PALANEEN KÄRYÄ (XO RECORDS 2011)
This is one of those songs that highlight the lyrical playfulness of Paleface.
The song relies heavily on switching the first syllables of consecutive, rhyming word pairs, so that the “new” words formed this way are still real Finnish language. This kind of wordplay has deep roots in Finnish oral tradition — but Paleface takes it to a whole new level. It’s hard to even try to translate any of it into English, but on this song, he goes as far as performing these syllable switches with complete sentences. That’s exactly what makes him such a talent: he doesn’t just rhyme, he bends the Finnish language to his will while keeping it funny, fluent, and grammatically airtight.
For example, the title, in English, is “Patinated Poet.” But when you switch the first syllables, it becomes “Rutinoinu panomies”, which would roughly translate to “experienced stud” — although it’s slightly more offensive in Finnish. So the whole song is really humorous only to Finnish people. To everyone else, a lot of the brilliance is simply lost in translation — and that’s precisely why Paleface is considered one of the finest lyricists in Finnish music.
PATINOITUNU RUNOMIES | pencil & fineliner on paper | 2025