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 vara glad”. It contnues to say that she can’t be happy because the style for the y ear is six spots and she has only five.
Thank you so much for your attempt to find this for me. My 50 year old daughter has heard me sing it and wants to pass it on to her daughter. I am, Sincerely, Martha Sponberg Skoien
2. Baka baka bulla
I have been looking all over for the words to this Swedish song. I hope someone can help. I am afraid it may be a variation my family came up (or that evolved over the years) with as it seems to be a variation on ‘baka baka liten kaka‘. Here it is as I remember it (phonetic):
Baka baka bulla
Lady schmera schmoola
peekie k…nocka peekie knocka
oooona uppa ooonaAny help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Sophia
3. Tuson lulon
Hello. I look at your website all the time looking for an old swedish lullaby that has been sung in my family for many generations. Everyone in my family has a different version…nobody knows the correct words. ha ha I know my great great grandmother used to sing the lullaby to my great grandmother. I am sure it went back even further. I am going to attempt to write out the words to the beginning of the song…not sure if they are even close to being correct. This is the only part of the song we all sing the same. Thank you for your time. I know there is a very small chance that you or someone you know have heard of it.
Tuson lulon lulon lay…..
Thanks. Stephanie
4. Hop scata rea
My Mother always remembered and could recite a poem that her Swedish Father used to say to her. I don’t know how to spell the words and not all of them. The vowels in Caps are pronounced like the letter.
Hop scata rEa
Two a smala Pia
Ona stata oof
Ona stata boof (like boo with an f on it) Tre set O bAnka O palistina lAnka. O palistinO lAnkaI know this is probably hard but it would be fun to know and to keep it in the family.
Thank you.
Connie
5. Svesca say al la ye
Hi
I’m looking for words to a Swedish Chalet Song …the only words are svesca say al la ye, svesca say al la ye, halyanna scanecklee, halyanna scanecklee, dow mooch va al la ye. Then you do motions with hands saying “yun na na na na, yun na na, etc. Sorry about my spelling of these words, but this was something we sang in our Girl Scout Troop 50 years ago.
Sure hope you can help me.
Thanks so much
Kay
6. Bak a kokker
Love your website! My daughter-in-law is Swedish born. I would like to sing some Swedish songs to my granddaughter. Her Mormor taught her ‘bak a kokker’, sorry spelling is bad… but I would like to continue to sing this to our Elsa now that Mormor has returned to Sweden…would you have the lyrics? Thanks, I appreciate all these songs and will give them a try! Linda (Farmor)
If you’re able to help with any of these questions, please comment below.
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Languages, Lullabies, Nursery Rhymes, Readers Questions, Sweden, Swedish, Swedish Children's Songs, Swedish Lullabies, Swedish Nursery Rhymes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
4 Responses to “Can Anyone Help with Some Swedish Songs and Rhymes?”
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December 3rd, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Hi Mama Lisa!
I’m a swedish kindergarten teacher. Came accross your blog as I was searching for the lyrics to a Lucia song.
Anyway, on your blog you have posted questions from people re Swedish poems, nursery rhymes etc. I found the text to “Maria nyckelpiga” in a pdf file from Göteborgs universitetsbibliotek (Gothenburg University Library) – see: http://www.ub.gu.se/fasta/laban/erez/kvinnohistoriska/tidskrifter/idun/1899/pdf/1899_56.pdf
It’s posted in the univeristy’s archive for Womens Historical Magazines, and is called “IDUN -Illustrerad tidning för kvinnan och hemmet” N:R 56 (631). L Ö R D A G E N D E N 15 JULI 1899. 12:TE ÅRG. (in translation “IDUN – Illustrated magazine for the woman and the home” No. 56 (631). Saturday 15 July 1899. Issue:12.) The front page article is about Anna Roos, a woman studing to become a teacher. During her student years, together with eight fellow students interested in litterature, Anna Roos started a society where they gathered to read their own poems, stories, etc. “Maria nyckelpigas bekymmer” is one of the poems she wrote.
Since the magazine is old, the swedish wording and style of writing is old. But it goes like this:
MARIA NYCKELPIGAS BEKYMMER
Maria nyckelpiga satt och grät på ett blad:
»Inte kan jag — inte kan jag nånsin blifva glad.»
»Men, kära lilla nyckelpiga,» majbaggen sad’,
hvarför kan du — hvarför kan du inte blifva glad?»
»Jo, sex svarta prickar på kjolen bär jag ju,
och modet i år — ack, det är att bära sju!»
»Åh, kära lilla nyckelpiga, gråt inte så!
»Jag tycker,» sa’ majbaggen, »att du är söt ändå!»
»Åh, tycker du det?» sa’ nyckelpigan och log.
»Ja, kanske — ja, kanske, att sex prickar äro nog.»
This is the litteral translation:
MARY LADYBUG’S TRUBBLES
Mary ladybug sat and wept on a leaf:
»I can not, – I can not ever become glad.»
»But, dear little ladybug,» blister beetle said’,
why can’t you — why can’t you become glad?»
»Well, six black dots I wear on my skirt,
and fashion this year — oh, it is to wear seven!»
»Oh, dear ladybug, don’t cry so!
»I think» said blister beetle, »that you are cute anyway!»
»Oh, do you think so?» said the ladybug and smiled.
»Yes, maybe — yes, maybe, that six dots is enough.»
Hope this helps! =) I’ve never heard of this poem, before and don’t know of any melody, as it according to your subscriber that requesed help, has sung it
Sincerly,
Assy
December 3rd, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Wow! Thanks so much for all the info and translation. I wonder if the person looking for it can share the tune with us. That would be neat.
Best regards,
Lisa
December 3rd, 2011 at 10:12 pm
Hi again!
Someone on your site was looking for “Tuson lulon” – don’t know what that’s in Swedish, but the phrase “lulon lulon lay” could actually be “lullan lullan lej” so I googled that.
Found the song “Himlen är av stjärnor full” (“Heaven is Full of Stars”) with words by: Jeanna Otterdal and music by: Erik Stam and a midi recording of the melody by: Kurt
see: http://hem.passagen.se/kurtglim/del1o/himstjfl.htm
According to a forum on a web site “Himlen är av stjärnor full” can be found in the Swedish song book “Nu ska vi sjunga” (Publisher: Almqvist & Wiksell)
see: http://www.alltforforaldrar.se/forumarchive/forums/viewArticle/61/7465851/7505803nother
“Tuson lulon” could also have something to do with ‘a thousand’ I gooled ‘tusen lullan lullan lej’ and came across a Swedish folk song with the words “Tusselullagulla snälla” and “lullan, lullan, lej” in the chorus.
The song is called “Älskaren i gluggen” (in traslation “The lover in the small window”), and talks about a farm lady who’s not going to let her lover in as “father is home”. She continues to make excuses as to why the lover can’t enter, even though she see his “blue eye looking in”; the “grey beard’s” in the bed, or the”little ones” might wake up. Eventually though she lets himthe lover know where the key is, and in the last verse she will let the lover in if he comes on Saturday, as the “grey beard’s at the mill”. There’s a recording and Swedish lyrics at You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAgLIZhnmbM&feature=player_embedded
Hope this helps!
Assy
February 13th, 2023 at 5:31 am
My grandmother used to sing a lullaby to me. She repeated the same word over and over again with a melody. It sounded something like Na, Na, Na. She would have left Sweden somewhere around 1900.