Name that (Danish) tune!
February 6, 2009 3:20 PM Subscribe
[Name-that-tune-Filter] Looking for the name and/or general translation of a Danish song my mother learned from friends as a child.
So, I've posted the twenty-seconds-of-the-song that she remembers up on Vimeo as a video file.
The song was taught to her by her friends Donna and Karla when they were all about 8 years old (back around 1940), so it's possible that it's a nursery rhyme (?). Donna and Karla's parents (who also knew the song) had come over from Denmark, hence the assumption it's a Danish song.
Any ideas?
So, I've posted the twenty-seconds-of-the-song that she remembers up on Vimeo as a video file.
The song was taught to her by her friends Donna and Karla when they were all about 8 years old (back around 1940), so it's possible that it's a nursery rhyme (?). Donna and Karla's parents (who also knew the song) had come over from Denmark, hence the assumption it's a Danish song.
Any ideas?
Best answer: According to this page here, it's called "Højt på en gren en krage" (High on a branch a crow), written by Johan Ludvig Heiberg and based on an old German folk melody.
Højt på en gren en krage (high on a branch a crow),
- simsaladim bamba saladu saladim -
højt på en gren en krage sad (high on a branch a crow sat).
Så kom en hæslig jæger (then came a horrible hunter),
- simsaladim bamba saladu saladim -
så kom en hæslig jæger hen (then came a horrible hunter walking).
Han skød den stakkels krage (he shot the poor crow),
- simsaladim bamba saladu saladim -
han skød den stakkels krage ned (he shot the poor crow down).
Nu er den stakkels krage (now the poor crow),
- simsaladim bamba saladu saladim -
nu er den stakkels krage død (now the poor crow is dead).
Rough translation in parenthesis. Done by a Swede, though, so there may be other more appropriate English words in some places, but that gives you the gist. In Sweden at least, simsalabim** is sort of a nonsense word along the lines of abracadabra. It's used to indicate something that happened as through magic. Sort of like "The poor kid was crying. But then I sang her a song, and simsalabim! she was laughing instead". I'm unsure of what the rest of the words mean, though.
I found it by trying a few combinations of what I thought the first few words might be, if I was an American trying to pronounce Danish.
**Note the "b" instead of the "d" used in the transcription, but that might be wrong in the page I used as source for the text too.
posted by gemmy at 4:17 PM on February 6, 2009
Højt på en gren en krage (high on a branch a crow),
- simsaladim bamba saladu saladim -
højt på en gren en krage sad (high on a branch a crow sat).
Så kom en hæslig jæger (then came a horrible hunter),
- simsaladim bamba saladu saladim -
så kom en hæslig jæger hen (then came a horrible hunter walking).
Han skød den stakkels krage (he shot the poor crow),
- simsaladim bamba saladu saladim -
han skød den stakkels krage ned (he shot the poor crow down).
Nu er den stakkels krage (now the poor crow),
- simsaladim bamba saladu saladim -
nu er den stakkels krage død (now the poor crow is dead).
Rough translation in parenthesis. Done by a Swede, though, so there may be other more appropriate English words in some places, but that gives you the gist. In Sweden at least, simsalabim** is sort of a nonsense word along the lines of abracadabra. It's used to indicate something that happened as through magic. Sort of like "The poor kid was crying. But then I sang her a song, and simsalabim! she was laughing instead". I'm unsure of what the rest of the words mean, though.
I found it by trying a few combinations of what I thought the first few words might be, if I was an American trying to pronounce Danish.
**Note the "b" instead of the "d" used in the transcription, but that might be wrong in the page I used as source for the text too.
posted by gemmy at 4:17 PM on February 6, 2009
Best answer: Looks like there may be another verse. According to some other places, the last verse goes:
Men solen var knapt gået ned (but the sun had barely set)
- simsaladim bamba saladu saladim -
Så sad igen en krage der (so sat again a crow there)
posted by gemmy at 4:27 PM on February 6, 2009
Men solen var knapt gået ned (but the sun had barely set)
- simsaladim bamba saladu saladim -
Så sad igen en krage der (so sat again a crow there)
posted by gemmy at 4:27 PM on February 6, 2009
Wow, good find! That's clearly the right song. Now that I read the lyrics, I can tell that the words match up, even if the pronunciation is way off. Amazing how someone can remember a song like this in a language not their own, for that long, well enough for it to be recognized like this decades later.
posted by edlundart at 5:22 PM on February 6, 2009
posted by edlundart at 5:22 PM on February 6, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by edlundart at 4:08 PM on February 6, 2009