---

KRISTINA - AT CARNEGIE HALL
MONO MUSIC AB MMCD 026 (2010)

 

 

DISC 1
Overture - American Theatre Orchestra, Paul Gemignani
Path Of Leaves And Needles
Where You Go I Go With You
Stone Kingdom
Down To The Sea
A Bad Harvest
No!
He's Our Pilot
Never
Golden Wheatfields
All Who Are Grieving
We Open Up The Gateways
Peasants At Sea
Lice
In The Dead Of Darkness
A Sunday In Battery Park
Home
American Man
Dreams Of Gold
Summer Rose

DISC 2
Emperors And Kings
Twilight Images Calling
Queen Of The Prairie
Wild Grass
Gold Can Turn To Sand
Wildcat Money
To The Sea - Kevin Odekirk
Miracle Of God
Down To The Waterside
Miscarriage
You Have To Be There
Here I Am Again
With Child Again
Rising From Myth And Legend
I'll Be Waiting There

---

Kristina
I see him leaving Korpamoen
Run the path down to Olsson's Landing
Resting, and not breath too soon
He can see me from where he's standing.

I see him crossing Devil's glade
Where the giant old oak lies dying
Now he emerges from the shade
Faster now, and his footsteps flying!

Path of leaves and needles
Give his heels the spring and bounce to get here
Path of leaves and needles
It's been seven long days since we met here

And soon he's at Seven Farmers Gate
My most welcome and only caller
I'm early and he's never late
For his true love at Duvemåla

---

Karl Oskar
Three Years i have waited
For this very moment
Can you guess what i'm about to say?

Kristina
Please don't keep me waiting

Karl Oskar
The farm is mine, Kristina.
We have a home now, a farm that will
Feed us and clothe us.
We will be married ...
that's, if you'll still have me

Kristina
You know i'll have you!
I've told you, Karl Oskar.
I think about you only
Go ask my father.
He'll give us permission.
I know for certain he will.

My man, my husband finally!
I wished for this, all other thoughts forsaking
Now my wish is granted
The dream has come true.
Now where you go I go with you

With all my body and my soul
I crave you each and every breath I'm taking
And I see that eagerness burning in you
Your soul, your heart, your body too

Wedding Guests
She is young but they where
made for one another
They're happy, that's easy to see
She will surely be
a proper wife and mother
A Worker she'll have to be!

He will never ask for help from any quarter
There's no-one who's stubborn as he
He's a farmer's son and she's a farmer's daughter
The know what there life will be

But isn't she lovely?
Isn't she lively?
Look at her rushing
To and fro
Still a young girl
Yes, isn't she lovely?
Look at her smiling
Look at her blushing
Head to toe
Still a young girl

Marta
You where always such a headstrong boy
and you would never listen

Nils
Since I thaught you that your fly must be
unbuttoned when you're ...

Wedding Guests
She is young but they where made for one another
They're happy, that's easy to see
She will surely be a proper wife and mother
A Worker she'll have to be!

But isn't she lovely?
Isn't she lively?
Look at her rushing
To and fro
Still a young girl

Yes, isn't she lovely?
Look at her smiling
Look at her blushing
Head to toe
Still a young girl

Everybody knows that times are getting harder
There's hard days ahead for his bride
Won't be easy putting something in the larder
She'll need a good man by her side
Who will plough every acre
and turn every stone to provide

Kristina
How I used to beg you
Stay just a little longer with me

Karl Oskar
Having to leave you
was almost unbearable

Kristina
Every sunday morning

Karl Oskar
Stealing away before dawn
Not to wake up your parents

Kristina
Then one last kiss ...

Karl Oskar
Always time for that kiss

Kristina
Now I'll hold you forever
Always hold you like this

Kristina & Karl Oskar
With all my body and my soul
I crave you each and
every breath I'm taking
I am yours from this day
and all our days through
For where you go, I go with you

---

Karl Oskar
For the past three years
I've been listening to the tune
Of my crowbar striking another stone
The bitter song of Korpamoen

This is my domain.
I'm the ruler of the land
Come behold my royal kingdom
And my subjects

Rock and rubble, grain and gravel,
stone and shingle

Kristina
Turn Your Grace upon us, Lord
And protect our crops from ruin and decay
Give us bread this day
Grant us now our harvest
Through Christ Almighty,
our Lord King in Heaven. Amen

Wait ... and listen to me, please ...

Karl Oskar
What's the matter, something wrong?

Kristina
I keep thinking about us ... the children going
hungry.

Karl Oskar
I don't think I understand.

Kristina
Well, it's just that ... if we don't ... then there'll
no new little mouth to feed.

Karl Oskar
So you would want us to deny
The joy of love, the sweetest joys forsaking
Not to touch, or feel you, as years pass us by
And soon they go! Too soon they fly!

