Galakväll [English translation]

Now it's a Gala Evening, and one should be kind

Now one shall smile at those one would rather kill.

Now the women gather around photographers;

Now the fight among the rivals begins.

It's where they socialize, the succesful, who succeeded in their field,

with famous junkies who never did anything.

It's where the brains talk to the ones that know nothing,

and everyone pretends to like each other.

Here a Socialist bigwig stands with some sort of transvestite,

and with an opponent he thinks is a shithead.

Now they are like brothers, openly whores;

This evening they sit at the same table.

And the mistress of the famous director

seduces the man who the directors wife seduced.

and everyone knows everything and everyone swallows everything;

It's all about getting what you want.

Around the journalists flock the artists

whose careers haven't any longer gone so well.

They sell divorce, they sell unfaithfulness;

They sell whatever comes along.

One sells out his child, one sells out his mother,

one sells out his soul, one sells out his faith.

and when one has nothing he can sell well,

so he creates gossip and slander.

And around the country the common people read

and look at pictures of all the stars.

One group have lost their job, one group have lost their hope,

one group can no longer get themselves up.

But why write about the dull reality?

Tomorrow it is Gala Evening again.

• Artist:Björn Afzelius
• Album:Nära dej (1994)