In a recent post I made in which I mentioned Bygdekino (Norwegian mobile cinema for rural communities), fellow Hexbear Ram_The_Manparts referenced this song. I hadn’t heard it before but thought it was interesting. Perhaps a bit politically dubious (God knows I do Not have favorable views towards the Center Party!) but it’s still an interesting and very catchy glimpse into car culture and the position of city-country inequality in contemporary Norwegian pop culture. The song is in a very countryside Østfold dialect and has a lot of references to Car Things, and the lyrics are all written in eye dialect, so translating this song was a bit of a challenge, but I managed in the end!

Without further ado, the translation:

Driving my Datsun down in Fetsund
And my Porsche 'round down in Porsgrunn
Changing my timing belt[1] up in Jessheim
And rear window louvers[2] up in Trondheim

So put the pedal to the metal![3]
I’ve got a Mazda that’s totally sick[4]
From Romerike to Rælingen[5] and to Grebbestad[6] in a Renault

Yeah cause we’re off to Elverum
Just to drive around[7]
Rolling our wheels from Gressvik to Os
20 inch rims and 3 inch exhaust[8]
Straight to Rakkestad
In a [Ford] Granada
That I found in Bondebladet[9]

The countryside! Burning rubber[10] in the countryside!
I’ll never leave the countryside no matter what you do![11]
The countryside! Burning rubber in the countryside
Until I end up on welfare![12] I’ll stay here 'till I die!

I’m that fat guy[13] on TV
Ain’t got a résumé[14], I roll in a [Volvo] PV
If you come from Harstad or Ørsta
Then you can call me any time

I don’t live in a coop, I inherited my home[15]
Ain’t got a Tesla,[16] I roll in an Opel
Shifting gears[17] in Gran and stepping on the clutch[18] in Kløfta
Burning rubber in Bø but ending up in a ditch

The countryside! Burning rubber in the countryside!
And I’ll stay here no matter what you do!
The countryside! Burning rubber in the countryside
Until I end up on welfare! I’ll stay here 'till I die!

Appendix: Namedropped car brands/models

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datsun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Granada_(Europe)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_PV

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel

Appendix: Namedropped locations in Norway

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetsund (town in Lillestrøm municipality; suburb of Oslo’s East End; known for its log driving museum.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsgrunn (second biggest town in Telemark County; the Porsgrunn/Skien conurbation is Norway’s seventh biggest city.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessheim (major town in Øvre Romerike district, closest major town to Oslo’s main airport.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trondheim (fourth biggest city in Norway; center of Trøndelag County; home of Nidaros Cathedral, where Saint Olaf, “Eternal King of Norway”, had his remains enshrined. Called Tråante in Southern Sámi.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romerike (district constituting the majority of Akershus County; the ancient tribe it’s named after was mentioned in Beowulf!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rælingen (municipality in the same general area as Fetsund.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elverum_Municipality (decently populated area for its location deep into Innlandet County, which is, well, inland.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gressvik (suburb of Fredrikstad in Østfold County. The Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg conurbation is Norway’s fifth biggest city.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Os_Municipality_(Innlandet) (I’m assuming this is the Os being referred to. Tiny place at the north end of Innlandet County!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakkestad (municipality in the middle of Østfold County. Very close to Hagle’s own hometown of Mysen in Indre Østfold municipality. One of the parishes is called Os, which might be what the previous namedropped location might’ve been.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harstad_Municipality (second most populous municipality of Troms County, which is located north of the Arctic Circle. Called Hárstták in Northern Sámi.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ørsta_Municipality (small town on the west coast, named after the Ørsta Fjord / Ørstafjorden.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Municipality (place in Innlandet County on the border with Akershus County. Known for the Sister Churches and Dynna runestone.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kløfta (town a bit south of Jessheim, known for its shopping center.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bø#Places (I’m not even gonna try to guess which one the song is referring to.)

  1. Spelled in the lyrics as “reggreim”, more commonly spelled as “regreim”, colloquial shortening of “registerreim”. ↩︎

  2. Referred to in the lyrics as “laksetrapp” (“salmon steps”); the formal term is bakrutesjalusi. ↩︎

  3. NO: “gønn på!”, where å gønne comes from English “to gun” but is used in a completely different way. ↩︎

  4. In Norwegian, rå (“raw”) is a common way of saying something’s cool, rad, sick, etc. You can even combine rå with other words to get things like råkul (“raw cool”) which is like extra cool. ↩︎

  5. A bit of a weird line given that Rælingen is a part of Romerike, but whatever. ↩︎

  6. Grebbestad is the only non-Norwegian locale mentioned in this song; it’s a small town in Sweden near the border with Norway. ↩︎

  7. Å ragge, also called å råne, means to drive around aimlessly. It’s got a whole subculture attached to it. ↩︎

  8. The Norwegian word for inch is “tomme”, related to EN thumb, but it’s contracted to just “tom” in the eye dialect lyrics to this song. ↩︎

  9. Bondebladet, or “The Farmers’ Paper”, is the official newspaper of the Norwegian Farmers’ Union. It has a lot of classified ads and such. ↩︎

  10. NO: å børne, from EN to burn. ↩︎

  11. “Fløtternte’ fra bøgda, samma hvaru’ gjør” as it’s spelled in the lyrics; “flytter inte fra bygda, samme hva du gjør” as it would be spelled in a more standard manner, though even that isn’t a standard way of phrasing it. ↩︎

  12. Å bli trøgda in eye dialect, or å bli trygda in a more standard spelling. Refers to folketrygden, known in English as the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. I guess the point in the song is that the singer’s gonna drive fast cars until he’s too old or disabled to continue. ↩︎

  13. A guy/dude in Østfold dialect is called en kæll, I’m pretty sure this is cognate with the more standard form en kar. ↩︎

  14. NO: CV, short for curriculum vitae. This is also the term used in British English. ↩︎

  15. The original lyrics referenced OBOS, Norway’s largest housing cooperative; and å ta på odel, referring to odelsrett, an ancient Scandinavian allodial title which has survived into modern Norwegian law. ↩︎

  16. Norway has the world’s highest rate of EV ownership. Also, I somehow doubt that this guy is doing a jab at Tesla for the right reason! ↩︎

  17. NO: å gire, from EN gear, refers to shifting gears. ↩︎

  18. NO: å kløtsje, from EN clutch, refers to stepping on the clutch pedal. ↩︎