English translation

A Land of Tragic Songs

• 1. With the very first line we have an interesting English translation challenge and a demonstration of Martti Syrjä's unique skill as a songwriter - this is a sentence that is totally backwards to the straightforward English translation - "He happened to be born in a state of innocence" -> "In a state of innocence, born, so it happened, he" in a very clever way that highlights the assonance between "syyttömänä" and "syntymään", alliteration of 's', and rhymes "hän" with "mään". Along with that opening chord, it is quite possibly the best opening line to any Finnish song and immediately cements this song's status as one of the all-time greats. I don't think this could ever be translated perfectly into English.
• 2. Or "the fate of a traditional man"
• 3. "Turmiolan Tommi" was an alcoholic in a 19th century cartoon series published to warn of the dangers of alcohol, similar to "A Rake's Progress" or "The Bottle" in England. "Turmiola", in a neat coincidence, is an anagram of "a turmoil" but it is in reality a made-up surname based on the word "turmio" meaning "ruin".
• 4. "Elkeet" can be translated as "ways", "mannerisms", "actions", "gestures". Literally something like "the ways of the lords infect the farmhand". Historically, Finland had a strong class divide, particularly between the Finnish-speaking peasants and the Swedish-speaking gentry. The implication is that the humble farmer gets ideas above his station ("asema" in Finnish) and starts acting like an arrogant landowner.
• 5. i.e. the frost kills the crops
• 6. A reference to the lyrics of the patriotic song "Sillanpään marssilaulu" (Sillanpää's Marching Song), which goes: "Under the mounds, from the soil of the land, fathers watch their sons."
• 7. A reference to the famous Finnish novelist Juhani Aho's essay "Katajainen kansani" ("My nation/people of juniper"), which compared the Finnish people to a resilient juniper bush.
• 8. Toivo "Topi" Kärki (1915-1992), a Finnish musician who wrote the kind of sad music that this song parodies.
• 9. Yet another reference, this time to Ahti Lampi's gloomy ballad "Elämän valttikortit" ("The Trump Cards of Life").
• 10. "Einari Epätoivo" (literally "Einari Hopeless") is a character made up for the song. You could say he is perhaps a great-great-grandson of Tommi Turmiola.