Jeremiah is delighted when we sing to him. He gives us a flattering reception: rapt attention, big smile, shining eyes. He's an easy crowd to play to.

One of Tot's favorite songs from Pär is "Hej Tomtegubbar". A tomtegubbe is part of Swedish folklore, kind of like a little wild forest gnome who, if you leave milk out for him, will help take care of little things around your house. I hear Pär sing this song often to Tot, but I've never learned the lyrics.

So today I started singing the song: "Hej tomtegubbar, doo doo doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doooo doo doo doo doo."

(This next bit is going to be funniest to Swedes, who will understand how I came by my translation guesses.)

Pär helpfully offered up the lyrics for me in bite-sized chunks. "Hej tomtegubbar, slå i glasen..."

I thought a moment. "'Hey tomtegubbar... hit the ice cream'?"

"Nooo..." he said. "Slå i glasen means 'Fill your glasses'."

"Oh. I see."

"The next line is, 'Och låt oss lustiga vara.'" He looked expectantly at me.

"'And listen...'"

"'And let'."

"'And let', okay. 'And let us...'" I contemplated the adjective 'lustiga'.

"It's the same as it sounds in English."

"'And let us be lusty'."

"Right! You know that means, like, 'Let's be hearty and boisterous', right? Not the kind of lust like 'Let's fuck a pig' lust."

I eyed my husband dubiously. "Your first association with lust is 'Let's fuck a pig'?"

"Well, not for me," he said. "But for strange primitive forest-dwelling gnomes? ...Yeah, I think so."

"Granted. The next line?"

"En liten tid vi leva här."

"'A little time we live here'."

"Med mycken möda och stort besvär."

"Umm... 'With much', um... what does that mean?"

"'With much toil and great trouble'."

"Gah! I thought this was a happy song! The tune's all bouncy and jolly!"

"It is happy! It's saying that life is short and full of pain, so let's drink up and have a good time!"

"Gah! Swedes! How can you stand yourselves?"

"We slå i glasen a lot."

As I type this, I'm playing my Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook CD. Pär is sitting on the bed sorting through a pile of his stuff in an effort to do some Saturday morning cleaning. As I have often observed in this journal, Pär pays little attention to lyrics, but when you're listening to Cole Porter, the lyrics work their way into your awareness no matter what.

"Get ouuut of tooowwwn..." sang Ella.

Absentmindedly, while sifting through some old bills, Pär spoke robotically in a deep, monotonous voice with a heavy Austrian accent.

"Get.Out.Ov.Town."

"Before it's too laaaate, my looove..." sang Ella.

"Before.Eet's.Too.Laaate."

I stared, fascinated, at him.

"...My.Luff," he finished.

He looked up to find me laughing at him.

"Arnold covering Ella Fitzgerald," he explained.

"Oh god. Arnold Sings the Cole Porter Songbook."

It could happen. If Arnold Schwarzenegger can run for governor of California, he could sing the Cole Porter songbook. I suppose it's no stranger an album concept than Shatner's Transformed Man, on which he infamously belted out "Hey Mister Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds". Although, come to think of it, there may not exist any stranger album concept than Shatner's Transformed Man.