Mountain Press Article
(THANK YOU, Gale Haggard for this information!)

A 'Song for Norway': James Rogers pens tune to show U.S. empathy for country hit by tragedy a year ago.

Dollywood entertainer James Rogers performs during a recent show at the park. Rogers wrote "Song for Norway" to show support for the nation after a mass shooting killed dozens of people attending a youth camp near Oslo.

— PIGEON FORGE —

Almost one year ago, the small nation of Norway experienced a tragedy when a lone gunman made his way to the Utoya youth camp near Oslo and methodically assassinated dozens of young people gathered to meet government ministers and experience the diversity of the cultures represented.

The July 22, 2011, events left more than 80 people dead and forever impacted the nation. It’s been described by some as the country’s equivalent to the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Just as musicians at that time wrote songs expressing the feelings of Americans on that day, longtime Dollywood entertainer James Rogers has written a song of support for the people of Norway. At the request of retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Jim Mungenast, a longtime fan and friend of Rogers, the entertainer wrote “Song for Norway” as a way to express support for the people of Norway and offer up a prayer for those affected by the tragedy.

"I wrote, really, from our point of view, our take on it, because we had a similar thing that did the same thing to us, which was called 9/11," Rogers said.
The first lines read:

"Norway we pray for you, every day for you.
The pain and heartache you've been through, we truly understand.
That sad September day when evil turned our blue skies gray;
now reaching out across the way, we offer you our hand."

"It's a song of healing," Rogers said. Mungenast approached Rogers about writing a song after hosting a delegation of foreign defense attaches in a tour around the United States.
One of those was a general from Norway, Maj. Gen. Tom Knutsen. Mungenast and his wife, Jeanie, were extended an invitation by Knutsen to visit Norway,
with a trip planned for July. "As the time got closer we got excited about going, and then the tragedy occurred in Norway," Mungenast said as he and his wife met with Rogers
backstage at the Showstreet Theater after one of Rogers' shows. "We ended up there the weekend right after it happened," Mungenast said. "It reminded me of 9/11.
I got to thinking about it. This was their 9/11." Having known Rogers for many years and his experience in writing songs such as his "I Guard America,"
the song now used by the National Guard, he asked him to write a song for Norway.
"I said, 'James, I think it will make a difference if we could let the people of Norway know that you're our friends, that we feel for what you're going
through and we'll get through this together,'" Mungenast said. "James came back to me and said, 'You know, I want this to be a prayer for Norway.
Do you think they'll be upset about it?" Being a mostly Lutheran country, Mungenast told him he didn't think there would be a problem and his opinion was echoed by Knutsen.
The Mungenasts were on hand for Rogers' recording of the song in Nashville, and when he sang the song in March at the Norwegian Lady 50th Anniversary Celebration in Virginia Beach.
Norwegian Ambassador Wegger Char. Strommen and a host of senior defense officers from Norway were also in the audience.
"They got pretty emotional," Jeanie Mungenast said of the response of those in the audience in Virginia.
"I think this is a song that reaches the heart of Norway," Gen. Mungenast said.
Ambassador Strommen wrote a letter to Rogers, expressing his own appreciation of the song and the support of the American people after the tragedy.
"The support of the people of America following that tragic day was a tremendous comfort to Norway, and your song is an excellent example of
this support," Strommen wrote. "I hope your song can be shared with as many Norwegians and Americans as possible, particularly as the July 22 anniversary approaches."
That's something Mungenast hopes as well. "It's my hope that we can get this song out to every Norwegian that we can and the Norwegian-Americans,"
he said of the 6 million U.S. residents of Norwegian descent.

 

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