Husalven går utan strumpor och skor

[kjn]

Another new filk of mine, this one a Harry Potter one. I've been exploring a bit of the Swedish nerdy music scene, and that led to listening to some of the songs by The Swedish Shortsnouts (Facebook link), a Swedish wizard rock band. What struck me was the way they had picked up some of the social and environmental awareness that is found in Swedish punk, but they hadn't picked up the slavery analogues with the house elves (or they had, but I missed it). That merged with Cornelis Vreeswijk's masterful song Somliga går med trasiga skor about walking with broken shoes.


Somliga går utan strumpor och skor
Säg vad beror det på?
Trollkarlarna som världen här styr
Säger att det är bara så

Trollkarlarna som världen här styr
Blundar och sover gott
Vem bryr sig om dom som går utan skor
När man är denna världs mått

Vem bryr sig om hur trollkarlar styr
Dom gör blott som dom vill
Husalven gör blott sina bestyr
Så länge hon finns till

En smutsig strumpa är en symbol
Den ger frihet och val
Det är något som ej alla tål
Somliga lider kval

Jag är en tvivelaktig figur
Duger ej mycket till
Det sägs att jag går mot min natur
Men det är vad jag vill

Husalven går utan strumpor och skor
Tills hon har slutat gå
Voldemort som hämnden gruvligt svor
Får sig ett gott skratt då

(Cornelis did a version in Dutch as well, Waar ga ja heen, picking up some of the same themes as the Swedish lyrics but going in a different direction. And for those who recognise the melody, Cornelis apparently adapted the melody from The House Carpenter, though the lyrics has no relation.)

Comments

[thnidu]

Yes, Cornelis's tune sounds fairly close to the version I know of The House Carpenter. But, as I'm sure you know, there's no particular need or reason for a filk song to have anything in common with the content of the song whose tune it uses.

[kjn]

I know; I mentioned it mostly as a matter of pedantry.

[thnidu]

Oh, don't I know pedantry! I find myself crediting sources as though I were editing Wikipedia or an academic article when I'm just commenting in somebody's blog.

[kjn]