Ask Carol (Norway) – Writing on the Wall (single)

An unusual review today and it isn’t a new song, which is normally a requirement for inclusion in NMC.

May 8^th was the 81^st anniversary of the Liberation of Norway from the Nazi regime and for the 80^th anniversary last year Ask Carol wrote a song about it which passed us by at the time and which they drew attention to again on social media this weekend.

It was also included on the November 2025 album ‘AC II: Desert Sky’.

While Ask Carol is probably better known for its wild rock performances and huge sound, especially as there are only two of them, they do write hard hitting ballads that demonstrate well that they aren’t just about big riffs, pedals, loops and reverb and this is one of them.

They aren’t just excellent musicians either. A lot of thought goes into the lyrics, which often pose more questions than they offer answers.

For example in the early part of this song, ‘Writing on the Wall’, it appears to chronicle the events leading up the invasion of Norway, prior to which the country had declared itself neutral, fearing that an invasion might come first from the Allies first. (“Pack my bags and leave today…it ain’t safe here in my home”.

But immediately afterwards come the lines,

“Told my friends oh ain’t it neat/how history repeats

It’s the curse of our modern world/how come we never learn

Someone’s lying through their teeth/pulling people from the streets

Oh I wish it wasn’t so/it ain’t safe here anymore.”

As Norway wasn’t, as far as I know, invaded by Germany before 1940, that suggests that this is not an historical record, rather a retrospective – looking at the past as a warning for the future.

And if so you could interpret it in any of several ways; that they are concerned that Norway might have to fight another such war (against Russia?) that it is being occupied from within, or something else entirely.

The second part of that speculation is perhaps supported by the lines,

“Heard a cry come from afar/viva la resistance

It’s coming from my soul/I wanna fight for what I love

Gotta listen to the signs/it is time for picking sides/

Oh I wish it wasn’t so”.

Then,

“Good ole government’s to fall/In its place there’s something new

Something vengeful, something cruel”

I won’t pick apart the lyrics any longer, there is more to come in which the merits of flight over fight are weighed along with thoughts of “how to fight the ruling class”, meaning elites, Mad Kings and oligarchs and I think we all know who the latter two are.

Better to just soak it up for yourself and ponder it over a beer or two.

And to acknowledge that they are very adept social observers quite apart from their musical prowess. Not quite at the Dylan, Gaye, Mitchell and Baez level yet, but closing in fast.

(Continues after the Spotify link).

Ask Carol are Karoline Strømshoved and Ask Thorsønn Borgen.

Find them on:

Website: https://www.askcarolmusic.com/