Скачать или смотреть Ea by Hans Johnson Official Video

In 2022, my grandmother Edith "Ea" Johnson would have turned 100 years old. She almost made it, too. That's her singing this song.

Who was Ea?

She was born on a farm in rural Minnesota, to Swedish immigrant parents. They were from a small town called Älvdalen in Sweden. She grew up speaking Swedish and a second language she called "Dalien." I later learned it's an indigenous language called Elfdalian, spoken only in that area. Despite her strong connection to her Swedish ancestry, she never made it there.

She was never rich, but was one of the wealthiest people I knew. She loved life even though she had her hardships. She was the kind of person that wanted to meet you. Yes you. No matter who you were she wanted to get to know you. And after she got to know you she'd brag to her family about you, and what a wonderful person you were. No exaggeration. She loved people!

She played piano and loved to sing. Her favorite thing besides her family and drinking coffee, was a good old hymn sing. No doubt this played a role in my own love of music. She was a giant influence on who I am. It is because of this that I wanted to celebrate the loving woman I knew as grandma Ea.

What is she singing?

This recording was captured shortly before she passed away. I asked her to sing a song from her childhood. She chose an old song in Swedish called 'Hälsa Dem Därhemma' (Greet Them At Home). She explained it's a song about a Swedish immigrant asking a bird to greet their family back home.

The lyrics she sings are "Hälsa dem därhemma, hälsa far och mor, Hälsa gröna hagen, hälsa lille bror." This translates to "Greet them back home, greet father and mother, Greet the green pasture, greet little brother." Then at the end she sings to the bird “Om jag hade vingar, flöge jag med dig” meaning “If I had wings, I would fly with you.”

This song and the other songs on the album are a musical reflection of who my grandmother was. A singular woman whom I will always carry in my heart.