Povel Ramel

Baron Povel Ramel^ⓘ (born 1 June, 1922, in Östermalm in Stockholm) is a Swedish entertainer. He is a singer, vaudeville artist, composer, and songwriter, and has written over 1,000 songs.

Early life

Povel Ramel was born in Östermalm in Stockholm 1922. His father, Karl Ramel, was a lawyer and the family was wealthy. Karl Ramel used to take Povel on vacations occasionally.

When Povel Ramel was young he stepped on a nail while visiting a beach. The nail went through his foot. Ramel was not expected to survive, but he recovered. The operation was very costly, not without complications, and not very successful. He still has problems with his foot.

After this incident, Ramel went on trips to his father's house and to a hut owned by his father and some friends. The hut was in a forest by a lake.

Ramel did not enjoy school. He preferred to go to Skansen and observe the animals there, as long as it was not very cold, then he went to Skansen's Monkey house. Ramel's teachers kept track of his absences in a book. Ramel told his teachers that he had accidentally dropped his book which contained his attendance record. Then Ramel showed only the old book to his parents.

One day his father found Ramel at Skansen with the monkeys. Ramel tried many schools but was unsatisfied with all of them.

In 1937 Ramel was in a car with his parents. He was sitting in the back seat when another car hit the front of the vehicle. Ramel's mother, Märta Tesch, died the following day at a hospital. His father died some months later following medical procedures that may have been malpractice.

Career

Ramel moved to his aunt's house, Else Virgin. At first wanted to become a painter and went to art school. That did not last very long though. He then realized that he loved music. Entering Aftonbladet's competition, Vi som vill opp, Ramel sang and yawned while performing a song he had written, En sömning serenad (A sleepy serenade). Ramel was a prolific songwriter at this time. His aunt wrote the lyrics to one of his songs. It has been released on the record, En vår utan dej (A spring without you).

Ramel's songs are noted for their humor and drastic wordplay. He has written at least one song in English, "The Sukiyaki Syndrome", about a visit in a Japanese restaurant.

His first hit was in 1944 with his song "Johanssons boogie-woogie-vals" (Johansson's boogie woogie waltz). At first, though, it seemed not a success at all. Swedish Music Information Centre STIM investigated the pay of the artists who performed on the record. Due to that, the record had a label on it which said the songs could not receive airplay. The sales for the record were dismal. But one of Ramel's friends at the Record archive let a radio station have a copy of the record. This record had the label pulled off. Subsequently, sales jumped.

Knäppupp

In 1952 Ramel and Felix Alvo started the company Knäppupp AB. For many years, the Knäppupp vaudevilles became a beloved part of Swedish entertainment. The first vaudeville was "Akta Huvet" (Mind your head) because Ramel made his entrance through a cableway from the roof over the stage. The show opened at the Cirkus theatre in Gothenburg in 1952. Knäppupp AB also produced a number of movies (for example, "Ratataa" in 1956). Ramel also put on several pub-shows (for example, "Karamelodier"). The word is one of Ramel's typical puns, as the word karamelodier is a combination of the words "karamell" (bon-bon), Ramel and "melodier" (melodies).

Some of his most famous songs

Johanssons boogie woogie vals (Johansson's boogie woogie waltz)
Måste vägen till Curacao gynga så (Have the way to Curacao swing like this/Have the boat to Curacao rock like this)
- Gynga is comical spelled version of Gunga (Swing/Boat Rocking)
  - This song was written by Povel on M/S San Blas, in a storm, and sung at the stage at San Blas later.
Släkt-huset (The family house)
- Probably a play on Slakt-hus (Slaughterhouse)
Högt uppe på berget (High up the mountain)
- To the tones of On top of old smokey
Far, jag kan inte få upp min kokosnöt (Father I cannot open my coconut)
- To the tones of I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts
Skratt (Laugh)
- Presented with some "laughing types" as the engineers "Hoho hooooooooo" (Like a steam whistle)
Nya Skrytvalsen (The new bragging waltz)
Tjo va de va livat i holken i lördags (Whoopee whatta bustle it was in the birdhouse last Saturday)
Naturbarn (Children of nature)
- With the wrong-grammar sentence "Mången kokosnötter sälja far, tapetsera hydda med dollar" (Many coconuts sell father, Use wallpaper in hut that is Dollar).
Är det nån som har en våning åt mej? (Is there anyone who's got a apartment for me?)
Sorglösa brunn (Light-hearted well, a play on the real Ramlösa)
Varför är där ingen is till punschen? (Why is there no ice in the Punsch?)
De sista entusiasterna" (The last enthusiasts)
Karl Nilsson
- Starting with "Goddag på er alla, mitt namn är Karl Nilsson och jag ville sjunga en visa om... mej själv" (Good day everybody, my name is Karl Nilsson, and I wanted to sing a song about... Myself.
Det skulle aldrig delfinerna göra" (The dolphins would never do that)
- A song about that no dolphin would ever become an artist and sing songs, they are (as sang by Povel), all to smart to do it.
Jag diggar dig (I dig you)
- Probably the first rapsong in Sweden

