Siste reis

        

I den tredje episoden av Hver gang vi møtes var det Henning Kvitnes sin dag. Unni fremførte Hennings velkjente 'Siste reis', med helt omskrevet tekst og glimt i øyet, og håpet på tilgivelse fra både Henning og publikum, noe hun definitivt fikk og vel så det.

Femmer i Dagbladet :

«Unni har ennå ikke tråkket feil. Hun har skrevet om teksten helt og fått den til å handle om seg sjøl - og får ekstrapoeng for en fin og ærlig oppsummering av artistlivet så langt! Etter en forsiktig start, trøkker hun til. Det er blitt en flott kombinasjon av drikkevise og shanty som sikkert klinger ekstra godt på den viden kjente puben i Halden med samme navn som visa.»

TV2s og Unnis Facebook :

Johanna Engen Henning: «Kvitnes er den beste jeg veit om og Unni tolket siste reis så vakkert at jeg gråt»

Åse M. Lammethun: «Denne dama er eg stor beundrer av. Har aldri fått med meg denne fine artisten Ein ny varm energi vi har bruk for i vår skakkkjørde verden.»

Signe Simensen Myhren: «Helt fantastisk tolkning av en av de fineste låtene jeg vet!»

Bjørn Andreas Christensen: «Det var så vakkert...vått i øyet»

Helmuth Schmidt: «Yet again, you touched me with the story about the song you've chosen. And although your worries were real, you might know by now there wasn't any need to be worried at all...»

Trine Lise Kittelsen Qvale: «Nydelig fantastisk flott gjeng. Ikke bare dere som har tårer I øynene. Det rører nok mange.»

Foto: vegardphoto.com & videorammer

Unni om sitt valg av låt:

Henning Kvitnes is a popular and honest musician who has touched people for more than three decades. He has written personal songs in Norwegian for a long time, and people relate to his lyrics and to Henning as a person.

When I was choosing my performance song in 'Hver gang vi møtes' (TV2), I had a lot of popular songs to choose from. But for some reason, I fell for the instrumentation and vibe in the shanty song 'Siste Reis', with its Tom Waits-feeling and story about a retired sailor. Of course I thought the lyrics would be impossible for me to relate to, since I'm neither a man in my sixties nor a sailor with memories of excotic romances in distant shores. But the verses of the song contains images that reached me beyond the actual story, and the more I listened, the more I felt like borrowing Henning's references and symbols.

Henning is from Halden, and there's a legendary pub named 'Siste reis', who has provided comfort, shelter and boose to many local souls through the years. I'm from Oslo, but I've once been to the pub 'Siste Reis', and although it's not the most natural place for me to 'sing my blues' about a local pub in Halden, I've had my share of pubs in my own home town.

Since so many of Hennings listeners relate to the place, I was a bit concerned about rewriting the story to revolve around myself. There's something almost sacred about a retired man of the sea who finds his final rest in his home town pub. You shouldn't mess with that concept, I thought to myself. But once I get a musical or lyrical idea in my head, it's unnatural for me to throw the idea away. I was sitting in my boyfriend's sailboat this summer, and we happened to stay at a desert island just outside of Halden while I wrote new words to the song and put my own personal story in it.

One night, another boat had pulled up behind us for the night. Two local men played 'Siste Reis' really loud while they drank their beer and sang along. That really made me think twice. Should I really go ahead and mess with Hennings story who obviously has a place in many people's hearts? But the way the men in the boat played the song over and over again, made me smile, and I thought, what the heck. The folks who love this song will still play the original version. Those who don't already know it, can be introduced to it through my own story, perhaps.

I just wrote the new words down in one, single blow, and didn't look back. I rearranged the verses musically in my head. I decided I wasn't going to play guitar this time, and I heard a fragile piano theme that I hoped the band's pianist Haakon-Marius Pettersen would be able to grasp, although I couldn't play it for him myself. He did it perfectly! I wanted the song to keep it's honesty, and to have a lot of contrast between the loneliness in the verses and the social chorus. The band plays it excactly the way i imagined and wanted it! We have the best band backing us!

I just found out that Henning Kvitnes was being honored with the award 'Årets Haldenser 2015' in his home town at the same time his episode was aired. They held a local banquet, and everyone present watched the show togehter. When Henning and the rest of us received our applauses around the table on TV, the people in Halden was applauding live, with Henning in their midst!

Congratulations, Henning!