This is from the musicial "Kristina från Duvemåla" by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (the guys from ABBA, it's Björn who narrates in the beginning). It's about Swedes emigrating to the US in the 1850s, it's based on a tetralogy by Vilhelm Moberg, and it's a story most Swedes are familiar with, a lot of us have read at least one of the books in school. Peter Jöback plays the character Robert, Kristina's brother in law. While Kristina and her husband settled in Minnesota, Robert and his friend Arvid were adventurous and wanted to go California and find gold. This song is when he returns to Kristina and Karl Oskar and tells them what happened. Björn Ulvaues narrating: "It was a hard life that awaited Arvid and Robert. The little gold they found they exchanged for bills, that turned out to be false and worthless. During the journey Arvid passed away, and after 4 years Robert returned to Kristina and Karl Oskar as a broken man." Song "He came with me, When I went away that spring, Like a dog, he followed me closely, I was happy with his company, When I searched for the land of gold, But Kristina, the gold turned into sand, We laboured hard, Yes, we had to give up all that was good, He cried often and begged, "Take me back" But I always refused, Even though I hesitated sometimes, Oh, Kristina, the gold turned into sand, He, who was my friend, He believed my word, even though I already then, Saw that along this way, What I wanted to reach was most likely not there, Over the prairie we arrived to a desert, We got lost, and started seeing ghosts, You hear water that ripple, When your head is on fire, Oh, Kristina, the gold turned into sand, I, who was his friend, I took him over land and sea, The desert wind has hidden, like a blanket over his quiet grave, From a stinking spring, he drank water, He became sick, and left me that night. When his eyes went out, The watch slid from his hand, Oh, Kristina, the gold turned into sand, Oh, Kristina, the gold turned into sand

Usually people do this one after the Helen Sjöholm one. You gotta react to that one, it's amazing.

There are videos with subtitles too.

And Peter J had done the Phantom 'on' Broadway..🇸🇪

It's always sad to see people reacting to this song who miss that it has English subtitles. If you decide to listen to Helen Sjöholm with "Du måste finnas" as many suggested here, find it with English subs or check out when she does it in English. It is then called "you have to be there"

❤Peter is our Swedish greates singer

Why not use the subtitles function ? You’re missing the meaning of the song. The lyrics are beautiful.

You have the song from this moment with english text too You miss a lot if you dont understand the lyrics

It is a very tragic story. Recommend you to look up the lyrics.