I Labyrinterna [English translation]

I am an actor without a role,

a hockey star without a ball.

I kick children and jerk animals by the tail.

I wallow in mixed feelings,

anesthetized by falsification,

and I'm fed up with it..

But there is a time, in spite of all wounds,

I remember it as if it was yesterday,

then black was white in the same shades.

But if one felt good one day

then in fact health can be

three hundred kinds of cancer.

People jerk my arms,

and tear out my intestines,

and swear, by God, that love is eternal.

They ask me about making a rhyme with cock

and argue with coquettish roars,

that freedom for artists is holy.

Then they ask me to write something

that suggests that red is blue,

with reference to that theory is void.

But if art is an idle pastime

which makes me escape from my life,

then I don't care about culture and become a pagan.

Yes, they entice me that the truth

lurks in the mixture

of introspection and hypothesis.

And undressing naked

one gets understanding for the thing

if it is done in servility for the authorities.

But it is every son of a bitch's duty

to trample every poem

which is allowed to throw shit on the truth!

But the glasshouse breaks everywhere

I think to myself there is negativity;

but I sentence myself to solitude.

Yes, they beat me yellow and blue,

but the blows which they serve beat the most

that no one will inform.

A handful inspect me,

a few dissect me,

and the verses I succeed in formulating.

A part of them ask me to watch out for time

so that I don't shorten my life

by constantly searching for trouble and irritation.

But with all the senses clear

so time plays a smaller role

than to succeed to inspire!

• Artist:Björn Afzelius
• Album:Johnny Boy (1978)