My translation of the song "Kleiner Kalle-Theodor" from the movie "Pippi und die Seeräuber" into English.
1.
He longed for the wind and he longed for the sea,
he craved for horizons of endless blue,
and to his old mother ‘Don’t worry’, said he,
listening to the sounds that made his dreams come true.
Hear him hail through the rigs and the rails
as he’s shouting his ‘Ahoi-ohé’ -
He felt no regret for the life he had had
For he was where he longed to be.
2.
He crossed ev’ry ocean and rode ev’ry sea,
his eyes were the hue of the leaden sky.
‘Till once raging waves took his ship from the lee
to swallow it, to drown it, as a storm went by.
Washed him down for to sink, for to drown,
be forgotten by the open air.
But sweet Northern star from the sky, oh so far,
followed down, so his light be there.
3.
So, lost from the world, the sea took his hand,
he was cradled in waters so warm and true.
Oh, sea is his mother and sea is his friend
and sea is consolation when he’s feeling blue.
Hear his voice in the wind’s wailing noise
as he’s shouting his ‘Ahoi-ohé’,
and sometimes the weep from the waters so deep
as he sighs with the rolling sea.
Text: Crystal 1995
(Musik: Georg Riedel)