Irwin Goodman - Karjala takaisin (Karjala back)

I think this is the oldest song I've ever translated, it is from 1990, the very end of Irwin's career. It's an old humor song, that's sort of masquerading as a protest song, since Karjala is both an area Finland lost to Russia in a war a long time ago ("Karelia" in English), but also a very popular brand of beer, and this song "pretends" to be about the area called Karjala, but is really more about the beer called Karjala. Or both.

Very typical for Finnish humor songs, especially older ones, to be about drinking or sex on the surface level, but patriotic/political under the surface.
And to be very easy to sing along, melody-wise.

Also, a note about Finnish grammar: "Karjala takaisin" is technically not a full sentence since it hasn't got a verb, but at the same time, it still is, like, Finns will understand it. It can mean "get Karjala back", "give Karjala back", etc, any verb that's applicable due to the context can be applied in front of it. In the title, I just translated it as it is, but in the translation I varied it based on the sentence's context.

Here's a Wikipedia article about Karelia and the political question whether Russia should give Karelia back to Finland, what do people living in the area think about it, etc: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karelian_question 

Generally speaking, Karelia is important to Finns. Preserving the culture of the Finnish refugees from the area is important to us, for example: I take pride in the fact that when I was in elementary school I was in an after-school activity where we learned to cook and bake, and this one time, we had Real Karelian Grandmas (TM) there to teach us how to make Karelian pies. They're these savory pastries with a rice filling, very popular in fancier parties / family gatherings like graduations or weddings, usually served with munavoi (a mixture of butter and crushed boiled eggs). But the ones you buy from the store for the party are not Real Karelian Pies. And everyone knows that. Real Karelian Pies can only be made by Real Karelian Grandmas or their descendants.

Here's an article about the beer brand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karjala

And yes, I translated this while drinking Karjala.

Lyrics credits to Emil von Retee.
(Which I think is a pseudonym, since "retee" is a slang word that translates to "relaxed".)

Original lyrics

Baaritiskillä istuin ja lasistain

Kostutin kuivaa suuta

Kun viidennen kaljan juotua sain

Niin karjaisin ilman muuta

Että Karjala takaisin!

(Karjala takaisin)

Pullon kyljestä katselin vaakunaa

Sapeli miekkaa vastaan

Join kuudennen pullon kuohuavaa

Sen kunniaks' ainoastaan

Että Karjala takaisin!

(Karjala takaisin)

Vaikka siellä on kaikki rempallaan

Eikä käköset kuku enää milloinkaan

Niin vaaditaan vaikka piruuttaan

Karjala takaisin!

(Karjala takaisin)

Vielä pullo ja silmissä kyyneleet

Muistin kun Summa petti

Toi mieleeni mietteet liikuttuneet

Tuo pullo ja etiketti

Siis Karjala takaisin!

(Karjala takaisin)

Vaikka siellä on kaikki rempallaan

Eikä käköset kuku enää milloinkaan

Niin vaaditaan vaikka piruuttaan

Karjala takaisin!

(Karjala takaisin)

Vaikka siellä on kaikki rempallaan

Eikä käköset kuku enää milloinkaan

Niin vaaditaan vaikka piruuttaan

Karjala takaisin!

(Karjala takaisin)

Karjala takaisin!

(Karjala takaisin)

English translation

I was sitting at the bar counter and from my glass

I made my dry mouth damper

When I got through my fifth beer

I of course roared

Give Karjala back!

(Karjala back)

I was looking at the coat of arms on the side of the bottle

A saber against a sword

I drank a sixth bottle of the frothy stuff

Only to honor

Getting Karjala back!

(Karjala back)

Even though everything's in a bad way over there

And lil' cuckoos never cuckoo again

Still, lets demand, for the heck of it

Give Karjala back!

(Karjala back)

Another bottle and tears in my eyes

I remember(ed) when Summa gave in (note: "summa" also means "sum", like he ran out of money for buying so many beers, but he's also referring to Battle of Summa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Summa)

It brought into my mind touching thoughts

That bottle and tag/label

So, Karjala back!

(Karjala back)

Even though everything's in a bad way over there

And lil' cuckoos never cuckoo again

Still, lets demand, for the heck of it

Give Karjala back!

(Karjala back)

Even though everything's in a bad way over there

And lil' cuckoos never cuckoo again

Still, lets demand, for the heck of it

Give Karjala back!

(Karjala back)

Give Karjala back!

(Karjala back)