Storm

[Drexle]

Okay, so this isn't Vintersorg related, but I thought that if anyone could answer my question, it would be you guys and girls.

For those of you who are familiar with the lyrics of the band "Storm," what in the world are these "Bluemen" that Fenriz has such a hatred for?

 

[Morgana]

Dunno... have to check the lyrics...

 

[Drexle]

You can find them here:

http://darklyrics.com/s/storm.html

The site has both Norwegian and English lyrics. In particular, I was thinking of the songs "Oppi Fjellet," and "Noregsgard." In both of them, he talks about killing and hunting bluemen.

 

[Fjelltussa]

This is just plain silly, if it is what he means, but anyway, "bluemen" (or blåmenn") is what the vikings called the Africans south of Sahara. There are not many black ppl in Norway, and the few who are, live (maybe 99%) in the cities, not up in the mountains!

Is Fenriz nazi...? Or just a racist? Or does he mean smth entirely else here? I don't see what that could be, in that case, anyway, so this is all i an say about it...

 

[Till Fjalls]

From what I've heard, Oppi Fjellet is singing about Killing the Christians. I need to look for that interview or review, whicever it was....I assume that is the translation of these Bluemen you refer to. However, I could be very wrong, though it would make sense for it to be christians, since after all, fenriz seems fairly notorious for his religious views.

It sucks that there'll be no more Storm...And now we don't even have Otyg to rely on for new folkish greatness....

 

[Nattestid]

I believe it's about killing Christians I saw it in an interview somewhere. Anyhow this album is awsome! Too bad there will never be a new storm album.

 

[Drexle]

Fjelltussa: I believe he is a Nazi. After all, he was the one who wrote that insert in the original release of Darkthrone's "Transylvanian Hunger" that the album was "beyond reproach, and that anyone who said otherwise should be scorned for their obviously jewish behavior." Having said that, it wouldn't surprise me if that's what he meant by Bluemen.

Till Fjalls & Nattastid, while he does talk about killing christians in Oppi Fjellet, he mentions "Bluemen" seperate and apart from them, and I don't remember him mentioning Chrisitans at all in Noregsgard, just Bluemen.

When I first read those lyrics, I had these pictures of some Viking guy trying to kill the members of "Blue Man Group."

 

[Blackspirit]

Yes, I think you're right Fjelltussa. If Fenriz is a
nazi then he means black people when he
writes bluemen. I read the lyrics and it definitely
feels racial (

He's proud of Norway, the mountains etc. Then
he's disgusted by the "bluemen" and he doesn't
like christians.

I also thought that blue men could be royalties.
They have "blue - blood", but that just seems
un-natural for Storm's Lyrics....

 

[avskum]

aren't all these songs just old norwegian folk songs..?
I don't think they have written the lyrics themselves..ehm
I may be misinformed, though..

 

[Blackspirit]

Ya, you're right avskum, but I think they have been
slightly adjusted, cause the titles are not as the
originals. If you go to the link that Drexle provided
and click on one of the songtitles you will see that
the original titles are under there as well.

And I can't remember reading anything about these
kind of things at school when we learnt folkstuff....
I'll do some scooping around though ;o)

 

[avskum]

I remember we used to sing some of these songs when i was a kid : )
mellom bakkar og beeerg ut ved haaaavet, heve nordmannen fenge sin heim
: )

yup

 

[Blackspirit]

Here you have the original "Oppi Fjellet" (actually titled Ingrids Vise)

Og reven lå under birkerot
Bortved lynget, bortved lynget,
Og haren hoppet på lette fot,
Over lynget, over lynget
"Det er vel noe til solskinns dag !
Det glitrer for og det glitrer bak, (...)"

Og reven lo under birkerot, (...)
Og haren hoppet i ville mot, (...)
"Jeg er så glad over alle ting !
Hu-hei, gjør du slike svære spring (...) !"

Og reven ventet bak birkerot, (...)
Og haren tumlet ham midt imot, (...)
"Men gud forbarme seg, er du der !
- Aa, kjære, hvor tør du danse her (...) ?"

