"Balladen om killen" (English: "Ballad about the guy") is a song written by bass guitarist Göran Lagerberg, recorded by singer Örjan Ramberg.

The song, which is in the Swedish language, tells the tale of an unnamed narrator, who during a walk along a country road, details incidents that recently occurred in his life, including moving away from home, tongue-in-cheek references to acquaintances and the court proceedings after being caught with cannabis.

[2] However, following recording sessions in March for their next album, the guitarists Danne Larsson and Anders Töpel left the band, citing the obligatory conscription Sweden had as a contributing reason.

[7] This collaboration between Tages and Ramberg would largely culminate in the latter being called upon as a stand-in singer in place of Blom during various performances, including an instance which he had an appendectomy.

[8] After writing the song, Lagerberg rehearsed it together with fellow Blond members Lasse Svensson and Björn Lindér, who recently had joined their line-up.

Nonetheless, recording engineer Björn Almstedt was present during the session, and is credited with adding the sound effect of a police siren which can be heard halfway through the song.

[15] The A-side of the single was largely composed in A major and is contrary to the title, "a straight-forward rocker" which features "boogie-woogie piano" and "lush" guitar licks that prevails throughout.

[13][17] The reason behind this varies; according to Göran Brandels and Lennart Wrigholm, Ramberg was not comfortable with singing the song and with time running out, Lagerberg himself sang on it.

[17] According to the book Tusen Svenska Klassiker, "Balladen om killen" was Lagerberg's attempt at a Swedish rewrite of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965); "a compelling rock song" which featured "driving verses" about "moving out" and the "sexual freedom" and opportunities that open up with this.

[18] According to Kuhlin, Lagerberg largely "succeeds with the task", stating that the song is a "condensed epic" regarding a guy and "his fate, in this case Ramberg".

[22] A reference to a woman who the narrator describes as having "large breasts and the common sense to keep quiet" was according to Kuhlin the most "dated aspect of the song", which by then was "written almost fifty years ago".

Nonetheless, the relatively poor chart performance was blamed on the controversial lyrics, specifically the lines regarding the narrator being homosexual along with the ones explicitly talking about "large breasts".

[13] Critics agree that the single most likely would've fared better on the Swedish music scene if it was credited under Lagerberg or Blond's name rather than the at the time unknown Ramberg.

[32] A writer for Svenska Dagbladet believes the single to have a "very effective" and "driving backing" to go along with the lyrics, which they write are "surprisingly vulgar and modern" for being written in Swedish.

[8] Following the 2019 allegation of abuse against his partner Josefin Nilsson, the lyrical content of "Balladen om killen" was once again brought into the spotlight in the Swedish media.