We Want a Nation for Ourselves
We want for ourselves a nation that is saved and free,
(we) must not take its freedom for granted.
We want for ourselves a nation that is mine and yours,
and this our nation is called Norway.
And if we do not have this land yet,
then we shall win it, you and I.
We want for ourselves a nation that is mine and yours,
and this our nation is called Norway.
(Per Sivle wrote this in 1894 as a battle-poem for the campaign by the
Venstre party for the universal right to vote. Sinding composed the music
and it was first performed in 1897 in Christiania. It was much used during
the years leading up to the dissolution of the Union with Sweden in 1905.)