En bÀnkrad i en rastlös sen april
Jag tittar över axeln och ser dig blinka till
Jag kan fÄ dig nÀr du vill
En vind blÄser skrÀp lÀngs korridoren en sista gÄng
Och du & jag hÄller andan och hÄller hÀnder i sprÄnget
Det Àr inte sÄ lÄngt hem

Än finns det tusentals tĂ„rar kvar
De var dina att ge vemsomhelst
Äntligen
De Àr de dyrbaraste smycken du har
SÄ be aldrig om ursÀkt igen
Äntligen passerar vi deras grĂ€nser

Minns du vÄr blodseld, vÄran lag
VÄrt dumma korstrÄg mot en lika korkad stad
Jag minns allt, som naglarna mot glas
Men du bara skrattar Ät mig, förminskar allt till ett skÀmt
Men jag ser pÄ din Àngsliga hÄllning, din jagande blick att de kÀnns
Att det Àr lÄngt hem

Och snart finns det inga tÄrar kvar
De var vÄra att ge vemsomhelst
Äntligen
De Àr de dyrbaraste smycken vi har
SÄ be aldrig om ursÀkt igen
Äntligen sĂ€tter du sjĂ€lv dina grĂ€nser

Den dÀr pojken jag aldrig kÀnde
Som gick pÄ gator jag aldrig sÄg
Och tÀnkte tankar jag aldrig tÀnkte
Under ett tunt och flygigt hÄr

Och alla kÀnslor slog och sprÀngde
Hela vardagen full med hÄl
I en tid dÄ inget hÀnde
I en stad som alltid sov

Men Àlskling vi var alla en gÄng smÄ
Ja, vi var alla en gÄng smÄ
Ja, vi var alla en gÄng smÄ

Jag kastar stenar i mitt glashus
Jag kastar pil i min kuvös
Och sÄ odlar jag min rÀdsla
Ja, jag sÄr stÀndigt nya frön

Och i mitt vÀxthus Àr jag sÀker
DÀr vÀxer avund klar och grön
Jag Àr livrÀdd för att leva
Och jag Àr dödsrÀdd för att dö

Men Àlskling vi ska alla en gÄng dö
Ja, vi ska alla en gÄng dö
Ja, vi ska alla en gÄng dö

Vi ska alla en gÄng dö
vi ska alla en gÄng dö
vi ska alla en gÄng dö



Lyrics submitted by RealSugar


Mannen i den vita hatten (16 ćr senare) song meanings
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22 Comments

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  • 0
    Song Meaning:Den hÀr lÄten handlar uppenbarligen om att ta studenten.
    Mannen i den vita hatten = Mannen i studentmössan.
    16 Är senare = Han ser tillbaka pÄ det sexton Àr efter.

    "En vind blÄser skrÀp lÀngs korridoren en sista gÄng
    Och du & jag hÄller andan och hÄller hÀnder i sprÄnget"
    I sprÄnget, ja.

    "Men du bara skrattar Ät mig, förminskar allt till ett skÀmt
    Men jag ser pÄ din Àngsliga hÄllning, din jagande blick att de kÀnns
    Att det Àr lÄngt hem"
    Det Àr ju en ganska stor sak att ta studenten, dÄ lÀmnar man ju allting som Àr tryggt och sÀkert i skolan och ger sig ut för att klara sig pÄ egen hand. Det Àr lÄngt kvar tills man har ett tryggt liv. Det Àr lÄngt hem.
    Flag 1412on April 15, 2013   Link
  • -1
    Lyric Correction:THE EXTRA VERSES ARE HERE:


    A word-blind little cowboy
    rules the world from a country
    where the Christian white conservatives
    and NRA go hand in hand
    and we dance to their tune
    fatten fat wonderchilds
    with a big mac in front of the tv
    like a true American

    I am 40 years from death
    According to today's statistics
    It is a soothing thought
    That we have such little time

    And it's hard for me to show my feelings
    when it's not about us
    and I have never had an opinion
    never carried any cross

    And time softly crushes your resistance
    It will melt away like snow
    Until you hit your cane against the wall
    That you built around your island

    And all your friends
    And your entire family
    They walk swiftly towards the day
    When they will no longer exist

    But darling we will all one time die
    Yes we will all one time die
    Yes we will all one time die

    And he who stares out from the mirror
    It can't be me, can it?
    When did I become so ugly and tired and old
    So lonely, coward and weak
    And you hate who you become
    And despise who you were

