This slängpolska comes to us from August Strömberg (1860-1947), a shoemaker from Jät parish in Småland. He started off playing the flute, but a trip to Denmark in the 1880s proved a fateful one as he learned the fiddle there, and seems to have preferred it as when he was introduced to the then-newfangled Boehm flute, he found that “the keys were in the way” (I’m not inclined to disagree with him there!). Strömberg ultimately contributed to preservation projects through both recordings and written music; twelve of his tunes are in Svenska Låtar, although not this one.
My notes also say that the title can show up in with different verb tenses like “Aldrig var det så roligt” or “Aldrig har det varit så roligt” — whenever things are happening, the message seems to be that they’re not quite as much fun as people might think.
If you’d like to play it too, here is sheet music complete with suggested chords (just right-click to save and print the image):
Gilbert Music Studio 