Posted October 16, 2002 · Report post Warning: if you are looking for a translation of the lyrics of this song, please go to the bottom of the page to find something more correct than the beginner's effort in this post... Geske, 1-10-2006 ΑΝΑΦΟΡΕΣ | QUOTATIONS Μουσική: Χρήστος Γκάρτζος | Music: Christos Gartzos Στίχοι: Κώστας Κινδύνης | Lyrics: Kostas Kindynis Χρόνια η αναζήτηση τ' όνομά σου γράφει | For years, the quest, your name, has been written: να σε βρω δε σ' ήβρα πουθενά | I had to find you, I didn't find you anywhere. και Ιθάκη μου 'γινες τώρα του Καβάφη | And you became my Ithaki, Kavvafis' [ithaki], μακρινό ταξίδι στη φωτιά | a far journey into the light. Τι κουράγιο αύριο η μέρα θα μου φέρει | What luck, tomorrow, will the day bring to me? που 'φυγες και πώς να κρατηθώ | Where did you go and how can I hold you? και 'γινα ναυάγιο κίχλη του Σεφέρη | And I was shipwrecked, Seferis' thrush, μέσα στης ζωής μου το βυθό | in the middle of the sea floor of my life. Μα την ώρα που ένιωσα πέτρινο σπουργίτι | But at the point when I felt [myself to be] a sparrow made of stone γύρεψε η ζωή μου να πιαστεί | my life turned round so I could catch it. χτύπησαν την πόρτα μου στίχοι του Ελύτη | At my door came knocking words of Elytis μέσα από το ’ξιον Εστί | from the middle of the Aksion Esti. Κι αν σου μιλώ μ' αναφορές | And if I talk to you in quotations, είναι γιατί οι ποιητές για έρωτα μιλάνε | that is because the poets speak of love. κι αν πικραθήκαμε μην κλαις | Even if we suffer bitterness, don't cry, μέσα από τόσες συμφορές μάθαμε ν' αγαπάμε | from among so many disasters, we learn how to love. From Απονα μάτια. I've wanted to do this one for a long time, the radio reminded me just now Well! Double surprise. It was harder than expected. And then - but I think some people here may know me well enough to see how the song applies to me, very personally. Funny! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 16, 2002 · Report post Very nice Geeske, both the song and of course the translation. Some comments: I think that the first line should end like 'writing' for syntax reasons Maybe we could say 'and you became my Ithaki, like Kavafis'' or something like that Should luck be courage? Anyway, I don't think luck fits because the meaning is not like this. The 'που' is not 'where' but it means 'that'. Also, it is not 'how can I hold you' but 'how can I count on something'. In order to connect it with the previous line, we could say 'since (or as) you left me and how can I go on κίχλη, despite its meaning as a word, here is a name, the name of a ship that was the subject of a poem of Seferis named Το ναυάγιο της Κίχλης. γύρεψε comes from the verb γυρεύω which means look for, search. It is not from γυρίζω which means turn, come back. So this line should be changed accordingly (even the rest of it needs a bit changing I think) As ’ξιον Εστί is a work of poetry, the phrase 'from the middle' seems inappropriate. That is for now... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 16, 2002 · Report post Here goes for the corrections. I've adopted your suggestions, mostly. For the first line, I took you to mean that the verb ought to be in the present tense - it's hard to put all the shades of meaning of Greek verbs into English, but I did my best with the available tenses. "Like Kavvafis' Ithaki" is not necessary, the meaning of the phrase (both in Greek and in English, I think) is: "you became my Ithaki, you became Kavvafis' Ithaki for me". The same for the Thrush. I know both Ithaki and Aksion esti (I kept Aksion Esti so long that the library made me pay a huge 'overdue' fine ) So I'd guessed the Thrush must be a poem too, but not knowing it, it was a bit hard to make sense of the lines. On consideration, I didn't like the "from the middle" either - I'm not quite happy with this either, but it'll have to do. ΑΝΑΦΟΡΕΣ | QUOTATIONS Μουσική: Χρήστος Γκάρτζος | Music: Christos Gartzos Στίχοι: Κώστας Κινδύνης | Lyrics: Kostas Kindynis Χρόνια η αναζήτηση τ' όνομά σου γράφει | For years, the quest, your name, is being written: να σε βρω δε σ' ήβρα πουθενά | I needed to find you, I haven't found you anywhere. και Ιθάκη μου 'γινες τώρα του Καβάφη | and you became Ithaki for me, Kavvafis' [ithaki] *, μακρινό