July 13 - Laglös (Lawless)

There are some songs you start hating because they are overplayed. Yesterday's artist, Åge Aleksandersen, had one of those on the very album yesterday's song was from. The song was Lys og varme (light and warmth). It is a heartfelt song written for his son, but it was played to death. I am happy to say that now it moves me again, like it did in the beginning, but it is after a very long and deliberate separation.

Today's artist is the same way. Ulf Lundell is a Swedish singer who often was referred to as Sweden's Bob Dylan, although I think he, too, might be closer to Bruce Springsteen. His song was called Öppna Landskap, and it was a song that just as easily could have been written at the end of the 19th century, when national romanticism was one of the leading trends in music. It is his celebration of Sweden and everything Swedish - which also resonated well in Norway. As one of my mom's favorite songs, it stands to reason that I started despising it pretty quickly.

But then I found myself at Hustad Leir, which I know I have written about before, and I was working in the library there. I kept on checking cds and books in and out, and I eventually noticed this one cd, Kär Och Galen, which happened to be the cd with Öppna Landskap on it. I don't really understand what possessed me to check it out for myself, but I did, and right in the middle of the album, there was a song that almost sucker punched me with all its deceptive simplicity. It's a song that works on many layers, but in the end, it is all about whether you just want to keep taking it on the chin or stand up for yourself. In many ways it's the answer to The River and Fire pils og en pizza - and it is called Laglös - or Lawless.