There She Blows!
Song Lyric Sunday — Vem kan segla förutan vind ⛵💜
18 October 2026 — Songs About Sailing, Seafaring, Fishing or Ships
This week, Jim is taking us out to sea for Song Lyric Sunday!
The prompt is a song about fishing, mariners, sailing, seafaring or ships.
There are so many wonderful songs to choose from, but my mind immediately travelled back to my childhood in Norway.
Not to a famous rock band, a pop star or one of the many songs I played during my DJ years.
Instead, I remembered a simple Scandinavian folk song that I learned to play on guitar when I was ten years old.
Vem kan segla förutan vind
Or, in English:
Who Can Sail Without the Wind?
It’s a song I’ve carried with me for more than forty years.
And behind that beautiful melody lies both an interesting history and a rather personal childhood memory.
A Song from the Nordic Folk Tradition
Vem kan segla förutan vind is a traditional Swedish-language folk song, also widely known and loved in Norway.
Its origins are somewhat mysterious.
The song is frequently described as coming from the Åland Islands, the Swedish-speaking archipelago between Sweden and Finland.
However, researchers haven’t been able to establish its exact birthplace.
The earliest known documented version was collected in Österbotten, Finland, in 1910, although elements of the song are considerably older.
Its composer and original lyricist are unknown.
What we do know is that the song became part of the shared musical heritage of Scandinavia.
And here’s something fascinating.
The earliest versions weren’t necessarily as sad as the song we know today!
In one older version, the singer claims to be able to sail without wind, row without oars and even part from a loved one without crying.
But over time, the song developed into the tender, melancholy farewell song familiar to so many of us.
The melody and lyrics of the version we recognise today became especially well established during the early twentieth century.
A Song About More Than Sailing
At first, the lyrics seem to ask impossible questions.
Who can sail without wind?
Who can row without oars?
But then comes the real question.
Who can say goodbye to someone dear without shedding tears?
And suddenly, we understand that this isn’t really a song about boats.
It’s about love, friendship, separation and the emotions that accompany saying goodbye.
Perhaps that’s why it has survived for so many generations.
You don’t need to have sailed across an ocean to understand what it means to miss someone.
From Folk Song to Popular Music
The song has been recorded and performed by many artists over the years, from traditional folk singers to modern choirs.
One interesting recording came in 1970, when American singer Lee Hazlewood and Swedish singer Nina Lizell performed it together.
Their version reached No. 1 on Sweden’s Svensktoppen chart in 1971.
Not bad for a traditional folk song!
And even today, the melody continues to find new audiences through beautiful choral arrangements and performances around the world.
But for me, its greatest significance has nothing to do with record sales or charts.
It takes me back to being ten years old.
The Little Girl with the Guitar 🎸
When I was a child in Norway, I attended guitar lessons after school.
I loved music, and one of my favourite songs to play was Vem kan segla förutan vind.
I can still remember the melody.
But there is a sadder part to this story.
I was born in England and moved to Norway when I was five years old.
At school, I was the foreign girl.
And being different wasn’t always easy.
I was bullied.
When you’re a child experiencing that kind of treatment, sometimes all you want is to disappear into the background.
You don’t want attention.
You don’t want to stand out.
You certainly don’t want to give anyone another reason to notice you.
And then one day, my guitar teacher decided that I should perform a solo at the Christmas show.
I was terrified.
And, to be perfectly honest, I was angry too.
I had joined the lessons because I loved playing guitar, not because I wanted to stand alone in front of an audience.
Perhaps my teacher saw something in my playing.
Perhaps it was intended as encouragement.
But to ten-year-old me, it felt like being pushed into the very spotlight I had spent so much time trying to avoid.
So I made a decision.
I stopped attending guitar lessons.
And I never went back.
But the Music Never Left Me 💜
Looking back now, I feel a little sad for that young girl.
She loved playing guitar.
She loved learning music.
But the fear of being singled out became stronger than the joy of attending her lessons.
Yet something rather wonderful happened.
Although I walked away from those guitar lessons, I never walked away from music.
As I grew older, I sang in choirs and musicals.
I explored different instruments, discovered new musical styles and eventually became a DJ.
Today, I write lyrics, compose songs and create my own music.
From classical music and opera to rock, pop, house and EDM, music has remained one of the great constants in my life.
And somewhere among all those different sounds, there is still a little girl sitting with her guitar, playing a Scandinavian folk song.
I may have put the guitar aside back then.
But I never forgot the melody.
Two Beautiful Versions
For today’s Song Lyric Sunday, I have chosen two performances.
The first is a beautiful choral version in Swedish, the language of the original song.
Swedish version — Vem kan segla förutan vind
And for those unfamiliar with Swedish, here is an English-language performance.
English version — Who Can Sail Without the Wind?
I hope you’ll listen to both.
There is something particularly moving about hearing a familiar melody performed in different languages.
The words may change, but the emotions remain.
Some Melodies Never Leave Us
Last Sunday, I shared a rather funny family memory about Aqua’s Barbie Girl and my six-year-old son performing as Ken alongside his cousin.
This Sunday, we’re travelling much further back.
Back to Norway.
Back to childhood.
Back to a little girl who loved her guitar but was too frightened of being exposed to an audience to continue her lessons.
It’s funny how music can bring back both happy and painful memories.
But perhaps that’s part of its beauty.
A song doesn’t have to remind us only of the good times to remain precious.
Sometimes it reminds us how far we’ve travelled.
And sometimes, after decades, we finally understand the feelings we couldn’t put into words as children.
I walked away from my guitar lessons when I was ten, but I never walked away from music.
Some melodies stay with us, even when we leave the instrument behind.
And this one has stayed with me all my life.
Happy Song Lyric Sunday! ⛵🎸💜
— The Afterlove Voice
With love, coffee, poetry, and stardust,
— Maggie The Afterlove Voice 💫
DJ Maggie in the house
https://ditto.fm/arena-51-the-calima-conspiracy-original-mix
https://ditto.fm/arena-51-the-calima-conspiracy-alien-invasion-remix
My song “Silenced,But not broken ” is on streaming platforms.
Lyrics video :
https://ditto.fm/silenced-but-not-broken
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