Musical Interlude: Lyckliga gatan
Here's for picking more Swedish classics! :D
In the 1960s and 1970s, many old houses were demolished to give room for new (and, let's face it, ugly) housing developments. This 1967 song by Anna-Lena Löfgren is called Lyckliga gatan ("The Happy Street") and is about how the street where she grew up has been destroyed in order to become a part of the concrete jungle. It's a very emotional song, and I love the song for its message about wanting to preserve the environment.
The video features old postcards from around Sweden, according to the person who put it together, and he also says that much of what is depicted no longer exists. :(
Swedish lyrics first, followed by an English translation.
And if we translate it:
In the 1960s and 1970s, many old houses were demolished to give room for new (and, let's face it, ugly) housing developments. This 1967 song by Anna-Lena Löfgren is called Lyckliga gatan ("The Happy Street") and is about how the street where she grew up has been destroyed in order to become a part of the concrete jungle. It's a very emotional song, and I love the song for its message about wanting to preserve the environment.
The video features old postcards from around Sweden, according to the person who put it together, and he also says that much of what is depicted no longer exists. :(
Swedish lyrics first, followed by an English translation.
Minnena kommer så ofta till mej
Nu är allt borta jag fattar det ej
Borta är huset där murgrönan klängde
Borta är grinden där vi stod och hängde
Lyckliga gata du som varje dag hörde vårt glam
En gång fanns rosor här där nu en stad fort växer fram
Lyckliga gatan du finns inte mer
Du har försvunnit med hela kvarter
Tystnat har leken, tystnat har sången
Högt över marken svävar betongen
När jag kom åter var allt så förändrat
Trampat och skövlat, fördärvat och skändat
Skall mellan dessa höga hus en dag stiga en sång
Lika förunderlig och skön som den vi hört en gång?
Ja, allt är borta, det är bara så
Ändå så vill jag nog inte förstå
Att min idyll, som ju alla vill glömma
Nu är en dröm som jag en gång fått drömma
Allting är borta, huset och linden
Och mina vänner skingrats för vinden
Lyckliga gatan, det är tiden som här dragit fram
Du fått ge vika nu för asfalt och för makadam
Lyckliga gatan du finns inte mer
Du har försvunnit med hela kvarter
Tystnat har leken, tystnat har sången
Högt över marken svävar betongen
När jag kom åter var allt så förändrat
Trampat och skövlat, fördärvat och skändat
Skall mellan dessa höga hus en dag stiga en sång
Lika förunderlig och skön som den vi hört en gång?
And if we translate it:
The memories come so often to me
Now everything is gone, I can't comprehend it
Gone is the house where the ivy clung [to it]
Gone is the gate where we stood and leaned [onto it]
Happy street, you who every day heard our din
Once there was roses here where now a city quickly springs forth
Happy street, you no longer exist
You have disappeared with entire blocks
The games have gone quiet, the songs have silenced
Concrete soars high above the ground
When I returned everything was so changed
Trampled and devastated, destroyed and desecrated
Will there one day between these houses rise a song
As wondrous and beautiful like the one we once heard?
Yes, everything's gone, that's just how it is
Still I don't think I want to understand
That my idyll, that everyone apparently wants to forget
Now is a dream that I once got to dream
Everything is gone, the house and the lime/linden tree
And my friends have scattered to the wind
Happy street, it's the time that has gone moved through
You've had to give way to asphalt and macadam
Happy street, you no longer exist
You have disappeared with entire blocks
The games have gone quiet, the songs have silenced
Concrete soars high above the ground
When I returned everything was so changed
Trampled and devastated, destroyed and desecrated
Will there one day between these houses rise a song
As wondrous and beautiful like the one we once heard?
There is an English version of this song too :-) I remember the first time I heard it and was shocked because I thought it only existed in Swedish
ReplyDeleteCool, didn't know that. Do you know if it's by another artist or the same one? :)
DeleteI know "Trettifyran" is originally a song in English by an English-speaking artist, which is why I didn't pick that one.