hell and gore

Still in the Midsummer spirit, especially after going through photos from last night's festivities. I was curious about the drinking songs that are sung when you do snaps, so I did a bit of internet research. One song in particular is called Helan Går which pretty much means, "Drink it up!" The verse warns, if you don't drink this one, you're not going to get the next one (halvan). The second verse warns that if you don't finish halvan, you're not going to get the third snaps (tersen).

Helan går!
Helan går, sjung "hoppfadirallanlallanlej"
helan går, sjung "hoppfadirallanlej."
Den som inte helan tar,
han heller inte halvan får,
helan gååååååååååår,
*klunk* *klunk* *klunk* (Drink here!)
sjung "hoppfadirallanlej".

It seems each snaps has a name referring to the order in which it's drunk: helan, halvan, tersen, quarten, quinten, sixten, septen, etc. (eventually there's a smuttan which makes me giggle a little.



The Swedes were nice enough to print out sheets with lyrics, as well as including the phonetic sounds of the lyrics so we could sing along. Once I reached "all handsome in the hell and tar" I couldn't stop laughing.

A phonetic "translation" for non-Swedes
Hell and gore
Chungkhapp fallerallan lallan-lay
Hell and gore
Chungkhapp fallerallan lallan-lay
Oh handsome in the hell and tar
And hell are in the half and four.
Hell and gore
Chungkhapp fallerallan lallan-lay.

After a night of drinking, I think it's somehow appropriate that the song reads phonetically in English, "hell and gore."