Skålvisa från Jät

  Rather than a dance tune, this is a drinking song.  It dates from the mid 1800’s, and is known to have been sung in the little town of Jät (pronounced “Yet”) in the province of Småland.

  It was preserved for posterity by the fiddler August Strömberg, born in 1860.

It is a drinking song, and the words are somewhat comical, since the singer wants to celebrate his own funeral, because he doesn’t want to miss the fun when the occasion really comes up.

Kom nu, gubbar. ska vi supa,                                  Min begravning detta är.                                          För när jag i graven stupa,                                      Kan jag inte vara med.                                           Åsså du åsså jag, åsså di åsso vi,                      Blott det ej sker uti fylleri,                                      Kom och se hur lustigt vi klinga,                        Dessa glasen tömmar vi!

Come now, guys, let’s drink,                                   This is my funeral!                                                    For when I do enter the grave,                                      I won’t get to participate!                                           So you and I, so ye and we,                                      As long as it doesn’t happen without drunkenness,  Come and se how lustily we toast,                    These glasses we will empty!

 

Until the 1970’s, this was just an obscure piece of music found in an old collection of tunes.   But then a jazz singer named Merit Hemmingson put out some LP albums using traditional Swedish folk music arranged for modern jazz instruments.  The first and best-known of these, called “Bergtagen”, also included the playing of some first-rate fiddlers from Dalarna.  The Skålvisa från Jät was suddenly famous all over Sweden.

Here is a link to the song from her album.  It includes all 3 verses of the song, with the men in the group joining in on the chorus.  They finish with the sound of glasses clinking.