Both
I feel your breathing peacefully
The two of us at rest when day is breaking
All my heart I give you an all my life through.
And where you go I go with you

---

Robert
We must not complain
We who crawl upon the land
Though I sleep un dung
I must hold my tongue
Who cares about a farmer's hand?

I must know my place
Or be beaten for my pains
Shut my mouth and just be grateful
Answer never!
Yet this little stream can go its way in freedom
Run away from here forever.
Down to the sea
Hurry down to the sea
Stopping for none
How you run
Little stream
Faster and faster

Free, you are free
Not a slave, not like me
Choosing your way
As you please
At your ease
Your own master

Soon you will ride
On the crest of a wave
To be one with the sea everlasting
On giant shoulders you'll carry sailors
In tall white galleons
To far horizons

Your are going where I long to be
Take me there
Little stream
To the sea

---

Kristina
And who are you to chide
Almighty God in Heaven?
Is it his fault you fill
my empty womb with seed?
You go about in silence
Sullen and begrudging, half the time
And what is my crime?
You want to punish me when all I've done
Is make a child with you?
We made these lives together
Bodies face to face
You seem to think that I'm to blame
When things go wrong it's all my fault
You are so unfair!

Karl Oskar
How can you think you are to blame?
You know I hold the children dear
But I can't help it. I still worry that
the crop may fail again

Kristina
Do you love me as you did?

Karl Oskar
I always have, I really do

Kristina
Are you saying that to please me?

Karl Oskar
I'd never dare to lie to you

Kristina
That is true, you're always honest
I'm just being vain and jumpy
I don't ever mean to blame you

Karl Oskar
Dear Kristina, how you worry
We will always be together
No-one else we can rely on

Kristina
Do you want me just as much…?

( Karl Oskar whispers in her ear )

Kristina
Goodness, that's the second time you
Speak of love in one single day
It feels good to hear you say it
Was it just because we quarrelled?

Karl Oskar
I'm too simple to deceive you

Kristina
Let's say I believe you!

Anna
Look here, papa, I just found it
Is it dead? It isn't moving
Will I die like this poor bunny?

Karl Oskar
I'm afraid we all die sometime

Anna
Maybe we'll all die tomorrow?

Kristina
It will be a day still distant .

Karl Oskar
She's smart, that child, beyond her tender years.
Our Anna is a most remarkable girl

Kristina
She watches you, she always follows you
And you're so proud ...

Karl Oskar
But what's her future to be?

Last year there were rainstorms
They drowned the harvest
This year it's drier than hell
We cry out for water!

What now of your Saviour?
Why do we hunger?
Are we just dirt in His hands,
Just lambs to His slaughter?

Come look at the harvest
See what I've got here
These straws, these hairs of a cat
Come count them for yourself
We've got your precious Lord to thank for that!

Kristina
Watch what you're saying!

Karl Oskar
I throw this back in His face
Let's see how He likes it!

Kristina
God help you for those words, Karl Oskar!

Karl Oskar
The barn! It's on fire!

Neighbours
Now everywhere we look it's dark
And we have seen the signs of
coming danger, omens of despair
Across the land all winter long
the signs were deadly
All of spring was dry as tinder, cold as sin

And then the driest yet of thirty summers
No sign of rain, the earth is gasping in the heat
The grass in the meadows turns pale and sickly
And as the grass falls away, so too,
does the livestock

The hills and the valleys turned dark and tawny
Foretelling what was to come: disaster and famine
What good is our labour, our toil and trouble?
They're good for nothing
Our Lord has given us nothing!

Kristina
So proud and so haughty are you, Karl Oskar
I don't know one who compares
It seems you think that you can curse at God
And then just forget it!
Now we are punished
You threw it back in His face
He taught you a lesson.
Well, how do you like it?

---

Kristina
My God, dear Robert - how you're bleeding
Your face all raw and running red
Come here and let me take a look at you
Come rest your head

Robert
He struck me down without a reason
That's been his way right from the start
My master has no pity for the weak
He has no heart

Karl Oskar
I'll make him curse the times
He raised his arm against you
For every stroke he gave you
I will land him ten!
To strike a boy of fifteen
Shame the name of Nilsson!
By Christ, you'll never have to
work for him again

Robert
No more I'll bend before a master
Nor spend my life in fear of tyrants
This is a solemn oath I swear
And there's no turning back
You must help me now, Karl Oskar

Karl Oskar
Tell me, what is it you want me to do?

Robert
I want my share of the inheritance.
I'm going to America.
You think I'm lying like you always do, dear brother.

Karl Oskar
I thought I knew you, boy, but little did I know!
For once it seems we're in agreement with each other
Yes, that's exactly where I plan for us to go!

Kristina
No!

