Ack du min moder

Ack du min moder (Alas, thou my mother), originally written Ach! du min Moder, is one of the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's best-known and best-loved songs, from his 1790 collection, Fredman's Epistles, where it is No. 23. It begins as a lament, as Jean Fredman lies drunk in a Stockholm gutter outside the Crawl-in tavern, cursing his parents for conceiving him. Then he goes in, is revived by a stiff drink, and thanks his mother and father for his life.

The epistle's "soliloquy" was described by Oscar Levertin as "the to-be-or-not-to-be of Swedish literature".

The epistle is subtitled "Som är et Soliloquium då Fredman låg vid krogen Kryp-In, gent emot Bancohuset, en sommarnatt år 1768." (A soliloquy in which Fredman lay outside the Crawl-in Tavern, right by the Bank, one summer night in the year 1768)

Carl Michael Bellman is the central figure in Swedish song, known for his 1790 Fredman's Epistles and his 1791 Fredman's Songs. He played the cittern, accompanying himself as he performed his songs at the royal court.

Jean Fredman is a fictional character and the supposed narrator in Bellman's epistles and songs, based on a real watchmaker of Bellman's Stockholm. The epistles paint a picture of the demimonde life of the city during the eighteenth century, where strong drink and beautiful "nymphs" like Ulla Winblad create a rococo picture of life, blending classical allusion and pastoral description with harsh reality.

"Ack du min moder" is a song with six verses of twelve lines each, the last line being repeated as a refrain after a phrase on the flute. It is sung to a graceful melody in 3/4 time, marked Menuetto (Minuet). In modern notation it is in E major. The rhyming pattern is ABAB-CCD-EED-FF. The melody's origin is unknown.

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