A keresés eredménye

Radio Paris is a liar

Radio Paris is a liar1
Radio Paris works for the other side,
a labour camp of their money.
Radio Paris is such
a shameless liar,
spinning the facts.
A bit more of red, when blood is spilled2.
 
Radio Paris is a liar,
it's feeding you bullshit,
it has put a screen in front of reality.
Radio Paris is a liar,
it's feeding you bullshit,
here are the good guys, here are the bad guys.
 
In your mike, you are allowed
to speak three full seconds before getting booted out,
cunningly monitored by the occupiers,
but you'll become a resistance fighter.
Stop standing at attention,
and go underground instead.
It will seek you out, save you,
interrogate you, but (you'd rather) take back your beloved freedom3 .
 
Radio Paris is a liar,
it's feeding you bullshit,
it has put a screen in front of reality.
Radio Paris is a liar,
it's feeding you bullshit,
here are the good guys, here are the bad guys.
 
Bringing in its weapons of mass cynicism,
its phoney pop stars4,
its antiquated newsreaders, as deceitful as a DJ's smile.
 
Radio Paris is a liar,
Radio Paris is feeding you bullshit,
and the bullshit5 makes you sick.
 
Radio Paris is a liar,
it's feeding you bullshit,
it has put a screen in front of reality.
Radio Paris is a liar,
it's feeding you bullshit,
here are the good guys, here are the bad guys.
 

• 1. that alludes to the occupation of France during WWII. Radio Paris had been turned into a propaganda mouthpiece by the Germans, so the Free French broadcasted on the BBC the derisive jingle 'Radio Paris ment, Radio Paris ment, Radio Paris est allemand' (Radio Paris is a liar, Radio Paris is a liar, Radio Paris is German).
  Here 'Radio Paris' stands for current (French) mainstream medias
• 2. I'm not quite sure I understand what he means there, but I suppose the idea is that the mainstream medias won't relay left-wing opinions unless some serious crisis happens
• 3. 'liberté chérie' alludes to a line of the French national anthem that goes 'liberté, liberté chérie, combats avec tes défenseurs' (O freedom, beloved freedom, fight side by side with your champions)
• 4. 'Plastic Bertrand' was a pop star of the 80's, and 'en plastique' can mean 'junk', 'rubbish', 'phoney'
• 5. 'salade' literaly means 'lettuce' or 'salad'

Do whatever you want with my translations. I'm not rich enough to sue you anyway.

Remember you and remember me

In a station concourse, sh'es the one staying, I'm leaving.
Just a brief last glance,
and with our backs turned we widen the gap.
 
Lost in the echoes of trains,
the suitcase wheels, the distant shouts,
the tearing noises of the brakes.
 
And yet, once upon so many times1,
we were a bit of me, a bit of you,
we were on the same side,
the whole referring to the half.
'No, don't turn around'
the voice inside me keeps saying,
but it adds in a whisper:
'Everything, everything that matters is behind you'.
 
The house of cards just collapsed,
starting with the king and the queen of hearts,
I had drenched so many pillows with tears.
 
I saw love wearing out day after day,
lost in fragments of you,
but still working on the puzzle till the very end.
 
Remember you and remember me2
we were a bit of me, a bit of you,
we were on the same side,
the whole referring to the half.
'No, don't turn around'
the voice inside me keeps saying,
but it adds in a whisper:
'Everything, everything that matters is behind you'.
 
Remember you and remember me,
we were a bit of me, a bit of you,
we were on the same side,
the whole referring to the half.
'No, don't turn around'
the voice inside me keeps saying,
but it adds in a whisper:
'Everything, everything that matters is behind you'.
 

• 1. based on the fairytale conventional opening 'il était une fois...' (once upon a time...)
• 2. 'se souvenir' is pronominal in French and thus does not accept other direct complements, so 'souviens-moi' is technically incorrect, but it gives an impression of symmetry. I tried to render it with a similar slightly odd English

Do whatever you want with my translations. I'm not rich enough to sue you anyway.

What is the angler thinking?

An old angler on the shore
of a lake complete with meaningful swans1,
in the blue shadow outlined by the sun.
His sharply measured moves,
under his rower hat,
he looks somewhat pensive, somewhat sullen,
[like] a one-branched tree
[fit for] a kingfisher2.
 
Who can tell what the angler is thinking, in his contemplative daydream,
as he fishes clouds that swim on the landscape, his back turned to the strollers' world?
 
The angler, a painter without a picture,
his rod is his very long paintbrush,
with a sharp throw he blends reflections on the water.
Surrounded by aquatic creatures,
under the sunshade with its cylindrical shadow,
he's reading a few magic formulas.
An angler grew on the shore,
a one-branched tree,
for a kingfisher.
 
Who can tell what the angler is thinking, in his contemplative daydream,
as he fishes clouds that swim on the landscape, his back turned to the strollers' world?
 
Motionless, facing the flow of water,
the hand ran fast, facing the flow of time3,
he's absorbed in the reel of ideas he unwinds.
Bracing himself, he works his whip,
[like the] coachman of a submersed carriage
that races the ocean to soar away.
An angler grew on the shore,
a one-branched tree,
for a kingfisher.
 
Who can tell what the angler is thinking, in his contemplative daydream,
as he fishes clouds that swim on the landscape, his back turned to the strollers' world?
 

• 1. either a transcription error or a pun on 'signe'(symbol) and 'sygne'(swan)
• 2. the French name of the bird rather evokes a peasant than a king
• 3. this line is pretty weird. I just interpreted it as the hand of a clock running ahead of the flow of time

Do whatever you want with my translations. I'm not rich enough to sue you anyway.

Thank you for loving me

You loved me like no time before.
You always loved me, so far and so close.
Men don't know how to love.
I had better admit that, the women must teach them.
 
When it's the same,
it's not worth the pain.
I am on the train.
Thank you for loving me.
Thank you for loving me.
 
The stability of your emotions,
despite all this mad world, defies time.
In your eyes, I am very special.
I am so predictable and lame, in my bad horse costume.
 
When it's the same, (as it always is)
it's not worth the pain. (It's not worth trying and I shall thank you.)
I am on the train (and soon leaving, thank you for loving me.)
Thank you for loving me. (Thank you for loving me.)
Thank you for loving me.
 
When it's the same, (as it always is)
it's not worth the pain. (It's not worth trying and I shall thank you.)
I am on the train (and soon leaving, thank you for loving me.)
Thank you for loving me. (Thank you for loving me.)
Thank you for loving me.
 
When it's the same, (as it always is)
it's not worth the pain. (It's not worth trying and I shall thank you.)
I am on the train (and soon leaving, thank you for loving me.)
Thank you for loving me. (Thank you for loving me.)
Thank you for loving me.
 
Οι μεταφράσεις μου μέχρι ένα εφικτό σημείο είναι δικές μου. Δέχομαι βελτιώσεις μόνο αν θεωρώ ότι κάποια μετάφρασή μου έχει παράδοθεί ελλιπής ή εντελώς εσφαλμένη.
My translations are mine up to a considerable extent. I accept improvements only if I consider that any translation of mine has been delivered inaccurate or completely wrong.