"Ett gammalt fult och elakt troll det var en gång" known also for the shorter title "Det var en gång" (meaning "Once upon a time") is a traditional

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

children's song, with music and lyrics by

Felix Körling John Felix August Körling (born 17 December 1864, Kristdala — died 8 January 1937, Halmstad) was a Swedish composer, church musician and music teacher. He was the son of August Körling and the father of American photographer Torkel Korling ...

. Using references to several geographical locations, the song lyrics describe a troll, his wife and cat arriving to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in a hot air balloon. The song was first published in the collection '' Misse-Måns och andra visor'' in 1918. An early recording of the song was made by Märta Ekström, with Otto Nordlund accompanying on the piano was performed on December 16, 1929, and released on a single in December 1930, entitled "Det var en gång" alongside the song "Precis som i sagan" again composed by Felix Körling. More recently, the song was recorded by

Peter Himmelstrand Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and released in 1978. Ingeborg (Immi) Hellén wrote lyrics in Finnish, with the title "Oli kerran vanha peikko". The lyrics in Finnish use different geographical locations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ett gammalt fult och elakt troll det var en gang 1918 songs Songs about Sweden Songs about fictional characters Swedish children's songs Swedish-language songs