    Is there no God in the world
    That can give you an answer
    Except that we will all one time die
    Yes we will all one time die
    Yes we will all one time die

    I hate the songs I've written
    I hate everything I've ever said
    and I hate who I've become
    when I though I had control
    I hate the clichés I've spread
    on singing and dancing and liquor
    Maybe one should commit suicide now
    but I really like it in my suite
    Darling, we will all one time die

    So you took my hand in the crowd
    and said darling everything is crap
    and my cynical heart fickers
    when the love of my life pulls its knife
    You said: We'll go to heaven together, won't we?
    but do the best of our time
    and I hear the bells ringing
    for the oldest pick up line in the world
    You said: Darling we will all one time die

    Yes we will all one time die
    Yes we will all one time die
    Yes we will all one time die
    Flag Tytyrikson May 31, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:So I heard this song for the first time yesterday! I was browsing music by Kent because I have only heard their Hagnesta Hill Album and then I stumbled across this song. I don't care what it's real interpretation is because I got out of it a beautiful meaning:) And one more thing before I post my interpretation. I'm posting it because I would not understand this song if it weren't for all the post on here so thank you!! This is definitely a song I am grateful to have in my mix of music! and I am posting this because I want others to have the chance to pick apart my interpretation and make it their own. Who cares why I am posting this lol.


    He's bonded with this girl, she can have him whenever she wants, his heart is hers. Life doesn't seem like it's really begun yet when you are still so young. You look at it like leaping into this new journey of life, now that you're ready for it. It's all unknown. Starting this new journey is like sailing the ocean. It's so open like life is for us. You journey the ocean to the shore and the shore is the home held in the future the you can only imagine.

    There are thousands of tears to be cried; lessons to be learned until you reach home, that feeling of content. These lessons
    (Tears in the song) are yours to teach. These lessons make up who you are and become precious to you and never regret your past. "We pass their borders" You've grown beyond the first phase into this journey, almost like becoming a sophmore in high school, lol.

    He and this girl fantasized all their desire and made them into dreams. As they grew older and the magic of their innocence faded it all seemed like a joke. She had changed so much and gave up on this magic, this faith, she settled with a reality where innocence is only being naive. Her heart knew her reality wasn't right and the boy could see this in her eyes. She wasn't home in here reality. She felt far from it. As she crossed these borders, her fears made new ones.

    I think now he is reflecting on himself in the present, while recalling the past as a child. Life hadn't yet begun and the city and all life was still peaceful and still, now life is so chaotic he has holes, gaps in his heart. He's missing the innocence, the strong faith and determination to live out your dreams. He sings,"Yes, we were all once young"

    Now he's in a more destructive careless phase. He is destructive to himself mentally and mentally he comes to a halt and is growing anger and hate and regret and fear and all those bad feelings and emotions in a "greenhouse" inside of his heart. He says he's safe here. Everything is clear to him here. It's so much easier to grow an ego in a ...More broken world, then it is to let your soul flourish. He's saying, it's so much easy to grow this hate then continue to journey where there are no guidelines, but only structure to stay sane. I don't feel like I explained that right. It's easier to hate then it is to love, unfortunately. Then he goes on and sings about being scared to life of living and scared to death of dying, but he says, "sometimes we all die" but because he says sometimes I assume he means mentally. Like the H song by TOOL. He talks about parts of him dying, but you learn from it. This song Mannen i den vita hatten is about the journey we all take with the body and mind we are blessed with and...I love that he sing it in Swedish because oddly enough the words to a song can sometimes be distracting. His voice is in another language so it blends in with the instruments. It's really a beautiful song:D
    Flag Happycrickson July 03, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:you had some great input Hurricane Johannes, but i have to disagree about one thing in particular. I dont think this is about a friend but about a relationship. Both a relationship with himself and one with what i can just assume is a childhood sweetheart and/or a girlfriend. The reason i think so is in some of the lyrics.

    "Jag kan fÄ dig nÀr du vill" - "I can have you whenever you want" Surley this must refer to a relationship?

    He also calls this person "Älskling" which can be loosley translated as "Loved one" But as some of the translations here says it is used as a petname for someone you love, much like "darling" or "honey"
    I dont think this is something that a guy calles his friend. But maybe that says alot about my knowledge of male friendship. :S

    In the last two verses he is talking about himself in 3d person, in my oppinion. Thinking about the past, the present and the future all mixed up in fear, regret, acceptance and wishes.
    Flag Floralon October 10, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I have to agree with what you all said about how hard it is to translate this song. It's a shame, cause I would like to show the whole world this lyrics, since they are simply amazing. Unfortunately, you need to understand swedish to see the real beauty of it.