Karl Oskar
In America I tell you
No one's ever hungry
Children never thin

America
They sell you
Land for half a dollar
Pay it and you're in!

Robert
In America there's fortune
Streets are paved with gold there
In America is treasure
More than you can hold there

Karl Oskar & Robert
Now tell me that you want to go

Kristina
Wolves eat the children
Snakes bite the plowmen
Savage Indians roaming through the forests
From these parts there is
nobody talks of leaving

Karl Oskar & Robert
Someone has to take the lead
In every new endeavour
Nothing is impossible
For men who share a vision
Who'd have thought the two of us
Would be in this together
Making independently
the very same decision

Kristina
It's not to the neighbouring parish
or some other part of this country
not even a place on this continent you want to go
No, you have to move to a new world
It could be the moon,
It's as crazy as that, it's a pipedream,
as any sane person would know

Karl Oskar
I've made my decision
I know what I'm doing

Kristina
Decide all you want to
I'm saying no

Robert
In America I tell you
No one's ever hungry
Children never thin

America
they sell you
Land for half a dollar
Pay it and you're in

Karl Oskar
In America there's fortune
Streets are paved with gold there
In America is treasure
More than you can hold there

Karl Oskar & Robert
Now tell us, yes you want to go
Come on, confess you want to go

Kristina
Heavens, how little you both know!
You've got my answer and it's no!

PRAYER

Kristina
Dear God…
All the ships that have gone down
All the bodies lying down there in the deep
Eaten by the whales, and the ocean monsters
Save us from these, Almighty Saviour Jesus
Amen

I must ask uncle Danjel's advice…

---

Danjel & Congregation
He's our pilot
He knows the way of the Lord
Pray that the Son of God will hear us
And take us on board

He's our pilot
Jesus the saviour of souls
We are His crew and He will steer us
Through breakers and shoals

Hoist the sails!
By the breath of God our little ship is driven
Hoist the sails!
We're going on a journey
to a distant shore
There all our sins will be forgiven
And we'll sin no more

Hoist the sails!
Tie the knots and coil the ropes
the way he taught us
Hoist the sails!
And on the other shore we'll kneel upon the sand
There we will worship Him who brought us
To our promised land.
Our Pilot
Soon all our troubles are through

Danjel
Jesus will be our chart and compass

All
And we are His crew

---

Ulrika
You who so despise me
Mock me and chastise me
You who call me harlot and whore
You make me strong again

Righteous congregation
Pillars of the nation
I am in your debt evermore
Your scorn is my salvation

Here, they laugh, they point, they turn away
Here, I die by inches every day
Dying of sermons, dying of judgements
Guilty as charged. Let justice be done

Never shall my girl oblige a pleasure seeker
Not like me, the one they call Ulrika
Ulrika, “The Happy One”

Men came in the darkness
Scratching at my window
Men I know by sight - and by name
They bought their share of me

Councillors and churchmen
How they came a-wooing
Stealing home in silence and shame
Their shame is my renewing

Here I find my path, I see my aim
Here my steel is tested in the flame
I swear I'll take you
Far from their laughter
Now and hereafter
I'll see it done

Never shall they scorn you
as they've scorned your mother
You will know your joys like any other
As God is my witness
Never - Never
So swears Ulrika - “The Happy One”

---

Kristina
There's no peace for me this winter.
He talks of nothing but America …

I'll never understand
A single word that they are saying
Completely green I'd land
A stranger in a land of strangers
Heaven knows what dangers
We'd be facing all adrift and so alone
And if you go you know you
choose a road of no returning
No turning back again
except to see your bridges burning
Family and nation you'll be spurning
Everything you've ever known

Karl Oskar
Golden wheatfields
To the horizon
‘neath heavens blue

Kristina
If now we hunger
God alone must now the cause and reason
For everything alive
There is a time, there is a season
Providence is merciful
God will not let us call on him in vain

Karl Oskar
Empty prairies
I hear them calling

Kristina & Karl Oskar's parents
You'll never understand
A single word that they are saying
Completely green you'd land
A stranger in a land of strangers
Heaven knows what dangers
you'd be facing all adrift and so alone

---

Mourners
All who are grieving
All who are hurting
All you who suffer
Come, take shelter
Here lies your harbor
Here lies your haven
All who go hungry
Come, share the harvest

From ‘cross the ocean
Voices calling
Come, share the harvest

Empty lands await your ploughshares
Waiting for you out here to
feed your hunger
A refuge from sorrow

Here there is welcome
Here ends your sorrow
Here I raise my lantern
Here waits tomorrow

Millions of raindrops
Swell the current
Mighty the river

The word is spread
From neighbour to neighbour
They turn their eyes
To frontiers unknown
A dream is born
Forever is growing
And the seed is sown

---

Brusander
Now surely you know
That the country you go to
Is ruled by the law of the heathen
It's a land of deceivers!
Hear me out, Kristina
Their nation is godless
Their prophets are pagans
And never true believers!

