English translation

Oh, 'twas when I was in my fourteenth year, Ch: The cold weather's blowin' in from sea! Then I began to sail over the billows so blue, Ch: The cold, cold weather's blowin' in from sea! And when I'd sailed for a month or two, I was respected as the captain's own son. Oh, when we sailed into Kalmar's harbor, We took in all sail and then warped the ship to shore. Oh, when I came out on to Karlmar's market, There stood a girl with a green-painted basket. Oh, when I came out to Karlmar's toll-gate The same girl stood there, so willing a mate. Oh, then I said to the girl like this, Say will you not give me just one little kiss? No thank, my fine fellow, I will not kiss you, For if you get one, so will you have two. But then I took this girl into my heart, And carried her down to Karlmar's port. So now we are married, oh, so now she is mine, For I got mine where ye all had taken thine. Oh, had the power like old-time sages, The girls would be all locked up in cages. Oh, had I the power and it was mine, All the lads would get keys to admit them. He who sings this song and will not put into port, He forfeits five riks-dollars and nevermore will court.

Hugill, in Songs of the Sea, writes that this pump shanty dates from the end of the nineteenth century, most likely aboard the small wooden barks trading along the coast of the Baltic Sea. His source, the Swedish Captain Sternvall, indicates that it was already popular at the beginning of the 19th century.

Karlmar is along the southeast coast of Sweden, on the Baltic Sea.