"Gubben Noak" ("Old Man Noah", originally "Om gubben Noach och hans fru" or just "Gubben Noach", and since 1791 also " Fredmans sång n:o 35") is a traditional Swedish song, a

drinking song A drinking song is a song that is sung before or during Alcoholic beverage, alcohol consumption. Most drinking songs are Folk music, folk songs or commercium songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyri ...

and bible

travesty A travesty is an absurd or grotesque misrepresentation, a parody, or grossly inferior imitation. In literary or theatrical contexts it may refer to: *Burlesque, a literary, dramatic, or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the m ...

written in 1766 or earlier by

Carl Michael Bellman Carl Michael Bellman (; 4 February 1740 – 11 February 1795) was a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet, and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a powerful influence in Swedish music, as wel ...

. The song is possibly the best known of all Bellman's works. The song was initially published anonymously for fear of the church. In 1768 the Lund chapter attempted to have all copies of the song and other biblical travesties destroyed. It was included in the 1936 ''

Songs for the Philologists ''Songs for the Philologists'' is a collection of poems by E. V. Gordon and J. R. R. Tolkien as well as traditional songs. It is the rarest and most difficult to find Tolkien-related book. Context The professors of language E.V. Gordon ...

'' by

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

and E. V. Gordon. Simplified and more innocent versions of the song are widely sung by children around the world. English versions have been recorded by Adam McNaughtan and the Linköping University Male Voice Choir.

Context

is a central figure in the

Swedish ballad tradition The Scandinavian ballad tradition is the tradition of Scandinavian poetic singer-songwriters. Within the tradition, the Swedish ballad tradition has been particularly influential, but the tradition also exists in the other Scandinavian countries. ...

and a powerful influence in

Swedish music The music of Sweden shares roots with its neighbouring countries in Scandinavia, as well as Eastern Europe, including polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka. The Swedish fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk i ...

, known for his 1790 ''

Fredman's Epistles ''Fredmans epistlar'' (English: ''Fredman's Epistles'') is a collection of 82 poems set to music by Carl Michael Bellman, a major figure in Swedish 18th century song. Though first published in 1790, it was created over a period of twenty year ...

'' and his 1791 '' Fredman's Songs''. A solo entertainer, he played the

cittern The cittern or cithren ( Fr. ''cistre'', It. ''cetra'', Ger. ''Cister,'' Sp. ''cistro, cedra, cítola'') is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is d ...

, accompanying himself as he performed his songs at the royal court. Jean Fredman (1712 or 1713–1767) was a real watchmaker of Bellman's Stockholm. The fictional Fredman, alive after 1767, but without employment, is the supposed narrator in Bellman's epistles and songs. The epistles, written and performed in different styles, from

s and laments to

pastorale Pastorale refers to something of a pastoral nature in music, whether in form or in mood. In Baroque music, a pastorale is a movement of a melody in thirds over a drone bass, recalling the Christmas music of ''pifferari'', players of the traditi ...

s, paint a complex picture of the life of the city during the 18th century. A frequent theme is the

demimonde is a French 19th-century term referring to women on the fringes of respectable society, and specifically to courtesans supported by wealthy lovers. The term is French for "half-world", and derives from an 1855 play called , by Alexandre Dumas ...

, with Fredman's cheerfully drunk Order of

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

, a loose company of ragged men who favour strong drink and prostitutes. At the same time as depicting this reality, Bellman creates a

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

picture of life, full of classical allusion, following the French post-

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

poets. The women, including the beautiful

Ulla Winblad Ulla Winblad is a semi-fictional character in many of Carl Michael Bellman's musical works. She is at once an idealised rococo goddess and a tavern prostitute, and a key figure in Bellman's songs of '' Fredman's Epistles''. The juxtaposition of e ...