Robert
They say it's a country
Where no man is master

Karl Oskar
Where farmers like me can look forward
To the harvesting season

Kristina
With a heavy heart
I will go with my husband
I go for the children
And that's my only reason

Brusander
Fifty years from today
There will be no America, you know

Church warden and others
Yes, America it will have disappeared
Fifty years from this day

Brusander
Just you mark my words
You'll be sorry if you go

Emigrants
There is nothing to add
We are leaving whatever you say

So come,
We open up the gateway
Come,
We've started on the quest
Come,
The stories from America
Encourage and inspire

Yes come,
We open up the gateway
Come,
It opens to the West
Come,
The promise of a second chance
Is spreading like a fire

Brusander (to Danjel)
This country you go
Is full of pretenders
They bow to their idols
And all they seek is trifles and treasure

There, Ulrika, men always
Yield to desire
A land full of lewdness
And lechery and pleasure

Danjel
I trust in my God
He will lead me to freedom
He'll light up my path
I'm relying on the signs that He shows me

Ulrika
I must get away
From these backstabbing lechers
And start, good as new,
In a place where no-one knows me

Brusander
Fifty years from today
You will see how America will fail

Church warden and others
Yes, America, it will have been erased
Fifty years from this day

Brusander
Just you mark my words
You'll be sorry if you sail

Emigrants
There is no more to add
We are leaving whatever you say

So come,
We open up the gateway
Come,
We've started on the quest
Come,
The stories from America
Encourage and inspire

Yes come,
We open up the gateway
Come,
It opens to the West
Come,
The promise of a second chance
Is spreading like a fire

It's a slow and hesitant beginning
In a land of little change
Hard to summon up the steel
To brave a world unknown

And the thought of breaking up with home is
Unfamiliar and strange
Yet so many risk their lives
And everything they own

So come,
We open up the gateway
Come,
The mighty river flows
Come,
The promise of a better life
Has set a world in motion

Yes come,
We open up the gateway
Come,
The mighty river grows
Come,
The tide has turned and
time has come to reach across the ocean

---

Peasants at sea
Where we came from
We saw mountains, woods and valleys

On this journey
Day in day out
All we see is deep dark water

Kristina
How the cold wind blows
How the distance grows
When we are apart

Karl Oskar
How the cold wind blows
How the distance grows
When we are apart

---

Kristina (to Ulrika)
It's you… You've infested us all with lice!

Ulrika
We're going to settle this right now, Kristina from Korpamoen!

Listen to this creature here
Always so polite and nice
Dares to tell me I've got lice
Ask my pardon on your knees

Kristina
Not till Hell begins to freeze!
Kneel to you – I'd sooner die
I'll embrace the devil first!

Ulrika
Listen to your blasphemies
Don't you care if you are cursed?

Danjel
Silence, in the name of peace

Ulrika
She must take it back, I say
Every lying word of it
Once upon a time, perhaps
I was young and strayed a bit
Jesus saved me from my shame

Kristina
And “The happy one's” your name

Ulrika
Gonna show the lot of you
There's not a single louse on me
You look me over all you like
And not a bloody louse you'll see

Kristina
Well, you are shaming every woman here
You wanton woman, you are crazy

Ulrika
You're the one who has accused me

Ulrika & Kristina
May the Lord above forgive you

Ulrika
Then Inga-Lena shall be my witness!
Come with me and examine my clothes!

Fina-Kajsa
Speaking of lice… Do you know how the
louse was created?

Here's that story now
Let me tell you how
Once the Lord came
down to Earth and was
harassed by a beggar in the street

Emigrants
What did the Lord say?

Fina-Kajsa
“Get yourself a job!”
Said Almighty God
“I'm afraid that's not for me, good Sir
A krona oh please, I got to eat”

Emigrants
What did the Lord do?

Fina-Kajsa
Never in the mood to carp or cavil
God Almighty grabbed a fist of gravel
Flung all of it upon the sluggard
Who was stunned and shouted:
  “I'll be buggered!”

Fina-Kajsa & Emigrants
Every bit o' gravel as it hit him
Turned into a little louse that bit him
“Scratch till you drop” the good Lord stated
That is how the louse was first created!

Ulrika
Tell ‘em all I spoke the truth
Did you see a sign of lice
Anywhere upon my skin?
Tell ‘em all what you have seen

Inga-Lena
She is absolutely clean

Ulrika
Absolutely clean, you hear?
Clean of lice and clean of flees
( Addressing Kristina )
Now you take back every word
Say you're sorry if you please
Say you're sorry on your knees

Kristina
I would sooner rot in hell
Sooner leap into the sea
Kowtow to this Jezebel?
It would be a blasphemy
Don't you dare to talk to me!

