Sweden (album)

Sweden is the second studio album by the Mountain Goats released on Shrimper Records in 1995.

Sweden
Studio album by the Mountain Goats
Released	August 7, 1995
Recorded	Winter 1994–1995
Genre	Lo-fi
Length	45:19
Label	Shrimper Records
Producer	John Darnielle
The Mountain Goats chronology
Zopilote Machine (1994) Sweden (1995) Nothing for Juice (1996)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Track listing

All tracks are written by John Darnielle, except where noted.

No.	Title	Swedish alternative title	Length
1.	"The Recognition Scene"	"Vi var på väg hem före regnet" (We Were On Our Way Home Before the Rain)	2:50
2.	"Downtown Seoul"	"Han är yngre än jag" (He Is Younger Than I)	2:53
3.	"Some Swedish Trees"	"De flyende var oskyldiga" (The Fleeing Ones Were Innocent)	2:05
4.	"I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone" (Buddy Johnson)	"Inga gröna löv" (No Green Leaves)	2:35
5.	"Deianara Crush"	"Är du inte min vän?" (Are You Not My Friend?)	1:53
6.	"Whole Wide World"	"Fast han hade förändrats så mycket kände jag genast igen honom" (Though He Had Changed So Much I Immediately Recognized Him)	2:13
7.	"Flashing Lights"	"Den kallaste vintern" (The Coldest Winter)	2:30
8.	"Sept 19 Triple X Love! Love!"	"Vi gör vad vi kan" (We Do What We Can)	2:24
9.	"Going to Queens"	"Vi visste inte vad som skulle hända" (We Did Not Know What Was Going to Happen)	2:26
10.	"Tahitian Ambrosia Maker"	"Han har känt igen dig" (He Has Recognized You)	1:47
11.	"Going to Bolivia"	"Huset var vackert beläget, vilket gjorde mig väldigt glad" (The House Was Beautifully Situated, Which Made Me Very Glad)	1:37
12.	"Tollund Man"	"Han sov tydligen" (He Was Apparently Sleeping)	2:34
13.	"California Song"	"Flickan som var hans vän sa adjö" (The Girl Who Was His Friend Said Goodbye)	1:55
14.	"Snow Crush Killing Song"	"Huset brändes ner utav den unga mannen" (The House Was Burned Down by the Young Man)	2:46
15.	"Send Me an Angel"	"Han är lika trött som jag" (He Is As Tired As I)	1:47
16.	"Neon Orange Glimmer Song"	"Vi träffas på gatan i morgon" (We Will Meet on the Street Tomorrow)	3:08
17.	"FM" (Steely Dan)	"En vit klänning" (A White Dress)	1:45
18.	"Prana Ferox"	"De gjorde det själva" (They Did It Themselves)	4:05
19.	"Cold Milk Bottle"	"Jag skall tala i kväll" (I Will Speak This Evening)	2:06
Total length:			45:19

Notes

Despite the title, cover, Swedish alternative titles, and the humorous mini-essay about "The Swedish conspiracy" in the liner notes (written by Paul Lukas, though he was only credited a year later in the liner notes to the band's next release Nothing for Juice), none of the lyrics are explicitly about Sweden itself. Various other locations, such as Seoul, Korea, California, Queens, New York City, Bolivia and Denmark are however all mentioned in the songs. "Duke Ellington" (which appears on the rarities compilation Protein Source of the Future...Now! and the Harriet records compilation The Long Secret), which does mention Sweden, is described as "one of two pieces written for the song-cycle Sweden and intentionally left off of the album". The unreleased "I've Got the Sex" is the other song intended for Sweden that was left off of the album. According to Darnielle this song was originally supposed to be the first track of Sweden, but was left off due to Darnielle accidentally forgetting its tape at home during the mastering process. In addition, there exists a sequel album to Sweden, entitled Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg, but it was never released. Furthermore, at a December 2010 concert at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, California, Darnielle unveiled 5 more songs from the "Sweden notebooks".

Personnel

• John Darnielle – vocals, guitar
• Rachel Ware – bass, vocals