I totally agree, even though I'm a native English speaker and don't know Swedish! I've read translations of the original to get a sense for the Swedish version, and I can tell that the original is much more powerful.
The lyrics between the english and swedish versions are quite different. I think the swedish version is more powerful and better tells the story about the doubt in god that Kristina has and is more true to the book(s) by Vilhelm Moberg that is the basis for the whole musical Kristina Från Duvemåla.
I just listened to the full soundtrack for Kristina yesterday and the story is so heartbreaking and by the time we reached this song i was a sobbing mess 😭😭😭😭
Oh, my world. I've never heard this English version before. It's so different from the Swedish lyrics, but still delivers the same message, and God it's good! And obviously Helen's performance is stunning and gives me goosebumps all over.
Reminds me of Job, how he was struggling within his soul why would God allow so much suffering in his life, the most beautiful thing that exists is the mystery of human suffering, everything we have is temporal, only God is eternal
Interesting that two men tended to write such brilliant music for women to sing. I could see Frida or Agnetha or both singing this magnificently. I kind of wish the women, even in their 70s, did an album together of B&B music they wrote outside of ABBA.
I think this song delivers a strong message in any language. The words are beautful whether in English, Swedish or outer Mongolian. I never make comparisons.
I think it's better when she sings in swedish. This is from a concert in Minnesota , US. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-a2idVI73ais.html And Peter Joback from the same concert. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-e2tdBKFKOrU.html
So much weight was lost in this English translation. Some parts are completely different from the original, and a lot of the lines have been scrambled into a different order. But I think the main problem is that Helen Sjöholm is unable to express as much emotion without this native-language connection to the words. It simply doesn't feel real to the same extent that the original did. This is a song about a woman who set out on a long and dangerous journey to the new world, assuming God would see her and her family through, but now that she feels she last lost everything, and now that many have died, she begins to wonder if God ever existed in the first place. The English version feels more like empty platitudes, especially the chorus, and makes it seem like she thinks God may have forsaken her, rather than reflecting a loss of faith that God actually ever existed in the first place - a dangerous and terrifying thought to a peasant woman in those times. Consider my more literal translation of the original Swedish, which doesn't take rhyming and rhythm into account: You banished me, God. I was torn my from homeland. Here, I am a refugee and stranger, and I accept that fate. But, you took my child and you take me from my husband. I can no longer see a meaning. What is it that you want? What am I to believe? The though is dizzying, ahead an abyss opens up. My whole being revolts and wants to say "no". The question's been woken, and now my soul trembles before the answer, that you aren't real, even though I believed in you. Who, then, would help me suffer through life in this place? Who, then, could give me the strength I require? Who, then, would console me? I am so small on this Earth. If you didn't exist, then just what would I do? No, you have to exist, you have to! I live my life through you! Without you, I am a fragment adrift a dark and stormy sea You have to exist, you have to! How could you abandon me? I'd be nowhere, I'd be nothing if you didn't exist. Never before have I toughed this in words or in thought. Those tiny words that terrify and torment me so. Those words are "what if?" What if I prayed all those prayers for nothing? If you do not exist, then what am I to do? Who, then, would sense my regrets and forgive me? A piece of the soul, who would grant me this? Who, then, would thus receive me at death? If you didn't exist, who'd take care of me, then? (Repeat chorus)
An incredible song about someone desperately holding on to faith written by someone who doesn't believe in god. I find something incredibly beautiful in that sort of empathy. The only time I have seen that type of understanding of other views in art is in the Book series Ender's Game where a mormon(?) writer seems to completely understand the viewpoint of Ender, an atheist. Yeah yeah, bla bla, just enjoy the song :D I'll shush now.
I don’t like the English translation at all. “You must exist” is not the same as “You have to be there”. I can’t listen to the English version, the Swedish is divine.
As beautifully as she sings, no one catch match Susan Boyle singing it. Susan has the desperation each searching soul faces as she searches for God. Maybe because this has been her experience.
I agree with you. I'm from Argentina and I've just discovered her. Her renditions of "Someone else's story", both in English and Swedish, are so intense and amazing. A real talent
Sjöholm is so much more than Streisand ever was. Streisand never got over her self-satisfaction, acquired in the 1960s. Sjöholm goes out to far greater limits vocally and dramatically. And then there’s that fantastic chemistry with Tommy Körberg, but that’s another story.
This gives me goosebumps every single time I hear it. She puts so much feeling into it that it's almost ridiculously emotional for me to hear this. And the swedish version is even more powerful for me.
I prefer the Swedish version, which is normal since in 99,9% of cases original versions are better than translations. But she is FANTASTIC in both renditions. WOW!!!
Oh no doubt about that- they're lucky to have Helen sing the English version as she knows the actual (Swedish) words, the character of Kristina & how powerful the whole piece/song is and what it's supposed to bring across better than Helen (our national treasure, bless her heart). Btw how come Kristina från Duvemåla hasn't been on stage over here (UK) - anyone know? These are the sort of moments where I wish I was a producer haha I wouldn't even need to audition people I'd know exactly who to cast 🙌🏻🎭🎬🎹🎤👤👥👥👤
The English lyrics are very powerful and while staying as close as possible to the Swedish original, they have been written in a very artful way, too! The sit so well with the haunting music!
I must have played this video a dozen times over the past months... each time I swear I will not tear (“teer”) up... each time I fail. The close-ups show this is coming from Helen’s soul. Bless you for keeping hope strong. ~Andy
@@Miatpi The English one sounds more like a call for God, whereas in the Swedish one she has lost all faith. In Swedish the song speak truth to a lot of atheist's.
Are the audience asleep, do they not feel that this is one of the presentations of a well written B&B song EVER. Goosebumps every time, the first time I heard it in English I cried, it is so so moving, I questioned ny beliefs when I heard this. Amazing Performance. A
Such Passion....she seems to be in a trance.....so much in the song.....I notice she sort of drops the mask right at end ....her more calm self wakes up or comes back. Amazing
HELEN sings from the very depth of her being . Just think of the listening pleasure that GOD gives humanity through HELEN and she gives thanks by singing THANKS to her very Creator.
Watching this again...Helen is just so so powerful....she smoothly Belts it out...full passion and grimace showing so forcefully on her face. She becomes this song...is really ‘taken away ‘ by it...until at the end she pops out of the ‘trance ‘. Fantastic,. Really compare her last “mad” reach fir your hand.....then song ends and she blinked back awake to the real world of the stage, that sweet and innocent smile appears. Where or how did she go? Possessed. Passion.
