måndag 16 april 2018

Vanderland lyrics


Vanderland – Wanderland
Second song on Svavelvinter's full-length album Mörkrets Tid.
English lyrics translation and explanations below.
Album available at Dimout Production.
Link to video

Vanderland is sung by those who flee from the polar island Marjura as it is invaded by the undead seen on the album cover.

Swedish lyrics
Vårt liv var
nu rinner det med blod ur handen
och sinnen bar
de bleka fingrars spår i sanden
Vi står här, vi väntar på den karga stranden
men sorgen tär de råa, sönderslitna banden

En mörk däld
vi följer bort från hemmahärden
Mot norrskenets eld
och fjärran stränders is går färden

En kall dag
vi går i skepp från moderjorden
Med vindars tag
hörs mörka vågor slå mot borden
En blek syn, då tystnar alla sorgeorden
som havens dyn ur skogen väller döda horden

En tusenårig leda
min vilja fjättrad med eviga band
Jag bidar stum i nedan
vars smälta sätter mig i brand
För synen böljar ringen
Jag trälar under mitt ögas tyrann
En väg för all och ingen
I dimma elden undan rann

Folk som djur
slät som kvur
lämnar trakten
Övermakten
härjar, jagar
De som klagar
flyr från döden
Dolda öden
väntar vaga
Sorgesaga
fä som frände
går till ände
Rinn i natten
blod som vatten
ur min hand
Vanderland

En lång tid på Gjutenheim 
vi levt, nu är den
med Kmorda förbi
Nu brinner jord, nu smälter världen


English translation
Our life that was
now pours with blood from our hands
Our senses trail
pale fingers in the sand
We stand waiting on the barren shore
grief tearing the raw, torn ties

Through a dark valley
we wander from the hearth of home
Towards the burning northern lights
and ice of unknown shores we walk

One cold day
by ship we leave our native home
With every gust of wind
dark waves lap against the strakes
A paling view, silencing all wailing
Like swell of the sea, the dead come forth

A thousand years of dejection
my mind bound by eternal ties
I wait muted below
where the smelt burns me
Before my eye the ring wavers
I'm a slave under the tyrant of my gaze
A road for all and no one
My fire swallowed by the mist

People and beasts
smooth and kvur
leave the lands
Mighty powers
ravage and hunt
Those who wail
flee from death
Hidden destinies
dimly await
Saga of sorrow
beasts and folk
reach their end
Run in the night
blood and water
from my hand
Wanderland

A long time in Gjutenheim 
we lived, now it has passed
along with Kmorda 
Earth is burning, world is melting

# # #

Red text is sung by the native humans
Blue text is sung by Jagganath, a giant being trapped in the magma under Marjura
Black text is a description of what's going on
Green text is sung by the ice giants that leave since the glacier Kmorda is melting. Their village Gjutenheim means ”Cast home”, since the houses were cast from lava. It is a paraphrase on Jotunheim, the land of giants in Norse mythology.

Please ask away if you have any questions!
(Incidently, Vanderland is the title of the fourth book in my fantasy tetralogy. There's a double meaning to the word, but I won't spoil the story.)

5 kommentarer:

Unknown sa...

Härligt! Har nu lyssnat/tittat hela eftermiddagen! Vilken härlig fredagspresent! Snygg video! Utropstecken! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p__NMTEsP3Y

Anonym sa...

När Akademiens självklare Shagul snart kommer rasa så är det väl dags för dig likt Arn att kliva fram och ta ditt ödesbestämda ansvar. Eller? /Blatifagus

Erik Granström sa...

Vad bryr sig väl Brushanens arvtagare om dessa syndalders mjäkande fnoller? Bättre lämpar det sig att du, Blatifagus, vädrar svalgens spjäll genom att blåsa rent i dessa pappersriddares pungahus!

Ignacy Marek Kaminski sa...

While reading in my ancient Japanese Kamakura hometown the magic lyrics based on Erik’s Swedish novels, my Polish imagination gone wild enough to play with an idea of turning all 8 songs into a Noh-style musical performance. A week ago Swedish King Carl Gustaf visited one of Kamakura’s temples to celebrate 150 years of Swedish-Japanese Diplomatic Relations. As the Swedish Royals were accompanied by a powerful business delegation, perhaps some of both countries’ business leaders may consider endorsing such an imaginative collaboration by setting up a cross-cultural musical performance on the grounds of one of Kamakura’s 100 shrines and temples. Being an anthropologist, I believe that there is no more effective grassroots diplomacy than linking our emotions through arts. Thank you, Erik, for your beautiful writing that crosses cultural boundaries so naturally. Greetings from Japan. Ignacy Marek Kaminski

Erik Granström sa...

Marek: Thank you for your kind words, and I like the way you think in emotionally exciting crossovers. In fact my and Christian Älvestams album is precisely this since we met mostly by chance, coming from two very different backgrounds. We have both found inspiration in the challenge of understanding and working with the other. In my experience this kind of projects often lead to novel and unexpected results, populating rooms that previously didn't even exist.

Considering Japanese-Swedish cross-culture, I'm in the end phase of this album and another big project. Next I intend to write a novel but also a play, where I dream of deploying Japanese butoh-dancers as refugees at the world's end.