Nummela [English translation]

These old city streets, all the houses and gardens

I walk my dog and think of all the great years gone by

Long ago we dragged our bikes from that tiny little ditch

A crazy bet and foolishness just to get some kicks

At school we chased the girls, Mary was the one for me

They screamed and ran away, that’s how things were meant to be

When my daddy’s band played, I took all my friends to see

I felt the beat and had to hear those sweet sounds in my ears

I have to keep on walking

I have to keep on walking

As a voice inside is talking

I was twelve years old when we moved countryside

Just one year later I had to say “daddy, goodbye”

Mum was left with four kids and the payment of our house

Somehow she managed through it, life was on the rails again

Me and all my friends, this park and the dark sky

We balanced on the bridge, drove fast as the blink of an eye

And we knew how to make all the streetlights go out

I began to write songs about death, faith and doubt

I have to keep on walking

I have to keep on walking

As a voice inside is talking

I met the woman of my dreams, I said “please, grow old with me”

When I was twenty-five, we walked down the aisle, the river had found the sea

My wife works as a teacher, she knows what life is all about

And me, I stay up at nights, I have to let the songs come out

Sometimes late in the evening I take my dog up to the hill

From there we watch Nummela sleeping so still

And I think of us and the lucky, oh yes, the lucky man I am

This is my hometown…

I have to keep on walking

I have to keep on walking

As a voice inside is talking

• Artist:Anssi Kela
• Album:Nummela (2001)