References of today

Not many of Ramel's songs are references to what's happening in the world at the moment. Even though, there are some examples:

En tillräkligt stor summa pengar(An enough big amount of money)- 2005-2006
- In this newest song are some references, for example: Gamla kapare som Ford och Rockerfeller, har seglats om av kapten Gates (But old "masters" like Ford and Rockerfeller, have been sailed past by Captain Gates)
The Nej Tack Jump (The No thanks Jump)
- He sings: Barsebäck, Forsmark, Ringhals, Oskarshamn, yes we do like you. But the brooding striped blocks you've build, should you scrap as soon as possible.
  - Povel has later said that he hasn't stated if he likes or not likes nuclearpower. They begged him to do this song and he did, without minding his own opinion.

The Karamelodiktstipendiet

In 1983 Ramel founded the Karamelodiktstipendiet, a prize annually awarded to a Swedish entertainer or group of entertainers. The prize is presented by Ramel in the Hagaparken in Stockholm. The name of the prize is a pun similar to the one described above, referring to "karamell" and Ramel; "dikt" in Swedish means poem and "stipendie" scholarship. Thus the recipient is not only awarded a monetary prize, but also a bag of bon-bons and a poem written by Ramel himself.

Winners:

Bibliography - Not complete

Från Asar till Wasar (From Asar to the House of Vasa), 1945.
Min galna hage (My crazy pasture), 1957.
Knäppupplevelser (Knäppupp experiences)
Lingonben (Lingonberry legs), 1978
Min ordkynniga penna (My word-capricious pen), 1987.
Följ mej bakåt vägen, Povels Livs-stycken del 1 (Walk with me back along the road, Povel's memoirs part 1), 1992. "Följ mej bakåt vägen" is also a title of one of Ramel's songs.
Som om inget hade hänt, Povels Livs-stycken del 2 (As if nothing had happened, Povel's memoirs part 2), 1999.

Filmography - Selected examples

I dur och skur (As a play on I ur och skur, meaning In snow and rain, meaning always. Dur means Major Scale) 1953
I rök och dans (In smoke and dance) 1954
1955 should He have made Afrikafilmen (The Africa Movie), and some scences were recorded, for example one where Povel and Martin Ljung is riding a hippopotamus. But the Africans thought that Povel was dangerous, and a small war broke out, so he never made the film.
Hoppsan! (Whoops!) 1955
Ratataa eller Staffan Stolle Story (Ratataa or Staffan Stolle Story). (Staffan Stalledräng is a famous Swedish Christmas song, "stolle" means fool) 1956.
Den store amatören (The big amateur) 1958

Radio Shows

1946 - Föreningen för flugighetens främjande (The society for promotion of flyism)
1949 - Jakten på Johan Blöth (The hunt for John Wet) - "Blöth" is an older form of the word "blöt", meaning wet
1950 - Herr Hålms öden och Angantyr (Mister Hålms [pronounced Holmes] fate and Angantyr)
- Öden och Angantyr is a play on the often used Öden och Äventyr (Fates and Adventures)
1955 - När Schlagern dog (When the Shlager died)

Television (partial)

1977 - Semlons gröna dalar (The green valleys of Semlon)
1986 - Affären Ramel (has the dual meaning of "The Ramel Shop" and "The Ramel Affair")

The Knäppupps

1952 - Knäppupp 1: Akta Huvet (Has a dual meaning of Watch Out your head and Mind your head. It was because Povel came in a cable way over the crowd in Circus in Gothenburg, and he screamed: "Watch Out! Here comes Grandfather!")
1953 - Djuprevyn: 2 meter (The deep-vaudeville, 2 metre)
1954 - Knäppupp 2: Denna sida upp (This side up)
1956 - Knäppupp 3: Tillstymmelser (Suggestions)
1958 - Funny Boy
1961 - Alla 4 (All 4) [The summer-version was called Semestersångarna (The vacation singers)]
1962 - Dax igen (It's time again)
1964 - Ryck mej i snöret (Pull me in the string)
1965 - Ta av dej skorna (Take off your shoes)
1966 - På avigan (The wrong way around)
1968 - De sista entusiasterna (The last enthusiasts)