Day 82: A song that you like that’s in a language you don’t know.

“Drømmer Jeg?” – Johnny Deluxe (Featuring Anna Nordell)

Back when I was in Australia for my student exchange, I became very good friends with a guy from Denmark. We were virtually inseparable. But, this was the late 80s, and nothing like Facebook or Skype existed. Even email was barely known. Since we weren’t great letter writers, we lost touch. For about 15 years.

Back on the mid-00s, I decided to try to find him on Google, and, you know what, there he was. We made contact and rekindled our friendship. During the rekindling, we came around to talk about music, and we would share songs back and forth via Skype. I remember him lamenting many years earlier that Denmark didn’t have any well-known bands. Norway and Sweden seemed to have the strangle hold on that. But, during one of our song sharing sessions, he was excited because he finally had a Danish band that he could share with me.

The song he shared was “Drømmer Jeg?” which in English is basically translated as “Am I Dreaming?” (For pronunciation, about the closest I can come phonetically is “droemmer yi”—with a long “i”.)

It’s a good song even if you don’t know the languages. Yes, plural. You see, the lyrics are basically about a couple who are geographically separated, with the guy in Denmark, and the girl in Sweden. So his parts are in Danish and hers are in Swedish. Here’s a sample (sorry, I couldn’t get the whole song to convert):

The singers both long to be with the other, and lament the fact that there’s a large body of water between them. (Check a map. There is.) Now, I have to say that Anna Nordell (who supplies the Swedish, female vocals) is a hottie, so on a completely shallow and superficial level, I can understand his desperation. (You can see her in the video, which, incidentally, also includes the full song.)

Him, I can’t judge. I can never tell what make a guy really attractive versus just good-looking. I will regularly ask Laura what category certain actors fall into. (My follow-up question is typically, “Why?”) I mean, I can sort of get the idea. For example, it’s easy to know that George Clooney is good-looking and Paul Giamatti really isn’t, but in between, it’s all gray to me. The point being, I don’t know if the male lead is worthy—on looks alone—of such misery that they’re separated by the Øresund. I suspect, no, however.

That said, if they’re both awful people, looks aren’t enough anyway.

One final thought. Having been to Sweden (and working for a company that has a significant Swedish presence), I feel it’s my duty to dispel a myth: not all Swedish women are gorgeous.

Just most of them.

Am I dreaming?