There's such a good Scandinavian angle to this song. Here goes...
Mitchum had the song lyrics written, but could not come up with a fiting tune until his mother - of Norwegian descent - suggested a traditional dance tune from the old country. However, that old schottis had already become very popular in Norway in the late 1940s, thanks to a recording by Alf Pröysen (singer, songwriter, author of children's books, one of the great Scandinavians) where Pröysen's new lyrics were all about a family of mice and their Christmas holiday. Quite different from running moonshine! Not only that, but soon after a Swedish version - also about mice and Christmas - was very successful as well. Everyone in Norway and Sweden (well, above a certain age) knows this mouse song and will get a good chuckle when they hear Mitchum. For once, Scandinavia leads the way.
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Remember it well.
There's such a good Scandinavian angle to this song. Here goes...
Mitchum had the song lyrics written, but could not come up with a fiting tune until his mother - of Norwegian descent - suggested a traditional dance tune from the old country.
However, that old schottis had already become very popular in Norway in the late 1940s, thanks to a recording by Alf Pröysen (singer, songwriter, author of children's books, one of the great Scandinavians) where Pröysen's new lyrics were all about a family of mice and their Christmas holiday. Quite different from running moonshine! Not only that, but soon after a Swedish version - also about mice and Christmas - was very successful as well. Everyone in Norway and Sweden (well, above a certain age) knows this mouse song and will get a good chuckle when they hear Mitchum. For once, Scandinavia leads the way.
Here's Alf Pröysen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpoGImudBqU
And here it is in Swedish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caQ475hRqYU
This is great. I wasn't aware of it at all. Love those songs.
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