, are "

nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

s", while

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

's festive troop of followers and sea-creatures sport in Stockholm's waters. The juxtaposition of elegant and low life is humorous, sometimes

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

, but always graceful and sympathetic. The songs are "most ingeniously" set to their music, which is nearly always borrowed and skilfully adapted.

Song

Music and verse form

The song is in time and is marked '' Andantino''; the

rhyming scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

is ABCCDB. The melody appears to have been written by Bellman; no earlier sources have been found.

Lyrics

"Gubben Noak" ("Old Man Noah", originally "Om gubben Noach och hans fru" or just "Gubben Noach", and since 1791 also " Fredmans sång n:o 35") is a traditional Swedish song. It is both a

and a bible

. Bellman had completed the song by 1766, but it was probably written earlier. The setting for the song is the time when

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

had come to rest on the

mountains of Ararat In the Book of Genesis, the mountains of Ararat (Biblical Hebrew , Tiberian ', Septuagint: ) is the term used to designate the region in which Noah's Ark comes to rest after the Great Flood. It corresponds to the ancient Assyrian term Urartu ...

. As mentioned in the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

9:20–21, Noah established a vineyard and got drunk from drinking the wine. The rest of the story departs from the biblical account. Along with '' Fredman's Songs'' 36–43, such as "Joakim uti Babylon" and "Ahasverus var så mäktig", ''Gubben Noak'' is one of the biblical travesties that made Bellman popular during the 1760s.

Reception and legacy

Bellman chose to first publish the song anonymously on broadsheets throughout Sweden. In 1768 the Lund chapter reacted by sending a letter to the priests of the diocese, attempting to collect all prints and transcripts of "Gubben Noach" and other biblical travesties, in order to have them destroyed. Bellman's biographer

Lars Lönnroth Lars Lönnroth (born 4 June 1935) is a Swedish literary scholar. He was born in Gothenburg to Erik Lönnroth and Ebba Lagercrantz. His academic career includes professorships at the University of California Berkeley, University of Aalborg and ...

comments that this showed that the church had failed to understand that ordinary people saw the song as innocent fun. Far from suppressing the song, the church's attention increased its fame, and it quickly became Bellman's most popular work to date. Lönnroth notes that songs praising Noah had been current among the bacchanalian poets of Germany and France from

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

times, and that sixteenth century French poem contained phrases much like Bellman's: In 1791 "Gubben Noak" was included in the song book ''

Fredmans sånger ''Fredmans sånger'' (in English, ''Fredman's Songs'' or ''Songs of Fredman'') is a collection of 65 poems and songs published in 1791 by the Swedish poet Carl Michael Bellman. As a follow-up to ''Fredmans epistlar'' from the previous year, th ...

'', along with eight other biblical travesties, such as "Gubben Loth och hans gamla Fru" ('' Songs of Fredman'' no 35–43). Simplified and more innocent versions, such as '' Björnen sover'' ("The bear's asleep"), and ''Atte Katte Nuwa'' ("To catch a whale"), have become popular as children's songs. The song was included in the 1936 compilation of poems by

and E. V. Gordon, ''

''. It has spread around the world to become not just one of Bellman's best-known works, but one of the most popular songs ever written. The Finnish composer

Oskar Merikanto Oskar Merikanto (; born Frans Oskar Ala-Kanto; 5 August 186817 February 1924) was a Finnish composer, music critic, pianist, and organist. As a composer, Merikanto was primarily a miniaturist, and includes songs and piano pieces (he wrote over ...

wrote his ''Old Man Noah Variations'' in 1907, based on Bellman's song. English versions of "Gubben Noak" have been recorded by Adam McNaughtan and the Linköping University Male Voice Choir.''In English'' (Linköping: Linköpings studentsångare, 2013).

References

Sources

* * * * (with facsimiles of sheet music from first editions in 1790, 1791) *

External links

Text of song 35
{{Authority control Songs in Swedish Drinking songs Songs about alcohol Music based on the Bible Fredmans sånger