Fancy for a minute of music? Or ten minutes?
Some time ago I posted this song and I thought it a one-time affair, but translating is fun, and when I have it done already, why not to post it? OK, just the first reasonable reason for not-posting - cause it's an abomination, not a translation. I'm pretty sure that I murder English here, so let's say I'll just impudently post it anyway and if you find here anything begging for a correction, don't suffer in silence but tell me about it, we have a deal? I'll be happy getting any your thoughts, not only about the translation.
Here are two songs I like. They were quite hits in their time and still can be considered evergreens. Both were written around 1971. The singer's name is Krzysztof Klenczon, he was also their music's author. He's here with his band Trzy Korony (Three Crowns). That strange language you hear is Polish (no, not these screeching parts, that's guitars ;) and below the clips you'll find links to the original lyrics and my tries of translation. I kept the meaning as close as possible, but didn't even try to keep the rhythm and rhymes (that is, with the exception of the second song's refrain, which I managed to rhyme by a some miracle *cough*andapureaccident*cough*). Oh, and just in case! I'm not the author of these videos.
Original lyrics
Port
Port is a poetry of rum and cognac.
Port is a poetry of tender wives' caresses.
Imagination walks here with an arm in a sling.
For globetrotters port is a good home.
Hey, Johnny Walker, for homeless it's a home.
Hey, Johnny Walker, for homeless it's a home.
Port is meetings of friends who years ago
believed in the miraculous shape of the Earth.
For silly dreams one takes a thrashing here.
Who could know that the world is so small.
Hey, Johnny Walker, the world is so small.
Hey, Johnny Walker, the world is so small.
Port is prays of old captains,
who yearn to set out for one more voyage.
Old sailships die here on the banishment,
tattered with the wind up to wood of spars.
Hey, Johnny Walker, up to wood of spars.
Hey, Johnny Walker, up to wood of spars.
Original lyrics
Ten on the Beaufort scale
The west wind was rolling us,
the shore left somewhere behind the stern.
And suddenly someone turned pale like a paper sheet,
"A storm's going on, Mr. Bosun!"
And the Bosun only buttoned up his coat
and cursed "Eh, the hell.
No chances for the boat.
Ten on the Beaufort scale!"
The downpour fell suddenly
of the cloudy leaden curtain.
We were being thrown up and down
and a wave washed the sails off.
And the Bosun only buttoned up his coat
and cursed "Eh, the hell.
No chances for the boat.
Ten on the Beaufort scale!"
The rain hit at the deck again
and it was falling till the morning.
It was a devilishly hard cruise
especially for the Bosun.
And the Bosun only buttoned up his coat
and cursed "Eh, the hell.
Amazing dreams come sometimes.
Ten on the Beaufort scale!"
And here's also a version a capella, by a shanty band named The Pioruners. And no, you won't get just the same if you've heard already Klenczon's original record. It's really wortwhile to compare both. ;) A tiny curiosity here, in the first lines there is a word changed, ląd (land) put instead of the original brzeg (shore), most probably cause without guitars, in a capella, the original juxtaposition g-g --> brzeg gdzieś (shore somewhere) would be too much grating on ear. There are also changes in the Bosun's curses, but they would need longer explanations. :) I'll offer them if someone wants.
Here are two songs I like. They were quite hits in their time and still can be considered evergreens. Both were written around 1971. The singer's name is Krzysztof Klenczon, he was also their music's author. He's here with his band Trzy Korony (Three Crowns). That strange language you hear is Polish (no, not these screeching parts, that's guitars ;) and below the clips you'll find links to the original lyrics and my tries of translation. I kept the meaning as close as possible, but didn't even try to keep the rhythm and rhymes (that is, with the exception of the second song's refrain, which I managed to rhyme by a some miracle *cough*andapureaccident*cough*). Oh, and just in case! I'm not the author of these videos.
Click to viewOriginal lyrics
Port
Port is a poetry of rum and cognac.
Port is a poetry of tender wives' caresses.
Imagination walks here with an arm in a sling.
For globetrotters port is a good home.
Hey, Johnny Walker, for homeless it's a home.
Hey, Johnny Walker, for homeless it's a home.
Port is meetings of friends who years ago
believed in the miraculous shape of the Earth.
For silly dreams one takes a thrashing here.
Who could know that the world is so small.
Hey, Johnny Walker, the world is so small.
Hey, Johnny Walker, the world is so small.
Port is prays of old captains,
who yearn to set out for one more voyage.
Old sailships die here on the banishment,
tattered with the wind up to wood of spars.
Hey, Johnny Walker, up to wood of spars.
Hey, Johnny Walker, up to wood of spars.
Original lyrics
Ten on the Beaufort scale
The west wind was rolling us,
the shore left somewhere behind the stern.
And suddenly someone turned pale like a paper sheet,
"A storm's going on, Mr. Bosun!"
And the Bosun only buttoned up his coat
and cursed "Eh, the hell.
No chances for the boat.
Ten on the Beaufort scale!"
The downpour fell suddenly
of the cloudy leaden curtain.
We were being thrown up and down
and a wave washed the sails off.
And the Bosun only buttoned up his coat
and cursed "Eh, the hell.
No chances for the boat.
Ten on the Beaufort scale!"
The rain hit at the deck again
and it was falling till the morning.
It was a devilishly hard cruise
especially for the Bosun.
And the Bosun only buttoned up his coat
and cursed "Eh, the hell.
Amazing dreams come sometimes.
Ten on the Beaufort scale!"
And here's also a version a capella, by a shanty band named The Pioruners. And no, you won't get just the same if you've heard already Klenczon's original record. It's really wortwhile to compare both. ;) A tiny curiosity here, in the first lines there is a word changed, ląd (land) put instead of the original brzeg (shore), most probably cause without guitars, in a capella, the original juxtaposition g-g --> brzeg gdzieś (shore somewhere) would be too much grating on ear. There are also changes in the Bosun's curses, but they would need longer explanations. :) I'll offer them if someone wants.