Ulrika
Thank you for your kind advice

Kristina
I still think you brought the lice

Ulrika
Don't you come the high and mighty
Thinking you're a better class
I ought to scratch your eyeballs out
And shove ‘em up your bloody –

Kristina
Never will I ask your pardon
You are cruel and hard 'n you will never scare me

Ulrika
You're the one who has accused me

Ulrika & Kristina
May the Lord above forgive you

Fina-Kajsa
You can put some lice in a sandwich
To give to a child who is hungry
Makes a decent little snack
And he can chew it, a baby can do it
It tastes a bit like toffee

Emigrants
That's nice. Mmm mmm!

Fina-Kajsa
Recommended with a cup of coffee

Fina-Kajsa & Emigrants
Everyone in Sweden longs to get out
Even little lice can't wait to set out
Scratch till you're raw
You'll never beat ‘em
Any way you try
You can't defeat ‘em
Little parasites who love to chew you
Pesky little mites, they'll chew right through you
Drill through your skin and then start munchin'
Have you for their breakfast, tea and luncheon
Crasping and a-crawling
Pestilential and appalling
Lice!

---

Karl Oskar
In the Dead of Darkness
Life will fade behind me
Once I've crossed that threshold
Demons will find me

In the deepest cavern
Huddled in a corner
Above me a dripstone is dripping
And drip-drip my sanity's slipping

In the Dead of Darkness
There is nowhere to turn
Please, please, don't leave me

Men like me imagine
No-one's standing taller
In the Dead of Darkness
No-one is smaller

She wants to forgive me
I who made her suffer
I crushed all resistance
Compulsive and driven
Can I be forgiven?

In the Dead of Darkness
Let the stubborn man burn
Please, please don't leave me

You love me, you told me
Come back then, come, hold me
I'm lost here without you, Kristina!

In the Dead of Darkness, dear God
Let there be light
Bring her to the light
Bring her through the night

Arvid
They see America!

---

Americans
How d'ye do? How are you?
It's a beautiful day
Here in Battery Park
Perfect, wouldn't you say?
Everybody is here
Nice to meet you again
Haven't seen you, my dear
Not since Heaven knows when!

That's a beautiful dress
All done up with a bow
It's the gift of a man
But his wife doesn't know!
Yes there's many a man
Keeps his wife in the dark
As they go for a walk
On the shores of New York
Just an old-fashioned walk
On a Sunday in Battery Park

Danjel
I thank you, Lord, on this day of deliverance
For all the suffering you've visited upon me
Tell me what I must do, please,
Help me conquer my fear

Fina-Kajsa
I have a son up in East Minnesota
Grindstones, he says, are no good in this country
Thousands of miles I have carried his stone
They don't know how to make them out here

Robert
Look at her, Arvid
That ship over there
Soon it sails for California!
Out to the goldfields
Imagine that, Arvid
To dig for gold and be rich!

Americans
How d'ye do, how are you?
What a heavenly day
Here in Battery Park
Look who's coming this way

It's that rich Mr. Clark
Leads a miserable life
Always under the thumb
Of his Mexican wife

Here comes Sheriff O'Shea
Quite the cock of the walk
He'll be Mayor one day
He'll be boss of New York
He is making his name
He is making his mark
It's a thrill, don't you know
Just to walk to and fro
Make a bit of a show
On a Sunday in Battery Park

Immigrant Women
Look at that pretty skirt
Look at that yellow hat
Aren't they remarkable?
Who wears a hat like that?

Immigrants
Gibberish is their tongue
Can't catch the tang of it
Can't make no sense of it
Don't get the hang of it
We feel numb
Helpless and dumb

Americans
How d'ye do? How are you?
It's a beautiful day
Here in Battery Park
Perfect, wouldn't you say?
Everybody is here
Nice to meet you again
Haven't seen you, my dear
Not since Heaven knows when!

That's a beautiful dress
All done up with a bow
It's the gift of a man
But his wife doesn't know!
Yes there's many a man
Keeps his wife in the dark
As they go for a walk
On the shores of New York
Just an old-fashioned walk
On a Sunday in Battery Park

---

Johan
Mama, I wanna go home. Aren't we home soon?

Kristina
One day when we were on the ocean
Another ship came sailing by
The Swedish colours fluttered from her stern
The people on the deck
I could see their faces
We sailed in opposite directions
They waved and I felt so alone
How strange, when I was leaving all behind me
There were others like me going home

Kristina's children
Oh Mama, Mama, where is home?

