The Cardigans

[Verse 1]
Dear, I fear we're facing a problem
You love me no longer, I know and
Maybe there is nothing that I can do
To make you do
Mama tells me I shouldn’t bother
That I ought just to stick to another man
A man that surely deserves me
But I think you do

[Pre-Chorus]
So I cry, and I pray, and I beg

[Chorus]
Love me, love me
Say that you love me
Fool me, fool me
Go on and fool me
Love me, love me
Pretend that you love me
Leave me, leave me
Just say that you need me
So I cry and I beg for you to
Love me, love me
Say that you love me
Leave me, leave me
Just say that you need me
I can't care about anything but you

[Verse 2]
Lately I have desperately pondered
Spent my nights awake and I wonder
What I could have done in another way
To make you stay
Reason will not lead to solution
I will end up lost in confusion
I don't care if you really care
As long as you don’t go

[Pre-Chorus]
So I cry, and I pray, and I beg

[Chorus]
Love me, love me
Say that you love me
Fool me, fool me
Go on and fool me
Love me, love me
Pretend that you love me
Leave me, leave me
Just say that you need me
So I cry and I beg for you to
Love me, love me
Say that you love me
Leave me, leave me
Just say that you need me
I can't care about anything but you
(Anything but you)

[Outro]
Love me, love me
Say that you love me
Fool me, fool me
Go on and fool me
Love me, love me
I know that you need me
I can't care about anything but you

One of the most pleasing pop groups of the ‘90s, the Cardigans specialized in sugary confections that would grow annoying very quickly if they weren’t backed by solid musicianship and clever arrangements. The band’s 1995 breakout album, Life, reflected the Cardigans at their most saccharine – the sunny disposition of vocalist Nina Persson being the major argument in favor – and critics inserted the group into the space age pop revivalist camp. the Cardigans later proved that they were more difficult to pigeonhole, however.

Even the band’s origins showed that their later appearance was quite misleading; two heavy metal fanatics formed the group in October 1992 in Jonkoping, Sweden. Guitarist Peter Svensson met bassist Magnus Sveningsson in a hardcore group, though he had previously trained in music theory and jazz arranging. The two later grew tired of metal and decided to form a pop band with vocalist Nina Persson – an art-school friend who had never sung professionally – plus keyboard player Lars-Olof Johansson and drummer Bengt Lagerberg.

All five Cardigans moved into a small apartment in 1993 and began recording a demo tape that entered the hands of producer Tore Johansson later that year. He liked what he heard and invited the group to record at his Malmö studio. Signed to the dance-oriented Stockholm label, the Cardigans released Emmerdale in May 1994. The single “Rise & Shine” became a hit on Swedish radio soon after the release of the LP, and a readers poll in Sweden’s Slitz magazine voted Emmerdale the best album of 1994.

more tracks from the album

Best Of (Bonus CD)

From the albums

Lovefool - Single (1997)
Best Of (Bonus CD) (2008)

The Cardigans popular songs

Lovefool (Puck Version)The Cardigans

The Cardigans

Best Of (Bonus CD)