Helan går is a popular

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 ...

drinking song, or snapsvisa. ''Helan'' ("the whole") is an expression signifying the first (small) glass of spirit (commonly akvavit or vodka) in a series, and ''går'' means "goes (down)"; loosely translated as, "Bottoms up!" Thus, it is commonly sung as a toast, typically for the first glass of spirit at a seated dinner. The song has also become quite common in Finland, especially at academic dinners. When

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 ...

's ice hockey team won the

1957 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1957 Ice Hockey World Championships were held between 24 February and 5 March 1957 at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, USSR. This was the last World Championships played on natural ice; and were the first World Ch ...

in Moscow, not all of the Swedish players knew the lyrics to '' Du gamla, du fria'', the de facto Swedish national anthem, so the players sang ''Helan går'' instead. The song's origin is uncertain because it is rarely noted in historical documents. One early mention occurs in an

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

in 1843. Several

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

s have written variations of the

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

, including Franz Lehár. In 1959 The Belafonte Folk Singers recorded ''Heylan Går'' on the album ''Drinking Songs Around The World'' RCA LSP1992. The song, in an instrumental version under the title ''Helan'', is present as a ringtone on some Nokia

mobile phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

, possibly as a nod to Nokia's Nordic (Finnish) heritage. It is Sweden's theme in '' Civilization VI''.

Lyrics

Helan går Sjung hopp faderallan lallan lej Helan går Sjung hopp faderallan lej Och den som inte helan tar^* Han heller inte halvan får Helan går (Drink) Sjung hopp faderallan lej :^*In the classic version, "trår" is used instead of "tar". "Tar" is modernized, and doesn't rhyme.

English version

Here's the first Sing " hup fol-de-rol la la la la" Here's the first Sing "hup fol-de-rol la la" He who doesn't drink the first Shall never, ever quench his thirst Here's the first '' rink' Sing "hup fol-de-rol la la" A more verbatim translation might be: The whole goes down Sing "hup fol-de-rol la la la la" The whole goes down Sing "hup fol-de-rol la la" And he who doesn't take the whole Doesn't get the half either The whole goes down '' rink' Sing "hup fol-de-rol la la" The phonetic version for English speakers who want to sing in Swedish: Hey-lan gore Hung hop father lala lala lay Hey-lan gore Hung hop father lala lay Oh then some in the hey-lan tar Han hell eh in the hall van fore Hey-lan goooooore '' rink' Hung hop father lala laaaay And a parodic meta-version (Staffan Waltré): Hell and Gore! Chung hop, Father Alan, Alan Lay! Hell and Gore! Chung hop, Father Alan Lay! And handsome in the Hell & Tar, and hail are in the Half & Four: Hell and Gore! Chung hop, Father Alan Lay! The half, or "halvan" in the lyrics above refer to the name traditionally given to the second snaps. The meaning is therefore "the one who doesn't drink the first snaps won't get the second one either"

Footnotes

References (Swedish)

*Christina Mattsson, ''Helan går. 150 visor till skålen,'' Atlantis, 2002. *Christina Mattsson, ''Från Helan till lilla Manasse,'' Atlantis, 2002.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Helan Gar Drinking songs Swedish folk songs Songs about alcohol Alcohol in Sweden