The Ballad Of Elizabeth Meek

Published 2010-04-15
A popular Swedish song ("Balladen Om Fredrik Åkare Och Cecilia Lind") by Cornelis Vreeswijk, with my own translation to English. (I didn't make the video.)

Translated lyrics:

From Ockero dance hall sounds squeezebox and brass
The pale pregnant moon glows as if it were glass
There dances Freddy Carter cheek against cheek
With little Miss Elizabeth Meek

Shutting her eyes and dancing up close
She follows the dance now wherever it goes
He leads and she flows like a spring valley creek
But why blushes young Miss Elizabeth Meek?

Say, was it because of what Carter did tell?
You're smelling so sweet and you're dancing so well
Your waist is slender and your long hair is sleek
How pretty you are, Miss Elizabeth Meek

The music had ended and where should they go?
They lived almost next to each other, you know
They came to her gate, and she faced him to speak
I want you to kiss me, said Elizabeth Meek

Shame, Freddy Carter, you dirty old man!
She is only a child as you must understand
Pure as a flower, her young will so weak
I'll be seventeen soon, said Elizabeth Meek

And the stars they wandered and the hours they flew
And Freddy is old but the moon is new
Yes, Freddy is old, but love's rules are oblique
Kiss me again, said Elizabeth Meek

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