Bonnie wrote asking for help with a Swedish lullaby.  Here’s her email: Hello!  I just discovered your lovely site when looking for more words to a Swedish lullaby my father (85) tried to remember all his adult life.  We only have this little bit: Ro, ro sharen Placka biben baren Do you know any more?  We would love to...

Elizabeth wrote asking for help with a Swedish song.  Here’s her note: My Swedish mother would sing a Swedish song to me as she bounced me on her knee. In Swedish it started out, "Mormor’s lilla lassa". Her English translation was: “Once there was a little boy and he wanted to go for a ride, but he...

Kendall Bergstrom wrote to me asking for help with a Swedish Christmas song about Santa having a cold.  Here’s what he wrote: Hello, Do you have the song about Santa and his cold during Christmas time?  My father used to sing it every Christmas eve, and it ended with Santa sneezing saying, "Achee Achee Achee pruuzee!"…  Or...

Dejah Leger (a singer) sent us this recording of a Swedish Lullaby.  Here’s what Dejah wrote about it: "…the Swedish Lullaby, which is actually a Swedish tune sung to ‘nonsense’ syllables.  I can’t find the name of the tune right now, but I could with a little digging...

Here are some requests for help we got about some Swedish songs and rhymes.  Sometimes the Swedish parts are given phonetically… 1.  Maria Nyckelpiga  Mama Lisa,  I’m looking for the lyrics of a song my Mama used to sing. It starts:  “Maria Nyckelpiga sat å grät på et logg.  inte kan jag, inte kan jag nånsin...

Mary asked me for help with a Swedish song. Here’s what she wrote: I lived in Sweden as an exchange student, many years ago. I have a small music box from then that I now want to give to my granddaughter. The music it plays is a Swedish children’s song, something like: Titta, kom...

My Traditional Swedish FolkSongs is a site featuring scores and midis for many Swedish folk songs. If you’re looking for tunes and sheet music to go to traditional Swedish songs, check it out. We also have some traditional Swedish songs with English, French and Spanish translations on Mama Lisa’s World. Enjoy! Mama Lisa

Rida, Rida Ranka is a rhyme and song known to many in Scandinavia and to the families of Scandinavian immigrants in the US. Lance N. Peterson wrote to me of its significance to his family. (I added links below to the versions of Rida, rida ranka he talks about.) Dear Lisa: Words are what we...

Joyce Johnson wrote: Does anyone know the Swedish children’s song that goes something like this? (Translation from dictionary is…) JAG er litten nu , så du se min vän , utom snart I’ll bli så stor så mama. I believe translates into “I am little now, as you see my friend, but soon I’ll be as...

Wendy wrote: I can remember my grandfather holding me on his lap an singing the following: (some in phonetics) Spin, spin, spin, min dotter min E meran kommer free and fran dotter spun och tor en run aldrigt kommer (free and fran?) Does anyone remember the correct wording? My daughter, whom I sang this to when she was little, now...

Lori wrote: Dear Mama Lisa, I am so excited to find this website because I have been searching for many years to find out about two Danish or Swedish nursery rhymes (you can listen to them by clicking the link). My mother’s beloved grandfather, Lars Christensen, used to bounce her on his knee and recite these...

Leslie wrote: My grandmother is dying of cancer. When I was little she used to sing a Swedish lullaby to me about a little bird and sweet milk. It goes something like this: Tsat tun lit and forglit and paratntray… quilint and vockor lisit… ….spornot mot, ….reset…sit and milk made sovary silk and sank till savory… daiska lilla …mot por...

Kristin wrote to me looking for help with a song: Hi Lisa, I was surfing and stumbled upon your site and I’m hoping you can help me. My Mother learned a song from her Grandmother. In fact, she remembers the song being sung to her every night as a child. My Great-Grandmother spoke little...

I recently received the following email asking about some Swedish kids songs… When my children were young we had Swedish neighbours and they taught them songs from Dalarna. Unfortunately I forgot the lyrics and can only remember the tunes. I would like so much to restore my memory of “Dansan med dokan” or “Ole sat pa en...

Ronnie wrote: My Father and uncle used to put us on their knees and bounce us and say this rhyme. Something about a fox. I don’t know if they were speaking Swedish or English (and pronouncing the words badly)… “A raven come a walkin a balkin, a talkin a piddlee peekin.” They’d start down at our bellies...

Several days ago I wrote a post about the Santa Lucia holiday in Sweden and Scandinavia. A popular saying associated with this holiday is: Lucy Light, The Shortest day & The Longest Night. This saying celebrates the association of St Lucia’s Day, December 13, with the Winter Solstice which, under the old Julian calendar, used to fall...

Last year I wrote about St. Knut’s Day, a holiday celebrated on January 13th, in Sweden, Finland and Norway. St. Knut’s Day is all about getting rid of all the Christmas decorations and throwing out the tree, thus ending the Christmas season. When I wrote about it last year, I asked if anyone knew of...