Snart skiner Poseidon

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"Snart skiner poseidon"
Single by Joel Alme
Released
GenreIndie pop
Length2:59
LabelMusicbase/IFK Göteborg Promotion AB
Songwriter(s)Joel Alme
Producer(s)Joel Alme

"Snart skiner poseidon" is a song by Joel Alme released in 2009, as the official anthem of Swedish football club IFK Göteborg. The song has been the club's entrance music since 2009, having replaced the previous anthem "Heja Blåvitt". The song is a remake of "A Young Summer's Youth", off Alme's debut album, but with new lyrics.[1][2] The melody had also previously been used in the song "Utan personlig insats" by Hästpojken, a band Alme was a member of between 2007 and 2008.[3]

Background[edit]

Before the start of the 2009 IFK Göteborg season, a debate among IFK supporters had started regarding a possible replacement of the then current anthem "Heja Blåvitt".[4] Many different existing songs were proposed, from artists such as Maia Hirasawa, Nationalteatern and Troublemakers,[5] until "Snart skiner Poseidon" was written by Joel Alme and posted on YouTube in mid-March 2009.[6] His friend, bandmate (from Hästpojken), and fellow IFK Göteborg supporter Pontus Tenggren had suggested he should write a new IFK song.[5]

Alme wrote the lyrics on a train home from Stockholm when he sat beside a woman crying as her husband had recently died.[3][7] This inspired him to create a melancholic football anthem with more human character than the usual heroic and patriotic sports songs,[3][8] stating in interviews that he "wanted to replace the clenched fist and testosterone with romance"[8] and "at all costs [wanted to] avoid the feeling of Norwegian disco when it gets heroic, plastic and jaunty like that".[7]

The song name was proposed on the internet forum of Supporterklubben Änglarna,[5] and the supporters' association and IFK Göteborg soon decided to accept "Snart skiner Poseidon" as the new anthem. "Heja Blåvitt", the old anthem written in 1976,[9] was replaced but lives on as the goal jingle of the club.[5][10] Joel Alme performed the song live before IFK Göteborg's first match on the new Gamla Ullevi stadium on 11 April 2009.[6]

Release[edit]

The song was released as a CD single on 7 April 2009, as digital download on iTunes on 6 December 2011 and on Spotify on 28 December 2011.[11][12][13]

Reception[edit]

"Snart skiner Poseidon" reached number one position on the iTunes singles list after the digital release in late 2011,[3] and the YouTube video had reached over one million views in June 2011, averaging more than 1,000 views per day since the original release.[14]

Sports journalist Erik Niva from Aftonbladet gave it a shared second place with a 4 out of 5 score in his ranking of the best Allsvenskan anthems at the start of the 2009 season, stating that writing a football anthem on command is difficult, but that Alme had "understood what this is about".[15] Another journalist at Aftonbladet, music critic Markus Larsson, called it the by far best Allsvenskan anthem in 2012, writing that even people with no interest in sports would get chills from the song, and compared it to You'll Never Walk Alone.[16][17] Musicologist Patrik Sandgren judged all Allsvenskan anthems in 2016, commenting that "Snart skiner Poseidon" is a somewhat awkward Håkan Hellström knock-off, while still rating it 4 out of 5, translating to a shared first place.[18]

Citations[edit]

References[edit]

  • Abrahamsson, Christian (2009-03-17). "Änglarna har två huvudalternativ" (in Swedish). Expressen. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • "Amazon.com – Snart Skiner Poseidon". Amazon. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Arbsjö, Karin (2010-01-19). "Festen är över för Alme" (in Swedish). Sydsvenskan. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Clark, Anders (2009-03-25). "Nu är det klart - Blåvitt får en ny låt" (in Swedish). GT. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Elisson, Johan; Kjäll, Andreas; Pettersson, John (2014). Henriksson, Mathias (ed.). Vi som är från Göteborg åker aldrig hem med sorg (in Swedish). Göteborg: Supporterklubben Änglarna. ISBN 978-91-637-5138-7.
  • IFK Göteborg (2011-12-06). "Snart skiner Poseidon på iTunes" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • IFK Göteborg (2011-12-28). "Snart skiner Poseidon på Spotify" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Josephson, Åke; Jönsson, Ingemar, eds. (2014). IFK Göteborg 2004–2014: nu fortsätter vi att berätta historien (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg. ISBN 978-91-637-6596-4.
  • Jörnvik, Ulf (2011-06-08). "Miljonsuccé för "Snart skiner Poseidon"" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Larsson, Markus (2012-04-25). "Blåvitt den självklara vinnaren – de andra kan börja spela innebandy" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Larsson, Markus (2012-04-25). "De är allsvenskans bästa introlåtar" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Lindstrand, Fredrik (2016-03-30). "Allsvenskans bästa inmarschlåtar - experten har sagt sitt" (in Swedish). Sydsvenskan. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Löf, Anders (2015). "Körläktare". Stim-magasinet (in Swedish). No. 1. Stockholm: STIM. pp. 20–22. ISSN 2000-5628. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Martin, Kai (2009-03-17). "Blåvitts supportrar funderar på låtbyte" (in Swedish). GT. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Niva, Erik (2009-04-11). "Fotbolls-sånger: Erik Niva rankar allsvenskans bästa" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Nordin, Erik (2009-03-26). "Joel Alme 27/3" (in Swedish). Göteborgs-Posten. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Sundqvist, Alexandra (2009-03-28). "Joel Alme är klar för match med Poseidon". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  • Östh Gustafsson, Hampus (2014). "Fiskrens, änglar och en olympisk gud: Vemodiga minnen och drömmar om guld och evighet i fotbollssånger från Göteborg". Populär Poesi (in Swedish). No. 21. Tranås: Populär Poesi. ISSN 2001-3647. Retrieved 2017-09-19.

External links[edit]