Kristina
All that I know
Is that there was a place called ‘home'
Not long ago

A place where all is peace and quiet
When we have gone to bed at night
I want to make a home for all of us
Away from crushing crowds
This we owe our children

( To Johan )
They say that once we've crossed the grassland
Where bears and prairie creatures roam
The land is rich, we'll find a place to live
That you will learn to love and call your home

Children
Oh Mama, Mama, where is home?

Kristina
What can I say?

Kristina & children
Somewhere where people dance and sing
Midsummer Day

Kristina
Ours is a road that leads away
Never returning

Children
Oh Mama, Mama, where is home?

Kristina (To Johan)
I thought I knew
Now we must look for
Answers to your question
For I long for home as much as you

---

Kristina, Ulrika, Elin & Fina-Kajsa
Who'd have thought such men existed?
Does the housework unassisted
Sweeps the floor and does the dishes
And his coffee is delicious
How he's worked, how he's persisted
Who'd have thought such men existed?
In this vast amazing land
(To Jackson)
You give hope and comfort and shelter
You give all you can
American man

Jackson
There was never a woman who gave me a glance

Kristina, Ulrika, Elin & Fina-Kajsa
(not understanding a word he's saying)
He has clean sheets, y'know, on his bed

Jackson
No, I never dreamed of getting this attention

Kristina, Ulrika, Elin & Fina-Kajsa
Bet you he bakes his bread

Jackson
Unbelievable! I think they're flirting with me

Kristina, Ulrika, Elin & Fina-Kajsa
Does he iron his shirts, can it be?

Jackson
I don't have a clue
So should I just pretend that I don't see it?
I don't know what to do

Please, tell me that I'm not mistaken
Have to say I'm shaken!
( Looking at Ulrika )
She's so attractive
Oh, I hardly dare to look

Kristina, Ulrika, Elin & Fina-Kajsa
He can certainly cook!

Jackson
To be wanting a wife

Ulrika
Lives alone here, I'd say

Jackson
To be sharing your life

Ulrika
Guess he likes it that way

Kristina, Ulrika, Elin & Fina-Kajsa
Who'd have thought such men existed?
Such a man can't be resisted
Not a moment does he squander
Was there ever such a wonder
Makes my eyes come up all misted
Who'd have thought such men existed?
In this vast amazing land
( To Jackson )
You give hope and comfort and shelter
You give all you can
American man

Jackson
To be wanting a wife

Ulrika
Not a sign of a spouse

Jackson
To be sharing your life

Ulrika
It's a bachelor's house

Kristina, Ulrika, Elin & Fina-Kajsa
Who'd have thought such men existed?
Does the housework unassisted
Sweeps the floor and does the dishes
And his coffee is delicious
How he's worked, how he's persisted
Who'd have thought such men existed?
Doesn't fret or make a fuss
He's one of us
For men and women here now
So it would appear now
They are equals in this land
You give hope and comfort and shelter
You give all you can
American man!

Jackson
Thank you God!

---

Robert
We always swore we'd stick together
in America – remember that?

Arvid
It was a solemn promise!

Robert
Then I will tell you all about my secret plan
We're heading West to dig for gold in California

Arvid
And you want me to come along

Robert
And when we've dug our fill
we're going home again
to build a mansion where we'll
Live like country squires!

Robert & Arvid
There's no farmhand who's done that before

Arvid
Still and all it's pleasant here,
Why be in such a hurry

Robert
Think of all the poor old wretches
That we left behind us

Arvid
They slave all their life for a pittance
They're treated like swine and
they sleep in a sty
Where they scuffle for
crumbs till the day that they die

Robert
No, we mustn't end up as paupers

Robert & Arvid
Our future is in California and waiting
out there is a bright shining mountain of gold

Robert
It knows we are coming

Arvid
Yes, I hear it calling

Robert
The sooner, the better

Robert & Arvid
We're on our way

Karl Oskar
The pitiless fight for survival out there
Would be fatal for you and your
whims can only lead to disasters

Robert
Don't you see that scratching for gold
Will be heaven. For one who has
worked for the wickedest of masters

Karl Oskar
You're too young to make it
Just eighteen, remember!

Robert
At fourteen - remember!
You knew exactly where you were heading

Karl Oskar
That was back at home, things were different in Sweden

Robert
No older than fourteen, you seem to be forgetting

Karl Oskar
As a child you went reaching for rainbows,
I see that you still do

Robert
All the rich men out in California piss into
pots made of gold

Karl Oskar
Every word a lie. And so typical of you!

Robert
They all dawdle about night and day; without shame, so I'm told!

Karl Oskar
So you think you just pick up a
spade and your fortune will be made

Robert
And when I return I'll share it with you fairly
- The brotherly way!