    The song is obviously about taking the step out of school and into the "real" world, and the white hat is referring to the student's cap. But is the man in the white hat Jocke himself, or a friend? For me, it changes from times to times. One second I'm sure that it's about someone else, that Jocke is thinking back at the time with this person. In the other second I'm sure that it's about Jocke himself, and that the lines about "the boy I never knew, who walked on streets which I never saw, and had thoughts I never had.." is about not knowing oneself at all. But the line "och tÀnkte tankar jag aldrig tÀnkte" kinda ruins that theroy.

    I would like to add two couple of live verses who no one mentioned yet, but I won't try to translate them since I don't want to ruin them..

    "Jag har alltid gillat svaghet
    Som sex & skryt & knark
    Det finns alltid som en utvÀg
    & jag har aldrig varit stark
    I min skalle brann en motsats
    En skogsbrand i en park
    DĂ€r hundratusen apor
    Fyller tonÄrsblanka ark
    Med orden vi skall alla en gÄng dö

    & jag ska skydda dom jag Àlskar
    Med hjÀrta kropp & sjÀl
    Jag ska skydda dom mot livet
    Som Àr hÄrt & fult & skört
    Jag ska ge dom allt som blir kvar
    NÀr jag Àr fÀrdig med det hÀr
    Jag ska ge dom nÄtt som hjÀlper
    Mot en ond & giftig vÀrld
    Älskling vi ska alla en gĂ„ng dö"

    When I saw Kent in Gothenburg this summer Jocke sung "För du och jag ska aldrig dö, nej du och jag ska aldrig dö" in the end once, before going back to "Men vi ska alla en gÄng dö, ja vi ska alla en gÄng dö". Truly beautiful!
    Flag Radionauton August 29, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Really good translation work here, by all of you!!

    This is probably the best song ever!

    First, as Revolution89 wrote – its SO hard to translate!! The words are easy, but how to translate a feeling or meaning?
    One of the things with kent is that Jocke Berg writes his lyrics in a very complicated way.
    What I mean is that the words often are “substitutes” for other words, this is one of many things that makes kent so great! But it also makes translation extremely difficult!

    Like the first verse

    “a benchrow in a restless late april
    i glance over my shoulder to see you blink
    i can have you whenever you want
    a wind is blowing litter along the corridor one final time
    you and i are holding our breaths and holding hands in our leap
    it's not very far home”

    This probably refers to, as some one wrote, the feeling of the last weeks of gymnasiet/high school. The restless wait for “life to begin” and the fear of starting this “unknown life”.
    The part “holding hands in our leap” probably refers to two very good friends that together makes the leap out of high school into the great unknown. Its also a Swedish tradition to make a jump from the front stairs of the school the last time you leave it when graduated. Like throwing the hats in the US. So it’s a double meaning to this.

    The next verse works quite good in English, its about all the goods and bads you have to endure in this time of life.

    Next verse is referring to a later time in life, looking back, on the expectations, plans and promises made and broken. The sound of nails to glass is probably the same in Sweden as elsewhere and not so pleasant
 =)

    Then it gets tricky “The boy I never knew etc
” is probably referring to the same person as in the earlier parts of the song. He realizes that all of the things they decided, did and planed never happened. He realizes that his friend has changed and that he really never knew him,

    Throwing stones in a glasshouse is a Swedish expression, as the English ones “it hit me like a ton of bricks” or “on the top of my head” – just a expression. Here its used both as a way to show that he does stupid things – and know it, and also as the Swedish expression.
    To throw darts in an incubator is a line that emphasizes the one above and at the same time means that he feels that he lives in a “incubator” – away from the real life.


    The next verse is SO hard to translate, to much Swedish words that means more than one thing. But the meaning should be something like this:
    “ And in my greenhouse I feel safe, here envy grows big and green” - a imaginary greenhouse – and what do you do in a greenhouse? You grow vegetables and stuff, but this guy is grooving envy, anger and disappointment.

    Then the hardest part, in Swedish you can say “livrĂ€dd” that translates to scared to death, and “dödsrĂ€dd” that means the exact same thing. Liv is life and död is death and rĂ€dd is scared or afraid. So this is almost impossible to translate. But I think you get it, its wordgames.

