Basically it's often a problem to translate a song from one language to another. For us outside living of the english part of thw world we often can understand the lyrics due to the fact that we have english in school but that doesn't mean that we understand all the cultural aspects of the english songs. I think we often miss the cultural aspects of many english songs.
Well, particuarly this song confronts every non-swedish listener with TWO problems: one is the language, spoken by 9 milion and understood by maybe about 20 milion people. And the other problem is that the song refers to certain aspects of the swedish culture. I will try to explain the song as much as I can. I am non-swedish myself so my explanation is based on my own observations and explanations on the text from my swedish friends.
The first verse:
Sverige, Sverige, älskade vän
En tiger som skäms
Jag vet hur det känns
När allvaret har blivit ett skämt
När tystnaden skräms
Vad är det som hänt
The Translation would be then:
Sweden, Sweden, beloved friend
A tiger who is ashamed
I know how it feels
When the seriousness has turned into a joke
When the silence is frightening
What is it that has happened
Well, the first problem here is that the second line "En tiger som skäms" is a wordplay refering to a slogan from the second world war when the government wanted every swede not to talk too much too foreign people, i.e. governmental secrets should remain secret. The slogan was called "En svensk tiger". And in swedish the word "tiger" means two different things: 1. a tiger, 2. the conjugated form of the verb "tiga" which means "to remain silent". There was also a poster of it, you can find it here:
The second verse:
Duka din veranda till fest
För en långväga gäst
I landet lagom är bäst
Vi skålar för en midsommar till
Färsk potatis och sill
Som om tiden stått still
In english:
Set your veranda for a party
For a distant guest
In the land "just right" is best
We toast for another midsummer
Fresh potatoes and herring
As if time has stood still
Well, here you can see the swedish word "lagom" (just right) which is really hard to translate. Like "dongiovanni" wrote it can mean many different things. You can say "Maten är LAGOM saltad" (The food contains the perfectly right amount of salt). So in that way, LAGOM would mean "perfectly right". But as I understand it lagom is also a kind of mentality that every swede is striving for. There is this expression "Lagom är bäst" (Lagom is best) which refers to a state of mind of not being too sad or too happy ... just "lagom" :-)
The part about the midsummer refers to one of the greatest traditions in Sweden, midsummer which takes place around the 21st of june (the solstice) and is often a big party with a lot of traditional swedish food (potatoes and herring are some of the ingrediences) and alcohol. You have to keep in mind that summers are very short in Sweden. That explains the importance of the midsummer. The last line "As if time has stood still" could mean many things, I don't want to interprete that one.
The 3rd verse:
Regnet slår mot rutorna nu
Men natten är ljus i ett land utan ljud
Och glasen glittrar tyst på vårt bord
Lika tomma som ord
Visst är kärleken stor
In english:
The rain hits the windows now
but the night is bright, in a country without sound
And the glasses glimmer silently on our table
As empty as words
Surely love is great
Basically it's often a problem to translate a song from one language to another. For us outside living of the english part of thw world we often can understand the lyrics due to the fact that we have english in school but that doesn't mean that we understand all the cultural aspects of the english songs. I think we often miss the cultural aspects of many english songs.
Well, particuarly this song confronts every non-swedish listener with TWO problems: one is the language, spoken by 9 milion and understood by maybe about 20 milion people. And the other problem is that the song refers to certain aspects of the swedish culture. I will try to explain the song as much as I can. I am non-swedish myself so my explanation is based on my own observations and explanations on the text from my swedish friends.
The first verse:
Sverige, Sverige, älskade vän En tiger som skäms Jag vet hur det känns När allvaret har blivit ett skämt När tystnaden skräms Vad är det som hänt
The Translation would be then:
Sweden, Sweden, beloved friend A tiger who is ashamed I know how it feels When the seriousness has turned into a joke When the silence is frightening What is it that has happened
Well, the first problem here is that the second line "En tiger som skäms" is a wordplay refering to a slogan from the second world war when the government wanted every swede not to talk too much too foreign people, i.e. governmental secrets should remain secret. The slogan was called "En svensk tiger". And in swedish the word "tiger" means two different things: 1. a tiger, 2. the conjugated form of the verb "tiga" which means "to remain silent". There was also a poster of it, you can find it here:
arrelius.se/live/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/image010.jpg
About the rest of the 1st verse: I think the author is joking about some feelings/habits that many swedes have, like feeling ashamed sometimes of their own behaviour (in swedish there is an expression called "something/someone is unswedish" which actually means that something is or someone behaves really really good!!). The lines "When the seriousness has turned into a joke When the silence is frightening" may refer to the fact that swedes like to joke about many things in life, even very serious things. It could also be a joke about the cliché that swedes don't talk much.
The second verse: Duka din veranda till fest För en långväga gäst I landet lagom är bäst Vi skålar för en midsommar till Färsk potatis och sill Som om tiden stått still
In english: Set your veranda for a party For a distant guest In the land "just right" is best We toast for another midsummer Fresh potatoes and herring As if time has stood still
Well, here you can see the swedish word "lagom" (just right) which is really hard to translate. Like "dongiovanni" wrote it can mean many different things. You can say "Maten är LAGOM saltad" (The food contains the perfectly right amount of salt). So in that way, LAGOM would mean "perfectly right". But as I understand it lagom is also a kind of mentality that every swede is striving for. There is this expression "Lagom är bäst" (Lagom is best) which refers to a state of mind of not being too sad or too happy ... just "lagom" :-)
The part about the midsummer refers to one of the greatest traditions in Sweden, midsummer which takes place around the 21st of june (the solstice) and is often a big party with a lot of traditional swedish food (potatoes and herring are some of the ingrediences) and alcohol. You have to keep in mind that summers are very short in Sweden. That explains the importance of the midsummer. The last line "As if time has stood still" could mean many things, I don't want to interprete that one.
The 3rd verse: Regnet slår mot rutorna nu Men natten är ljus i ett land utan ljud Och glasen glittrar tyst på vårt bord Lika tomma som ord Visst är kärleken stor
In english: The rain hits the windows now but the night is bright, in a country without sound And the glasses glimmer silently on our table As empty as words Surely love is great
Rain is very usual during swedish summertime (and even the other seasons of the year ...) and nights during summertime are very bright because Sweden is in the far north and in midjune the sun is not even setting all the way, even in southern Sweden you always can see a glooming on the horizon. "a country without sound" could refer to the emptyness of the whole country due to the fact that the population is quite small and the country itself is very big. As in the 1st verse the band is maybe joking about the cliché, that swedes are very quiet and dare to express their feelings. That would fit with the line "as empty as words" in one way, but I'm really not sure.
Well, as I wrote above, my interpretation is a mix of own observations and what my friends told me about the lyrics.
Feel free to correct me if you think that I got it wrong!