Karl Oskar
Well, you mark my words
You'll regret your escapade

Robert & Arvid
There is nothing to add
We are leaving whatever you say

---

Kristina
All is well now, peace at last
You were carried over the sea
Curled up inside me
Safe and warm as can be

Now that blissful time has passed
You've been thrown out into a world
Where you must fend for
Yourself without me

Someday
You'll be wanting to know
Of my life
In that land long ago
Of the home you'll never see
“Is it still there?”
You'll ask me
It is there
In the beat of my heart
It is there
Though we're oceans apart

And some day you may yet learn
How much a true heart can yearn
In all my dreams I return
To where my apple tree grows
My precious Summer Rose

Kristina & Choir
As you grow I will teach you the ways
Of my home in those faraway days
You will ask
Is it still there?
And I will answer: It's there!

It is there
In the beat of my heart
It is there
Though we're oceans apart

Kristina
And some day you may yet learn
How much a true heart can burn
In all my dreams I return
To where my apple tree grows
My precious Summer Rose

---

Settlers
If you wanna be free of emperors and kings!
Leave the kings and emperors behind you
Don't let'em tie you down and clip your wings
Don't let'em shackle and bind you

Ulrika
I was four when the parish
Auctioned me away

Settlers
Shame on those
Who sold you and who used you

Ulrika
They were like wolves and I was easy prey

Settlers
Shame and the men who abused you

Danjel
I was giving Communion
I was not ordained

Settlers
So they jailed you in the name of Jesus

Danjel
Here I can preach the Gospel unconstrained

Settlers
Here he can preach what he pleases!
Never again will we lower our eyes
Fearing the powers that be
Swallowing sermons from men we despise
Men who command by decree

It's a funny old new world! – All is upside down!
He who was a pauper can be king here
Given a voice a man can stand his ground
He who was silent can sing here

Fina-Kajsa
Cry for Anders, my son
For he was all I had

Settlers
Dragged a grindstone to her son from Sweden

Fina-Kajsa
But when I found him, drink had made him mad

Settlers
Lost in this Garden of Eden!

Karl Oskar
There is just one regret
One thing I've come to know

Settlers
Here we are and here we'll stay forever

Karl Oskar
We should have come here many years ago!

Settlers
Later is better than never!

Never again will we lower our eyes
Fearing the powers that be
Swallowing sermons from men we despise
Men who command by decree
If you wanna be free of emperors and kings!
Leave the kings and emperors behind you
Don't let ‘em tie you down and clip your wings
Don't let ‘em shackle and bind you

Karl Oskar
Dearest Kristina, please tell me what's wrong

Kristina
Pay no attention to me

Danjel
Maybe it's time for us all to go home
It's been a very long day

Kristina
What a fool I must seem
Forgive me, everyone
Please ignore
A silly woman weeping

Karl Oskar
I'm gonna build
a bigger house next year
A house that'll be worth the keeping

---

Kristina
Voices whisper behind me
They remind me
Every night
Of another existence
Far in the distance
It comes in sight

I can see them clear
My folks at the crossroads waving
Losing a child forever
I see them cry

It's as if they're here
My people of time gone by
They come to me when night is falling
Twilight images calling

Karl Oskar
You've been looking all abandoned
And so desolate lately
And it breaks my heart to see it
But I think I know why

Kristina
I was only just remembering

Karl Oskar
It's our memories blind us
What you long for lies behind us
In a time long gone by
You know why we came
Let us never forget

Kristina
Don't you ever dream?
Do you feel no regret ... 

Karl Oskar & Kristina
... for the past and for the old folks

Karl Oskar
It's a child I remember
How she held on to her papa
How he had to let go

One day they will thank us
Our children and their children
Because we crossed an ocean

Kristina
I know they will ...

Karl Oskar
I have an idea
And I think it's one that will cheer you up
I'm going to write to your father back home
I will ask him to send us an apple seed
Apples from home – from the old Summer Rose
Growing here in your garden!

Kristina
Never will my children
Lie in the green grass where I lay

Never gaze at the same sky
Watching the clouds fly
A summer's day

They will never hear
The sounds of my April evenings
Sounds of the long day dying
When day is done

They will never know
This longing at set of sun
That comes to me when night is falling
Twilight images calling

---

Harald
You be quiet

Johan
It was your fault

Karl Oskar
Let her sleep - it's Christmas morning

Harald
It's a secret

Marta
Our secret

Karl Oskar
I have given her no warning!

Harald
What a present

Johan
What a Christmas

Marta
I can hardly wait to try it

Karl Oskar
When I saw it in the window
I could hardly wait to buy it!

Children
Don't you think she will faint when she sees it

Karl Oskar
She deserves nothing less
For the way she has cared for us all
Heaven knows, she could do with some help

Children
It's a beauty
It's a wonder

Marta
I will keep it new and gleaming

Karl Oskar
She'll be speechless
For the first time!

