Hey dear people! 🙂
Today, I’d like to share with you a song from a very interesting Swedish group that I recently discovered. RO.T (Rebecka O’Nils Trio) set Swedish-language poetry from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries to music. They are influenced by classical and folk music. Apart from Rebecka O’Nils who composes melodies for the poems that the group performs, the other two thirds of the trio are Jenny Klefbom, who arranges harmonies for the songs, and William Bülow O’Nils who arranges them for guitar.
This particular song comes from their debut album, which focuses entirely on the poetry of Harriet Löwenhjelm. Löwenhjelm was born in the latter half of the 19th century. She was artistically inclined from an early age and, originally, she wrote her poems as a way to complement her drawings and paintings. Some of her poems are very well-known in Sweden from what I’ve read. Sadly, she lived only until her early thirties, as she had contracted tuberculosis, and spent her last months in a sanatorium in Småland.
I like the poem itself, as it definitely speaks to my angsty nature, but RO.T’s interpretation makes it even more beautiful and full of meaning.
The (possibly slightly inept, and literal, not poetic) translation below is written by Bibielz.
I am afraid of mists in the valley
And the moon sucks my blood
Oh, I stood at home on the doorstep
I might regain my courage
But I am afraid of mists in the valley
And the moon sucks my blood
Oh, , I stood at home on the doorstep
I might regain my courage
But I am afraid of mists in the valley
They rise so pale from the soil
As if white ghosts they walk
Though the moon is not full yet
He still sucks my liver
Oh, I am afraid of mists in the valley
And the moon sucks my blood
Oh, I stood at home on the doorstep
I might regain my courage
But I am afraid of mists in the valley
My Inner MishMash 