Sir Elwoodin Hiljaiset Värit - Viimeisellä rannalla (On the Last Beach)
Original Finnish lyrics
Äiti painaa pikkusiskon syliin, kun taivas oudosti iltaisin punertaa
Veljestä kuulin viimeksi, kun tuli kirje vierailta mailta
Kertoi voivansa hyvin, mutta sanoi, että "tilanne näyttää täällä myös pirun pahalta"
Tää on kymmenen tikkua laudalla
Me ollaan piilossa viimeisellä rannalla
Eikä kukaan meitä enää etsi, tää on tyhjä ja loputon leikki
Ja vain tuuli kuiskaa: "Kaikki pois piilostaan"
Setä on jotenkin sekaisin, se istuu liiterissä ja itkee ja nauraa
Syyttää välillä Saatanaa ja Jumalaa ja sanoo: "Nyt meitä syntisiä rangaistaan"
Naapurissa on oudon hiljaista, on verhot olleet kiinni jo viikon
Isä kielsi käymästä siellä, sanoi: "Tehneet mitä tehneet, se niiden asia on, oma asia on"
Tää on kymmenen tikkua laudalla
Me ollaan piilossa viimeisellä rannalla
Eikä kukaan meitä enää etsi, tää on tyhjä ja loputon leikki
Ja vain tuuli kuiskaa: "Kaikki pois piilostaan"
Minä olen vasta seitsemän, mutta silti mä jotain jo ymmärrän
Kun tv on mykkä ja radiossa kuulin uutisten lukijan itkevän
Ne puhuu jostain pilvestä, joka matkalla on vielä tänne päin
Pikkusisko kysyi: "Montako päivää jouluun?"
Ja isän silmiään pyyhkivän näin, silmiään pyyhkivän näin
Tää on kymmenen tikkua laudalla
Me ollaan piilossa viimeisellä rannalla
Eikä kukaan meitä enää etsi, tää on tyhjä ja loputon leikki
Ja vain tuuli kuiskaa: "Kaikki pois piilostaan"
English translation
Dad is standing on the beach, and waiting for the storm with a gun in his hand
Mom is pressing my little sister in her embrace, when the sky is weirdly red in the evenings
I heard of my brother last, when a letter came from a strange land
He told he's fine, but said "the situation's looking darn bad in here, too"
This is Ten Sticks on the Board *
We're hiding on the last beach
And no one's looking for us anymore, this is an empty and endless game
And only the wind whispers: "Everyone out of their hideouts"
Uncle is confused somehow, he sits in the woodshed and cries and laughs
Sometimes blaming Satan and God and saying:
"Now we, the sinners, are punished"
The neighbors are awefully quiet, their curtains have been closed for a week now
Dad forbid me to visit them, said: "They've done what they've done, it's their business, their own business"
This is Ten Sticks on the Board
We're hiding on the last beach
And no one's looking for us anymore, this is an empty and endless game
And only the wind whispers: "Everyone out of their hideouts"
I'm only seven, but I still understand something already
When the tv's mute and on the radio I heard the newsreader cry
They talk about some cloud, which is on it's way here
Little sister asked: "How many days 'til Christmas?"
And I saw dad wipe his eyes, wipe his eyes
This is Ten Sticks on the Board
We're hiding on the last beach
And no one's looking for us anymore, this is an empty and endless game
And only the wind whispers: "Everyone out of their hideouts"
_________
* Ten Sticks on the Board is a popular children's outdoor game. It's a variation of Hide-And-Seek, maybe a bit similar to Kick the Can (?). I couldn't find a name for this exact game in English, so here are the rules:
1. To play, you need a board, something to balance the board on as a seesaw (a big rock or half a log for example), ten sticks and at least three players.
2. All the sticks are gathered on the seesaw. One player is It. Another player steps on the seesaw, sending the sticks in the air, scattering them on the ground. It stays and gathers the sticks back on the board, while others go and hide. When It is finished, they yell "Ten Sticks on the Board!" and start searching the others. The others are allowed to move and switch hiding places the whole time.
3. If It finds someone, they run back to the seesaw, tap the board with their foot and yell the person's name they found. This person has to come to the seesaw and is now a captive. If the person notices they've been seen, though, they can try and race the other to the board and step on it, restarting the game.
4. The other players can save the captives by running up and stepping on the seesaw. If that happens, all captives are freed and It has to gather the sticks again.
5. It can stop the rescue operation by beating them in a race to the seesaw, tapping the board with their foot and saying the failed-rescuers name.
6. If It captures everyone, the first one captured that round is the It.
Here's a video of kids playing Ten Sticks on the Board (and explaining the rules, in Finnish): https://youtu.be/TWe7wCYx6xE?feature=shared
There's also a version called "Pallo paikalla" or "The Ball On It's Place", where instead of the seesaw and sticks, they have a ball and it has a designated place on the ground, and one starts the game and rescues people by kicking the ball. We prefered this growing up, played it pretty much weekly. It's easier to find a ball to play with than putting together a seesaw, and people don't have to argue if those sticks were the exact sticks that were picked originally, kicking a ball is more fun that stepping on a board, and it's easier to lightly tap the top of a ball without moving it than to lightly tap a board without scattering the sticks. "Pallo paikalla" has different names in different areas of Finland, this is just the name they used in the area I grew up in.
Another variation is Kirkonrotta (lit. Church Rat), where the object isn't a seesaw or a ball, but i.e. a short wall or a slide, and It (or in this case, Church Rat) has to cover their eyes and count to i.e. 20 every time the game begins or rebegins, or someone beats them to the wall. This is the most traditional version of the game, actually.
Had to google to find out what this song is actually about, but it's about the plot of this book, On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Here's a Wikipedia article if you're not familiar with the book: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(novel)
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