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Music & Lyrics: Joe Malatesta
A picture of the Fremont Troll under the Aurora bridge in Seattle. The Troll possibly also the lyrics to this song, is derived from the Scandinavian folktale Three Billy Goats Gruff (“De tre bukkene bruse”) by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in 1841/1844, or In the Hall of the Mountain King (“I Dovregubbens hall”) by Norwegian composer and pianist Edvard Grieg in 1867. In Scandinavian there are street on trolls everywhere – Troldhaugen (Edvard Grieg has lived there), Trolltunga (mountain peak), and so on.
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The song was written by guitarist Joe Malatesta. Rob describes this and Heaven Help Us as “really not our style”. I would agree on Heaven Help Us, but I have to disagree on The Troll. I’ve even always thought The Troll was one of the best songs here. Joe left before the album was released.
The guitarist Joe Malatesta’s song was “The Troll” and the bass player Bob Warenburg’s song was “Heaven Help Us”. Although these songs really were not our style we really had no choice.
Robert Garven
Jim: A Joe Malatesta’s song. Well, I learned it and provided 2nd rhythm guitar and harmony leads. It’s an unorthodox song structure with quirky riffs/leads and “and who knows what scale”. Eventually, we all got it down tight as a band. I like it when I hear it nowadays.
Rob: This was one of the songs we added to the album to be inclusive of our new stand in guitarist Joe. After the band got back together in 2016, we were practicing at our old digs Goldmine Studios in Ventura, and we heard a band playing “The Troll” in a nearby building. We went over there and met the group, and they told us they had played with Joe back in the day and swore that they were the ones that originally wrote that song. Who knows the real truth is…
from Tales of a “Paradise Lost” – the 30th anniversary
The Troll (Album version)
From release Paradise Lost (1991).
The Troll (Alt Mix)
From re-released Paradise Lost (2017). Alternate mix.
Agree, but still stronger than than Join the Legion, which is perhaps the closest comparision on this album. JtL has a memorable, but still quite weak chorus IMO. I think The Troll is the most One Foot’ish song from this LP. And it has a pretty intro too.
Its cool but I don’t think its as good as the songs on OFIH.
Am I the only one who digs this song, or is it only Rob who has a principle against it?