Translation of the song lyrics Ballad om 100 år - Cornelis Vreeswijk

Ballad om 100 år (original)

Vad blir av alla fagra kvinns
Som varje man så gärna tar i?
Var tror ni Kleopatra finns
Och konung Eriks liten Kari?
Romeos Julia som var i
Ungdomens fagra blomningsvår
Är lika död som Mata Hari
Men vad gör det om hundra år?
Don Juan var en usel skurk
Han valde vägen som var bred han
Sokrates tog en duktig slurk
Ur giftbägaren och for hädan
Han gjorde det med flit, emedan
Hans fru var svartsjuk, sur och svår
Hon gifte säkert om sig sedan
Men vad gör det om hundra år?
Casanova är välbekant
Mången mö han övermannat
Och om allt han sagt är sant
Var han en så upptagen man att
Han knappast kan haft tid till annat
Han har gjort mer än en man förmår
Men även hans maskin har stannat
Och vad gör det om hundra år?
Var finns Potifars vilda fru
Hon som drog Josef ned i sängen?
Var finns sköna Susanna nu
Hon som plaskade i bassängen?
Fast hennes make var en sträng en
Blotta' hon båd' barm och lår
Nog såg hon gubbarna i terrängen
Men vad gör det om hundra år?
Medborgare, vem kan förklara
Att döden aldrig stilla står?

Ballad om 100 år (translation)

What will become of all the beautiful women
Like every man is so happy to take in?
Where do you think Cleopatra is?
And King Erik's little Kari?
Romeo's Juliet who was in
The beautiful flowering spring of youth
Is as dead as Mata Hari
But what will it do in a hundred years?
Don Juan was a lousy villain
He chose the road that was wide for him
Socrates took a good swig
Out of the poison cup and from now on
He did it on purpose, because
His wife was jealous, sour and difficult
She probably remarried after that
But what will it do in a hundred years?
Casanova is well known
He overpowered many
And if everything he said is true
Was he such a busy man that
He can hardly have had time for anything else
He has done more than a man is capable of
But even his machine has stopped
And what will it do in a hundred years?
Where is potiphar's wild wife
The one who pulled Josef into bed?
Where is beautiful Susanna now
The one who splashed in the pool?
Although her husband was a strict one
She bared both bosom and thighs
Sure enough, she saw the old men in the terrain
But what will it do in a hundred years?
Citizens, who can explain
That death never stands still?