Children
She will think she still is dreaming

Karl Oskar & Children
Like a royal lady with a silv'ry crown
She's such a splendid sight
It's as if an angel fluttering down
Has filled the room with light
It's as if a Queen in full array
Upon her throne has come to stay
“Queen of the Prairie”
For doing us the honour
Peace and blessings be upon her
Here on this happy Christmas day

Kristina
Dear God – it's heavenly.
What a gift to get out of the blue
And it better all be paid for, too!

Karl Oskar
“Queen of the Prairie” is never gonna leave us

Children
Never ever gonna leave us

Karl Oskar & Children
Here is a present just for you

Kristina
You are welcome

Karl Oskar
Very welcome

Ulrika
Snow is high

Guest
And piling higher

Danjel
I am frozen to the marrow

Karl Oskar
Come and sit here by the fire

Thomassen
I smell women – lovely ladies

Fina-Kajsa
Have you ever seen such weather?

Kristina
When I saw it
Well, I tell you
Could've floored me with a feather!

Ulrika
Well now, what in the world have we got here?

Karl Oskar
It's a cast iron stove that they say is the best

Kristina
And “The Queen of the Prairie” is how she's addressed

Ulrika
Shall I curtsey?

Fina-Kajsa
Keep you cosy

Danjel
God is good to you, Karl Oskar

All
Like a royal lady
With a silv'ry crown
She's such a splendid sight
It's as if an angel fluttering down
Has filled the room with light
Raise a glass of stout and shout hooray
For a lady's here, and here to stay
Queen of the Prairie, for doing us the honour
Peace and blessings be upon her
Happy, oh happy Christmas day

She is worthy of a palace kitchen
Or a very grand hotel
She will cook a goose, or boil you a moose
And keep you warm as well
More pots and pans you've seldom seen
Such a regal stove there's never been
Queen of the Prairie
For doing us the honour
Peace and blessings be upon her
Hail to Her Majesty the Queen!

Karl Oskar
. . . I say, it feels good
To know I am my own master
Here I own every acre
I bring in my corn from fields that are mine

Nojd
Damn you, Nilsson!
This is not your land
Nor can it belong to any man
They say among the Indians
This earth is like the heavens
No arms can ever hold them
Money cannot buy them
You cannot hold a cloud
The earth cannot be claimed
By any people

Karl Oskar
Every acre stamped and paid for
You've lived too long with the Indians

Nojd
All is taken
All is stolen
From the proud Indians

Karl Oskar
Must I show you deeds and treaties?
One dollar twenty per acre

Nojd
Scraps of paper
From a white man
They don't make sense to these people

Karl Oskar
We have laws in Minnesota!

Nojd
The laws of white men
Not of Indians 

---

---

Karl Oskar
Where once there was wild grass
Now there's a wheat field
This land was waiting for me
Was waiting its hour!

Where once there was nothing
No law, no power
This land of prairie and pine
I made it flower!
With this naked pair of hands
I made it mine

There was another song
I knew it well
The song of steel on rock it sang –
It rang of hell
And when there came a time
When hope was gone
We loaded up the wagons
We moved on
From that barren, stony ground

Settlers
Barren, unforgiving ground

Karl Oskar
We loaded up, and we were
Westward bound

The earth lay quiet here
Since time began
Through all Creation waiting here
The coming of man
No axe rang in these woods
No sign of toil
Until I put my spade to work
And dug into this rich, black soil

Settlers
Where once there was wild grass
Now there's a wheat field
This land was waiting for us
Was waiting its hour

Nojd
You got something for nothing

Settlers
Where once there was nothing
No law, no power
We spilled the sweat of our brow
And we made it flower
Yes, we made it flower

Karl Oskar
I watched my father fight
Those cruel stones
I saw him crippled at the end
They broke his bones

But here the plow runs deep
The roots reach low
A man stands taller here
His children grow
What we've done I will defend

Settlers
What we've done we will defend

Karl Oskar
Yes, what we've won I'll fight for till the end

The earth lay quiet here
Since time began
Through all Creation waiting here
The coming of man

No corn grew in these parts
No cattle grazed
Now there's no field that goes unploughed
The children we have raised
They do us proud
The Lord be praised

Settlers
The fruit of the harvest
The roof I raised here
The logs that fell to my axe
What am I to blame for?

Nojd
Nothing you feel some shame for?

Settlers
We came for a new life
To find a future
With just the shirt on our backs
We found what we came for

Nojd
And you burned down the wild grass

Settlers
Where once there was wild grass
There is abundance
And yes, we're proud of the fact
That we have dug and tilled
And drilled and hacked

Karl Oskar
We ask no favor
We ask no pardon
We found a wilderness here
We planted a garden
Where once there was wild grass!

---