    And last, “But Darlin, one day we will all die” or “But Darlin we are all gonna die some time” or maybe ” But darling everybody dies”

    I Hope someone gets a bit clearer picture of the “meaning” – or actually what the lyrics says.
    The real meaning is in the head of Jocke Berg – and he never tells. Its up to us!

    Thanks!
    Flag Hurricane Johanneson August 04, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I really love Kent, there is such a subtlety to their lyrics. But unfortunatley that makes them difficult to translate to english without alot of emotions getting lost along the way. I think Invaders attempt is good, but there is a few things i was thinking about, for example:

    "Men Àlskling vi var alla en gÄng smÄ
    Ja, vi var alla en gÄng smÄ
    Ja, vi var alla en gÄng smÄ

    But honey once we were all young
    yes, once we were all young
    yes, once we were all young"

    "SmÄ" does not nececeraly have to mean young, it could just aswell be"little" or "small" somthing along those lines, my point being it implies a weakness, which does not come across if one is to simply translate it as young.

    Also the ending of the song:

    "Jag Àr livrÀdd för att leva
    Och jag Àr dödsrÀdd för att dö

    I'm terrified to live
    I'm terrified to die"

    I would say its more like:

    I am frightened for my life of living
    And I am scared to death of dying

    This is probably not something one could say in english or even grammatically correct, but it feels a bit closer to the kind of wordgame that is being used there.
    Flag Floralon May 23, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:havsangel:

    So you took my hand in the crowd, and said "darling, everything sucks"
    And my cynical heart shiver when the love of my life draw it's knife
    You said "i hope we'll follow each other to heaven, but do the best of what's left of our lives"
    And I can hear the bells thats ringing
    For the worlds oldest pick up-line(?)
    You said "darling, we will all once die.."


    i translated it quickly and im not so great in english but i hope that you'll understand anyway:)
    Flag iheartkenton May 11, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:There's tons of extra-lyrics to this song, but they're only played live.

    One of my favourites is;

    SÄ du tog min hand i vimlet, och sa "Àlskling, allt Àr skit"
    Och mitt cyniska hjÀrta flimrar nÀr mitt livs kÀrlek drar sin kniv
    Du sa "vi följs vÀl Ät till himlen, men gör det bÀsta av vÄr tid?"
    Och jag hör klockorna som ringer
    För vÀrldens Àldsta raggningsreplik
    Du sa "Àlskling, vi ska alla en gÄng dö.."

    If anyone would care to translate it, feel free to. My english is far from that sophisticated.

    That lyric, and another extra-lyric wich I can't really recall, was played on their latest live-performance at the Hulstfred Festivalen in Sweden. I myself wasn't there, but heard it over the phone.

    This band has to be, without a doubt, Sweden's best band of all times if you don't count GĂŒnther(please, notice the EXTREME irony in what I just said about the ass that starts with G), and I can't really wait til their next album gets released next week.


    One of few songs that can make me cry anytime. Thank you, Joakim Berg, Markus Mustonen, Sami Sirviö, Martin Sköld and Harri MÀnty, for the most beautiful song on the planet.
    Flag havsangelon October 11, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:There's tons of extra-lyrics to this song, but they're only played live.

    One of my favourites is;

    SÄ du tog min hand i vimlet, och sa "Àlskling, allt Àr skit"
    Och mitt cyniska hjÀrta flimrar nÀr mitt livs kÀrlek drar sin kniv
    Du sa "vi följs vÀl Ät till himlen, men gör det bÀsta av vÄr tid?"
    Och jag hör klockorna som ringer
    För vÀrldens Àldsta raggningsreplik
    Du sa "Àlskling, vi ska alla en gÄng dö.."

    If anyone would care to translate it, feel free to. My english is far from that sophisticated.

    That lyric, and another extra-lyric wich I can't really recall, was played on their latest live-performance at the Hulstfred Festivalen in Sweden. I myself wasn't there, but heard it over the phone.

    This band has to be, without a doubt, Sweden's best band of all times if you don't count GĂŒnther(please, notice the EXTREME irony in what I just said about the ass that starts with G), and I can't really wait til their next album gets released next week.


    One of few songs that can make me cry anytime. Thank you, Joakim Berg, Markus Mustonen, Sami Sirviö, Martin Sköld and Harri MÀnty, for the most beautiful song on the planet.
    Flag havsangelon October 11, 2007   Link

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