Evert Taube

Not counting the 18th-century poet Carl Michael Bellman, Evert Taube stands unchallenged as Sweden’s foremost troubadour, having shaped countless successors, produced an unmatched catalog of enduring songs, and seen his work rendered in numerous languages abroad. Born in 1890, he spent his childhood on the tiny island of Vinga, where his father served as lighthouse keeper. Although he pursued formal art studies, at seventeen he fled to Stockholm and, following local lore, passed his first night at Bellman’s gravesite. Painting failed to sustain him, and once his father learned of his location, Taube received a stark choice: resume schooling or go to sea. He selected the latter, logging several years aboard various cargo vessels.

Reaching Argentina in 1910, he remained there, supporting himself as a railroad laborer, journalist, and streetcar operator. The years in South America and on the oceans later supplied vital creative fuel, both through mastery of tango rhythms and through recurring thematic material. When World War I erupted, he returned for compulsory service and, after being denied cavalry placement, served in the navy. In 1917 the weekly press printed his debut song, “Resan till Spanien,” soon followed by his first stage appearance. Still without recordings, he continued as a journalist, issued his second novel, and attempted painting, none of which brought success. Recognition arrived only with the songbook Sju Sjömansvisor och Byssan Lull, establishing him as a songwriter—a tension that persisted lifelong. Aspiring to high literary and artistic circles, he found fame instead through ballads, which commanded less prestige than conventional verse at the time.

His first acoustic recordings appeared in 1921, before electric microphones existed; the label presented him as a cabaret singer on a disc coupling “Frithiof Andersson” and “Karl-Alfred.” Marriage to artist Astri Bergman followed in 1925, and reputation steadily mounted until the 1931 release of the nature-themed waltz “Calle Schewens Vals” secured nationwide prominence. Thereafter he lived from music alone, enjoying relative comfort, repeated journeys to South America, and extended stays in Italy and France. In 1937 he cut several tracks in Milano with an Italian symphony orchestra, among them the burlesque “Frithiof i Arkadien.” War again restricted him to Sweden for six years. By its end he was aging, yet he continued touring until a few years before his death; the increasing gravel in his voice, eventually obscuring pitch, lent the lyrics an aura of seasoned melancholy. Elite literary acceptance remained elusive. An article by Lars Forsell in a poetry journal in 1950, however, underscored the quality of Taube’s texts and marked a shift: honors, grants, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Göteborg followed.

Taube persisted in composing, recording, and championing environmental causes until shortly before his death in 1976. His final major tour occurred in 1969, with a last public performance in 1973. At his passing three years later he left a body of Swedish standards rivaled in number only by those of Carl Michael Bellman.