This probably doesn't mean much to you who don't understand
Norwegian, but if you compare it to Storm's version you see
that the words are different, right? >) Well, I guess they have
kept the melodies (I can hear it, cause I know the original),
but changed the lyrics....

Some more info about these lyrics that I found, these are a
modernized version of them, so the truly originalones I still have
left to hunt down. And I will, now! To be continued.... >)

 

[Blackspirit]

Ya, okay, "Oppi Fjellet" was changed, but "Noregsgard"
is just like the original, with the blueman and everything.
So my thought on this, is that they wanted more of that
kind of stuff on the album, and added it in Oppi Fjellet...

And, lol, check out this little file -->
http://anamnese.online.fr/musique/oppi_fjellet.mid

Here's another version of the lyrics.
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/b/bjornson/kj6.1.html
Seems like the original one is nowhere to be found on
the net. Either Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson has rewritten
them all, or he was the one originally writing the lyrics,
and it was Halfdan Kjerulf who wrote the melody! P
Cause I can only find this version as being the "original".

As you can hear the melody is just as it was originally.
Okey, so you are sick and tired of me now, right? Well,
these unanswered questions... I love them! Makes me
search until I found a satisfying answer.... Or I settle
with something that can seem reasonable if there is
no more information to get.

 

[avskum]

but! blåmann is a "well used" word in norway, isn't it? like blåmann blåmann bukken min..and blåmann is a mountain.
I think someone uses blåmann as a term for someone stupid too.
I doubt it's meant a very racist thing in the song..

 

[Morgana]

I don't wanna hang in this too much, but a few month ago I was checking lists of NSBM bands with a metal mag and Fenriz was list up too... Drexle, I remember we had a talked about NSBM and I put a link up, but it seems this link is not listed at google anymore..., sad, it was quite an interesting site...

 

[Blackspirit]

True.... I never thought of that avskum....
But in this sense blåmann definitely seems negative,
don't you think?

But:
"Og kløyver den blånende skalle"
Taken from Noregsgard

This might mean that the head is turning blue, and
that now he just "chops it off" sorta...? Might not
be anything else than that.

Then there is this -->
"Der blant norges skog og mark
Var fienden og fæl
Hans grimme sinn skulle vise dem
At norsønn han har nok at tæl"

He's singing about the enemy. Is this a colourd
man? Was that really the enemy back then, since
this is the original text....?

 

[Morgana]

found this:

http://membres.lycos.fr/blackgothic/fachos.shtml

 

[avskum]

Originally posted by Blackspirit
True.... I never thought of that avskum....
But in this sense blåmann definitely seems negative,
don't you think?

yes

Originally posted by Blackspirit
But:
"Og kløyver den blånende skalle"
Taken from Noregsgard

This might mean that the head is turning blue, and
that now he just "chops it off" sorta...? Might not
be anything else than that.

nah, it's pretty clear in the translation: (but the translation may be wrong, for all I know)

A weatherbitten hand clutches the sword
And cleaves the bluemen's heads

 

[Drexle]

I remember that discussion, Morgana. I really had no idea this would lead back to the whole NSBM thing when I posted it, though.

Hey, maybe we're looking at this all wrong... Maybe the Bluemen are Smurfs? I know I always wanted to cleave some smurf skull when I was a kid.

In the mean time, by all means keep discussing, everyone! This has become a fascinating topic.

 

[Luguber]

What "Blåmenn" means in medieval literature (Norse sagas etc.) isn't exactly black Africans, rather moors or Arabs. By extension this could be taken to refer to middle-eastern religionists in general; Muslims, Jews, Christians alike. This would fit quite nicely into the antichristian sentiment of many Norwegian (black-)metalists.

Of course, I don't know if this is the meaning Fenriz intended. He certainly wrote more openly racist lyrics for certain Darkthrone songs; "Over Fjell Och Gjennom Torner" from _Transilvanian Hunger_ in particular ...