"Grimasch om morgonen" - Cornelis Vreeswijk on Weissenborn

http://fredkinbom.com

Here is a little lap steel arrangement of the song "Grimasch om morgonen" by the late Swedish genius Cornelis Vreeswijk. I wanted to make a little video showcasing the sound of my new "delrin" tone bar from Tribo-Tone, thought it'd be nice to do a Cornelis Vreeswijk song, and this is what I came up with. Played on my Lazy River Weissenborn-style guitar in G-minor tuning (but tuned down a bit lower than G).

This new tone bar is really quiet (as in noise-free) on the strings. I realised when watching the video that I make some sliding noises on the strings with my hand, but I hope the sound of the bar comes across anyway! ;-)

As most of you probably don't understand Swedish, I will make a literal translation of this beautiful lyric by this Dutch-born master of the Swedish language:

"Now dew falls and sun rises
But you can't hear that
You're lying here without blouse and skirt
With your lips against my ear
'Speak seriously now' you say, determined,
'You're laughing songs and singing jokes'
'You can - but you don't want to - make a song about the fragile happiness'

Now sun rises and dew falls
For poor people and for the rich
But happiness has a poisonous thorn
That one ought to carefully avoid
She stays willingly for a few days
But when you want to keep her
Her eyes turn ice cold
And you become bitter as bile

So the dew falls without sound
And grass and leaves become wet
And each morning the sun stands as bride
Although no wedding hymns are sounding
Ann-Katarin, you should know that
There is a happiness that dies from laughter
But it wants to caress at night
And it is still as water

Step out of the bed, Ann-Katarin
And listen to something important
There is a special kind of fine wine
That one must enjoy with caution
Because if one drinks it recklessly
It loses its former shine
And you're left with an empty bottle
And bitter tears and ashes."

The Swedish original is very poetic - the above is just a translation of the literal meaning of the lyric.

Sorry that the image quality is a bit poor!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• weissenborn
• lap
• steel
• slide
• guitar
• cornelis
• vreeswijk
• cees
• grimasch
• om
• morgonen
• fred
• kinbom
• tribo
• tone
• lazy
• river

[oahusteel75]

Thanks - tack - everyone for the kind words! I recorded another version in a lower key yesterday, and have posted it as a video response to this video (with English translation of the meaning of the lyric in the video).

Fred

[revdolaf]

Great performance, effortlessly capturing our Swedish wistfulness! Besides, take it from me, your translation is actually very good, it has some dynamic equivalence tossed in for good measure.....nicely done!

Love n peace

[oahusteel75]

Tack/Thanks! :-)

[oahusteel75]

Thanks!

[floseul]

it's very good what weissenborn?

[transmitsignal]

amazing! thANKS FOR SHARING!

[Sehda]

@kruijsse He moved from NL when he was 12, he lived, died and worked there, i think he by all means was Swedish.

[HokanTNT]

Sån gittar har jag aldrig sett. Men det låter bra

[JuanRomano]

This music is beautiful.

Thanks amigo it's a pleasure to listen to you :-)

[fuckoffcomiescum]

Vacker låt, vackert utförande!

[gladamax]

vackert! =)

[kruijsse]

Great, very nice; just one small comment. Although most songs of Cornelis Vreeswijk are in Swedish, actually he was a Dutchman.