Förträngda Problem

Bob Hund "Förträngda Problem"

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McCULLOUGH's MP3 OF THE WEEK 007: 04.10.2006

Title: "Förträngda Problem"
Artist: Bob Hund
Album: Omslag: Martin Kann
Year: 1996

First off, Bob Hund is the name of a person, it's the name of the band. They formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1991, and all of their lyrics are sung in the Swedish dialect, skånsk. Bob Hund has a gigantic fan base in Scandanavia, but they've never become very popular anywhere else, probably because they don't sing in english. But as you'll see, understanding the words is not a factor. This is a FANTASTIC band that i've been listening to for a few years now. I found most of their music to be downloadable from various websites and file sharing programs. These dudes have a lot of Finnish fans particularly, and those Fins are BIG into the internet, if you haven't already noticed.

When I first heard this i was in a car whizzing off to San Francisco. "Förträngda Problem" came on I was sure the lyrics were in english. It just sounded like the singer didn't annunciate very well and I pieced together my own lyrics for the song, kind of like Mick Jagger on 'Exile On Main Street'. (I STILL hear "Mom said yeah, mom said no.. Maybe your mom and I gotta go" in 'Rip This Joint') I actually asked to hear it again as soon as it was over, I was so intrigued. Well, turns out they were Swedish, and the lyrics I was hearing were just a reflection of my own twisted psyche. In other Bob Hund songs I heard things like "Bob Saget lurks in the spice mines" and "grandfather clock overload!". I thought it was the craziest, coolest shit I ever heard. Like if Robert Pollard (of Guided By Voices) had seriously lost his shit.

The chorus to 'Förträngda Problem' is as follows:

Summan är noll, det är aldrig försent
Summan är noll, förträngda problem
Va? är det sant!
Nu eller aldrig, nu eller aldrig
Aldrig

which translates into english as:

it adds up to zero, it's never too late
it adds up to zero, repressed problems
What? is it true?
Now or never... now or never...

But what I heard was different. I have taken the time to translate all of the lyrics to 'Förträngda Problem' into what I interpret them as. I am not making fun of Bob Hund or Swedes in general. This is just the bizarre, uneducated stab at what I thought the lyrics may have been:

SOMEBODY OILY ALWAYS FOR SALE
Translated by: Kevin McCullough

[chorus]
somebody oily always for sale
someone in oil for panda to blame
what it isn't

hey noah wyle hey noah wyle
i'll be...
EEEEEEEEE

[verse]
you hit the bong
some chubby hard on
ya played a lark
just to stand in me door on
a mammal cradle
some ripped sailors yall are
or missing ugly
with johnny depp's young lover

norths of unto
me mini car worked
you feel upright and
you're head's only lot
ya ring your text or
your auto baboon men
you bring out glad and
you dirty false spoon in him

acting wait itch
is so familiar
and i feel like
you're cleaning my shirt
your cure for my dung
and shammy your balls
now me plant ate a toyota lady adam

you hit the bong
some chubby hard on
ya played a lark
just to stand in me door on
a mammal cradle
some ripped sailors yall are
or missing ugly
with johnny depp's young lover

[guitar solo, repeat chorus, verse, chorus]


Madness, I know. The real lyrics have to connection to that. Bottom line is, Bob Hund ROCKS. I even have them as one of my Myspace friends, although it's not literally the band, just some dude who created a Myspace page in homage to them, i guess. It seems as though the real Bob Hund may never come to America. Perhaps they can take my ridiculous english translations and start using them in lieu of their regular lyrics, opening them up to much broader range of English speaking fans. If they ever do, i'll be the first in line. But it better work this time.

bobhund.com