One of this year’s summer hits in Sweden was Ingen vill veta var du köpt din tröja<\/i>, a catchy little tune with a refrain that’s been stuck in my head for months now. The other day when it came on the radio I said to Olof that I liked it and he said, “What? This song with the depressing lyrics?”<\/p>\n
I was a little suprised, because I’d never really listened to the words (a bad habit I have when it comes to Swedish songs), and the only line I really knew was the title line (“No-one wants to know where you bought your sweater”). That and the upbeat tempo left me imagining that it was a song about girly cliques and fashion rivalry or something. Boy was I wrong.<\/p>\n
I asked Olof what lyrics were depressing and he sang the chorus for me, which, loosely translated, is “No-one will grieve when you die; no-one will miss the things you do; No-one wants to know where you bought your sweater, even though you’ve done everything you should, you’re polite, you’re cheerful, and you’ve done away with your stupid dialect.” Egad.<\/p>\n
Now that I know the words I can’t return to the blissful ignorance of hearing without listening. Trouble is, it’s still a catchy tune and a pretty well-crafted song at that, so I can’t just dismiss it. For the curious, I’m listing the Swedish lyrics below, with my translation to English:<\/p>\n
Ingen vill veta var du k\u00f6pt din tr\u00f6ja<\/b>
\nby Raymond Och Maria<\/p>\n
Bussen går halv-nio, men den brukar vara sen.
\nHar man otur blir det bråttom n\u00e4r män kommit fram.
\nOm man går genom tunneln kan man spara nån minut,
\nmen då får man räkna med rödljusen vid korsningen.<\/i><\/p>\n
The bus leaves at eight-thirty but it’s usually late.
\nIf you’re unlucky you’ll have to hurry when you get there.
\nIf you go through the tunnel you can save a minute,
\nbut then you have to count on a red light at the crossing.<\/p>\n
På jobbet vet jag att november kan bli svår,
\nminst vart fjärde samtal måste leda till ett köp.
\nMen alla verkar nöjda och vi har en ny bra chef.
\nHan kan allas namn och säger hej varenda morgon, men…<\/i><\/p>\n
At work I know that November can be rough,
\nAt least every fourth call must lead to a sale.
\nBut everyone seems satisfied and we have a good new boss.
\nHe knows everybody’s name and says “hello” every morning, but …<\/p>\n
(chorus)
\nIngen sörjer n\u00e4r du dör, ingen ska sakna det du gör,
\ningen vill veta var du köpt din tröja.
\nOch fast du gjort allt som man ska, du är artig, du är glad,
\noch du har tränat bort din dumma dialekt.<\/i><\/p>\n
No-one will grieve when you die, no-one will miss the things you do,
\nNo-one wants to know where you bought your sweater.
\nEven though you’ve done everything you should, you’re polite, you’re cheerful,
\nand you’ve done away with your stupid dialect.<\/p>\n
Nästa lördag kanske vi ska titta på ett hus,
\ndet finns några nya som de bygger vid stationen.
\nGör man lite själv så blir det inte farligt dyrt
\nOch din man är händig, han har redan byggt en bastu, men…<\/i><\/p>\n
Next Saturday maybe we’ll look at a house,
\nThere are some new ones that they’re building by the station.
\nIf you do some of the work yourself it’s not so expensive
\nand your husband is handy, he’s already built a sauna, but. …<\/p>\n
(chorus x 2)<\/p>\n
Förra sommar’n minns jag, den var faktiskt riktigt fin.
\nSol varenda dag, vi hade hyrt ett torp i Värmland.
\nHur vi gör i år det är ännu inte helt bestämt,
\nmen vi har jobbat bra, så vi ska få extra semester.<\/i><\/p>\n
Last summer I remember that it was actually really nice.
\nSun every day, we rented a summerhouse in Värmland.
\nWhat we’ll do this summer isn’t really decided yet,
\nbut we’ve worked hard so we’ll have extra vacation.<\/p>\n
(chorus)<\/p>\n
Och fast ni flyttat till ett hus som är öppet, fräscht och ljust
\nså kommer inga gäster minnas var det låg,
\nOch fast du lärt dig varje låt och fast du har en härlig båt,
\nså finns det ingen som vill röra vid din kind.<\/i><\/p>\n
And even though you moved to a house that’s open, airy, and light
\nnone of the guests will remember where it was.
\nAnd even though you learned every song and you have a great boat
\nthere’s nobody who wants to touch your cheek.<\/p>\n
(chorus)<\/p>\n
***************<\/p>\n
Christ, that’s bleak. It’s a good thing I’m in a happy place these days, or it might just do me in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of this year’s summer hits in Sweden was Ingen vill veta var du köpt din tröja, a catchy little tune with a refrain that’s been stuck in my head for months now. The other day when it came on the radio I said to Olof that I liked it and he said, “What? This… Read More Heavy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beverlyrevelry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beverlyrevelry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beverlyrevelry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beverlyrevelry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beverlyrevelry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beverlyrevelry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3047,"href":"https:\/\/www.beverlyrevelry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions\/3047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beverlyrevelry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beverlyrevelry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beverlyrevelry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}