'Cause what good is pillaging if you can't sing about it?
Not quite what I had in mind when I promised this morning that I'd do a post today, but oh well, my brain works in mysterious ways sometimes.
On the bus to work, I was thinking about "Härjarevisan" (The Pillager Song) from the classic Spex Djingis Khan, and how "pillage" rhymes with "village" in English... which of course meant that I had to make an English translation. By the time I was taking the bus back from work again, my translation was finished. (And yes, I did actually properly work in the meantime!)
Now, since I made the translation in one day only, it's obviously not up to the wonderful linguistic standards of Hasse Alfredson's original, but it should give the English-speakers among you some idea of what sort of songs are considered suitable for little Swedish children to learn. :-)
NB: May be offensive to people who don't like pillaging - and to Mongolians, I guess - which is why it's behind a cut.
The Pillager Song from Gengis Khan
Hooray, the tribe is stirring, it is time to get started!
Tally-o, dear horsie, it is time that we parted
mealy-faced civilians from their money and lives and other things!
My dear beloved horse, to the Mongolian nose
your unhygienic smell is just as sweet as the rose.
I long to have your back between my legs
as we ride around like kings.
'Cause we're going out to pillage,
we're gonna loot each village,
burn their houses, beat their little kids,
get drunk and fight and curse! (Insert curse of choice here.)
The fields will be wet and bloody.
Gee, I was born so cruddy,
but I have to say that Murder 1
in college made me worse.
Now, arson is a lovely thing, bring more gasoline!
I paint before my inner eye the glorious scene
as we turn out the fire in the old-fashioned, true Mongolian way.
The blood will drown the flames, oh what a sight then to see!
The red and orange mixing up, not even Dalí
could paint a pretty picture quite like ours,
no matter what they say.
'Cause we're going out to pillage... (etc)
I couldn't find a good YouTube clip of the spex original, but it's set to the tune of the folk song Gärdebylåten, and I found a very good YouTube clip of Gärdebylåten. Not about pillaging in that version - truth be told, I barely understand a word of what he's singing! (It's in pretty heavy dialect.)
If you think some of the phrases are hard to sing, you're quite right - if you can sing Härjarvisan you're not too drunk yet!
On the bus to work, I was thinking about "Härjarevisan" (The Pillager Song) from the classic Spex Djingis Khan, and how "pillage" rhymes with "village" in English... which of course meant that I had to make an English translation. By the time I was taking the bus back from work again, my translation was finished. (And yes, I did actually properly work in the meantime!)
Now, since I made the translation in one day only, it's obviously not up to the wonderful linguistic standards of Hasse Alfredson's original, but it should give the English-speakers among you some idea of what sort of songs are considered suitable for little Swedish children to learn. :-)
NB: May be offensive to people who don't like pillaging - and to Mongolians, I guess - which is why it's behind a cut.
The Pillager Song from Gengis Khan
Hooray, the tribe is stirring, it is time to get started!
Tally-o, dear horsie, it is time that we parted
mealy-faced civilians from their money and lives and other things!
My dear beloved horse, to the Mongolian nose
your unhygienic smell is just as sweet as the rose.
I long to have your back between my legs
as we ride around like kings.
'Cause we're going out to pillage,
we're gonna loot each village,
burn their houses, beat their little kids,
get drunk and fight and curse! (Insert curse of choice here.)
The fields will be wet and bloody.
Gee, I was born so cruddy,
but I have to say that Murder 1
in college made me worse.
Now, arson is a lovely thing, bring more gasoline!
I paint before my inner eye the glorious scene
as we turn out the fire in the old-fashioned, true Mongolian way.
The blood will drown the flames, oh what a sight then to see!
The red and orange mixing up, not even Dalí
could paint a pretty picture quite like ours,
no matter what they say.
'Cause we're going out to pillage... (etc)
I couldn't find a good YouTube clip of the spex original, but it's set to the tune of the folk song Gärdebylåten, and I found a very good YouTube clip of Gärdebylåten. Not about pillaging in that version - truth be told, I barely understand a word of what he's singing! (It's in pretty heavy dialect.)
If you think some of the phrases are hard to sing, you're quite right - if you can sing Härjarvisan you're not too drunk yet!