”Farewell to a Fallen Hero” Text: Lasse Berghagen, Musik: Thomas Enroth
Lyssna på låten och titta på videon, klicka här: Farewell to a Fallen Hero. Sång Tommy Nilsson
Länk till Palm Beach Post och artikeln: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/death-of-local-marine-justin-wilson-inspires-lars-1505143.html?cxtype=rss_news
Här ligger artikeln som text:
Death of local Marine Justin Wilson inspires Lars ‘Lasse’ Berghagen to write first song in English
By DAPHNE DURET AND NIELS HEIMERIKS
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Updated: 9:39 a.m. Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Posted: 10:48 p.m. Saturday, May 28, 2011
PALM BEACH — A year ago, Swedish singer/songwriter Lars ”Lasse” Berghagen read a story in The Palm Beach Post chronicling the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Justin Wilson, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
Sitting inside his waterfront Palm Beach apartment, an escape from the cold Swedish winters for a few months each year, Berghagen made a note on the paper: ”OBS,” a Swedish abbreviation that simply means ”remember for later.”
”When I read the article, I felt like I knew him,” said Berghagen, a 66-year-old celebrity who for nearly a decade hosted Sweden’s most popular summer TV show and has hundreds of writing credits to his name. ”I read about the things he did. He was an artist. He was working with the children at the school there. He made a contribution.”
Now, the article he clipped and stuffed in his portfolio has become the inspiration for his first English-language song, a patriotic ballad Berghagen is now looking for a U.S. artist to record.
Farewell to a Fallen Hero is the lyrical story from what Berghagen believes were Wilson’s last days. The title comes from the headline on the April 1, 2010, article written about Wilson’s funeral. In the song, Berghagen focuses most of his words on a letter, one he imagined Wilson would have written to his Palm City family before he died.
In one part of the song, Berghagen expresses on Wilson’s behalf that he was ”scared but strong.” A few family members told reporters they could hear the fear in his voice before he died.
”I didn’t know that,” Berghagen said . ”But I think everyone thinks about soldiers as if they are just soldiers. But they are humans. And I imagine that in those circumstances, I or anyone would be scared.”
What he couldn’t forget about the article was a quote from Hanna McVeigh, Wilson’s wife.
”I want them to remember him,” she said. ”And to continue honoring his memory.”
Wilson’s parents, Fran and Lance Wilson, founded the Lance Corporal Justin J. Wilson (U.S. Marine) Memorial Foundation, which provides financial assistance to troops’ families so they can travel both to see them off to war and welcome them home.
Martin County officials also named a Palm City park in his honor.
As the Wilsons listened to Farewell to a Fallen Hero for the first time last month, the emotions from their son’s death rushed back, and both were in tears by the song’s end.
”It seems like it was just yesterday,” Lance Wilson said.
Berghagen, sitting across the room, nodded thoughtfully at the father’s words, and for a while thoughts of the life Justin Wilson gave up hung in the air .
”At times I feel he could suddenly walk in as if he was never gone,” Fran Wilson said, adding that she was overcome by the way a perfect stranger could capture the feelings of grief, honor, loss and duty that characterized Wilson’s life and death.
Berghagen says he hopes the song will be recorded and sold so proceeds can benefit the Wilsons’ charity.
If Berghagen succeeds, Farewell will be the latest in a string of hits that have made him one of the most sought-after songwriters in Sweden.
Stellar career in Sweden
Before he got his start in music at 16, Berghagen was a dentist’s son who discovered poetry, writing with a few words the stories authors used entire books to tell. He began playing guitar and performed at teen parties and concerts until he was 19, when a record producer heard him and offered him a record deal.
The same year, Berghagen met and married Barbro ”Lill-Babs” Svensson, an already popular Swedish singer seven years his senior. The two divorced three years later, and he is now remarried.
In his early years, Berghagen recorded several hits, including Teddybjörnen Fredriksson (”The Teddybear Fredriksson”), still a classic Swedish song. He also worked with Benny Andersson, who went on be part of the iconic group ABBA.
In 1975, Berghagen’s Jennie, Jennie won the Swedish songwriting contest Melodifestivalen, whose winner goes on to compete in the Eurovision song contest with songs from all over Europe.
He hosted several television shows during his career, but his most successful stint was a decade-long gig as host of Allsång på Skansen (Singalong at Skansen). With Berghagen out front, the show’s ratings quadrupled, from 600,000 to more than 2.4 million viewers in the nation of about 9 million, boasting stars such as Ricky Martin and Wyclef Jean among its guests. Berghagen left the show in 2003 to focus on singing and songwriting.
föddes också idén till boken Flakmopedisten. Allt började när jag satte mig ner vid mitt skrivarbord på min gård Fjärsmansgården i Svärdsjö i Dalarna för att skriva några nya låttexter. Jag märkte att tankarna hela tiden ville vandra tillbaka till barndomen och ungdomen. Jag mindes somrarna när hela familjen, vuxna och barn och även hunden packades in i Chevan för att styra kosan till det evigt soliga sommarlovet med abborrmete, kräftfiske, auktioner och min mormors kloka och kärleksfulla omtanke.
