not dead and he comes from denmark