Newly released Second Edition CD! - Includes 5 more songs than original cassette recording

 

Liner notes from "Paul och Mary sing Nikolina" --

Greetings from our loghouse (timmerhus) we built ourselves in the woods on a lake east of Brainerd, Mn. We love it here and revel in the never-ending variety show of the seasons in the upper midwest. It does get you to wondering how in the world our Scandinavian ancestors picked this place to settle. It appears that the answer lies mostly in chance ... availability of land coinciding with the needs of the mainly landless, poverty stricken masses in Scandinavia at the time. My grandfather Karl came from Dalsland, Sweden in 1906 and my grandmother Anna came from Södermanland, Sweden in 1908. Mary's great grandfather Johan Johansson left Småland, Sweden in 1882 where his family was living in a "bakstuga", literally a home in a hole in the ground! America was certainly an enticing prospect for these folk..... Paul Wilson

Mary Kallberg Abendroth - guitar, vocals

Paul Wilson - guitar, accordion, bass, mandolin, pump organ, banjo, tinwhistle, violin, gourd, triangle, vocals

Arne Anderson - violin, bass, accordion, mandolin, saw

Sarah Anderson - bass

1. Skada att Amer'ka (Pity that America lies so far away) An emigrant song using text written by Hans Christian Anderson in 1836. It tells of a wondrous place where trees are as sweet as sugar and cellars are always full of champagne.

2. Flickorna i Småland (the Girls from Småland) music: F. Lundberg, text: K. Williams. The boys from Småland travel around the world only to discover the best girls are back at home!

3. Medley: Vem kan segla forutan vind?/Uti vår hage (Who can sail without wind/Out in our meadow) Two traditional folk melodies. They both deal with love. The latter also addresses the Scandinavian reverence for summertime. It is said that if a girl picks 7 different wildflowers and places them under her pillow at midsommar she will dream of her true love.

4. Kom Adelfina - text by Göran Svenning. Paul sings this courting song made famous by Hjalmar Peterson, known as Olle i Skratthult (Ole from laughtersville) in America. "Come Adelfina, the fiddler is playing, follow me in the waltz, hold me around the neck and don't say no!"

5. Per Spelman (Per the fiddler) Norwegian folk tune about Per who traded his fiddle for a cow, then realized what a colossal mistake he had made!

6. Nidelven (the Nid River) - music: C. Christenson, text: A Hoddo Written in 1947, this ballad has become an unofficial anthem at Sons of Norway halls across the U.S. A boy sits gazing over the Nid River dreaming of a love lost.

7. Å Jänta Å Jag (the girl and I) - text: F.A. Dahlgren. An old Värmlandspolska with text telling of love, courtship and marriage.

8. Barndomshemmet (the childhood home) - music: P. Wurck, text: Kari Ewert. A popular song introduced in America by Olle i Skratthult's wife, Olga Lindgren Peterson. "Though the years have gone by, I will never forget my childhood home."

9. Sjösala Vals - music and words by Evert Taube, 1941. Sweden's best loved troubador, Evert Taube, wrote this song about his home, Sjösala, on the Stockholm archipelago. Typically Swedish, it is inspired by nature's beauty and the importance of living in the moment.

10. Peter i Hässle* - A common Swedish folk tune that we learned from Magnus Gustafsson of Nöbbele, Småland, Sweden. Peter from Hässle wears clumpy wooden shoes, so he can't go to the dance, but instead has to stay home with his father and mother and dance with the cows.

11. Uti Stockholm* - a great tune that we learned from the Stockholms spelmanslag when they visited us in 1998. It describes a visit to Stockholm, where you can get absolutely everything you want!

12. Roselil* - a nice little Danish waltz that we learned from Cajsa Ekstav, our good friend from Vendel, Sweden. "The one who laughs last is the one who laughs best".

13. Red Headed Swede - text by Stan Boreson. A typical example of a "Svinglish" tune with words penned by Stan Boreson of Seattle. A real crowd pleaser in the midwest.

14. Flickan på Bellmansro - music and text by Kalle Nämndeman. Another Swedish tune made popular in the U.S. by Olle i Skratthult. A story of a love affair that started in Bellmansro, a grove within Djurgården park in Stockholm. The affair ends badly.

15. Rosa På Bal - music and text by Evert Taube, 1941. Another tune written by Evert Taube, included with Sjösala Vals in his Sjösala Boken published in 1942. One of Taube's signature melodies, it is played all over Scandinavia with great fondness.

16. Lilla vackra Anna (Little pretty Anna) A traditional tune about childhood sweethearts.

17. Hälsa dem Därhemma (Greet those at home) - music: Edith Worsing, text: C. Bengtsson. Originally written as a nostalgic song sung by a homesick Danish sailor, this tune has been adopted by Scandinavian/Americans as their anthem. "If I had wings like you, swallow, I would fly back home to greet my loved ones."

18. Helgdagskvällen i Timmerkojan (a holiday evening in the log cabin) - text by Dan Andersson. The poet, Dan Andersson, was born in 1888 in Dalarna, Sweden. He died tragically in a fumigation accident while staying in a Swedish hotel.

19. Nikolina - author unknown. The tune that made Olle i Skratthult famous. He is said to have learned it on his only trip back to Sweden in 1909. He recorded it during WW1 and sold 100,000 copies before the great depression - a remarkable feat in those days!

20. John Johnson's wedding* (also known as Yon Yonson's Vedding) - a popular comic Scandinavian vaudeville tune that accurately describes the goings-on at a typical immigrant wedding in Swedish-America

21. Hilda oh Hilda* - (ay ban tink ay do!) words and music by Sandy Oliver, Paul Herrick and Sid Soloman. This is one of our favorite sing-alongs.

*these tunes only available on the CD