ταξίδι στη φωτιά | a far journey into the light. Τι κουράγιο αύριο η μέρα θα μου φέρει | What kind of courage, tomorrow, will the day bring to me? που 'φυγες και πώς να κρατηθώ | You who went away, what can I hold onto? και 'γινα ναυάγιο Κίχλη του Σεφέρη | And I foundered, a shipwreck, Seferis' Thrush *, μέσα στης ζωής μου το βυθό | in the middle of the deep sea of my life. Μα την ώρα που ένιωσα πέτρινο σπουργίτι | But at the time when I felt [myself to be] a sparrow made of stone, γύρεψε η ζωή μου να πιαστεί | my life wanted something to hang on to, χτύπησαν την πόρτα μου στίχοι του Ελύτη | at my door came knocking words of Elytis μέσα από το ’ξιον Εστί | coming out of the Aksion Esti *. Κι αν σου μιλώ μ' αναφορές | And if I talk to you in quotations, είναι γιατί οι ποιητές για έρωτα μιλάνε | that is because the poets speak of love. κι αν πικραθήκαμε μην κλαις | Even if we suffer bitterness, don't cry, μέσα από τόσες συμφορές μάθαμε ν' αγαπάμε | from among so many disasters, we learn how to love. * All titles of xtremely famous works of Greek poetry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2002 · Report post I like it much more now. About the first line, I thought you wanted to say that the quest had been writing his/her name, that is what the greek says, I didn't know you were assigning it to the name and not to the quest. Also, I really believe that names should not be translates. Nobody will undestand this Thrush thing. Maybe we should leave it Κιχλη. By the way, how would you call me in English? Winner of People? (Νικό -> Νίκη = victory and -λαος = people...) Anyway, since I really am in the mood for going deep into grammar and syntax now, 'να σε βρω' is a simple past tense of the subjunctive mood, so the translation there should be 'Ι had to find you...etc' Detail...but I wanted to say it... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2002 · Report post Nikolas, the more grammar you feed me, the better I'll be pleased . So, thanks for the subjunctive. I amended it in the post (lazy me). I agree about the Κίχλη (btw it lost its capital Κ in the site, which confused me a bit when I started the translation). Since I have the other two, I thought I'd look up Seferis' poem too, maybe see if there are any English translations to be had, and then make a footnote about each of the poems to clarify the references. So I left the "Thrush" as is, more or less temporarily. Your name is hard to translate into English, because there are no proper, exact words for either part. We run into trouble with λάος every time it turns up in a song... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 1, 2006 · Report post Thanks to Annette for reminding me to look up this song and overhaul the old translation - it's all wrong so I've done it over. ΑΝΑΦΟΡΕΣ_____||_____ QUOTATIONS Μουσική: Χρήστος Γκάρτζος_____||_____ Music: Christos Gartzos Στίχοι: Κώστας Κινδύνης_____||_____ Lyrics: Kostas Kindynis Χρόνια η αναζήτηση τ' όνομά σου γράφει_____||_____ For years, the search writes your name: να σε βρω δε σ' ήβρα πουθενά_____||_____ I had to find you, I didn't find you anywhere. και Ιθάκη μου 'γινες τώρα του Καβάφη_____||_____ And you became for me Kavvafis' Ithaki *, μακρινό ταξίδι στη φωτιά_____||_____ a far journey into the fire. Τι κουράγιο αύριο η μέρα θα μου φέρει_____||_____ What courage will the day bring me tomorrow? πού 'φυγες και πώς να κρατηθώ_____||_____ where did you go and how do hang on? και 'γινα ναυάγιο Κίχλη του Σεφέρη_____||_____ And I foundered, a shipwreck, Seferis' «Kichli» *, μέσα στης ζωής μου το βυθό_____||_____ in the depths of my life. Μα την ώρα που ένιωσα πέτρινο σπουργίτι_____||_____ But just when I felt like a stone sparrow, γύρεψε η ζωή μου να πιαστεί_____||_____ my life looked around for something to hold on to. χτύπησαν την πόρτα μου στίχοι του Ελύτη_____||_____ Verses by Elytis knocked at my door μέσα από το ’ξιον Εστί_____||_____ coming out of the Aksion Esti *. Κι αν σου μιλώ μ' αναφορές_____||_____ And if I talk to you in quotations, είναι γιατί οι ποιητές για έρωτα μιλάνε_____||_____ that is because the poets speak of love. κι αν πικραθήκαμε μην κλαις_____||_____ Even if we suffer bitterness, don't cry, μέσα από τόσες συμφορές μάθαμε ν' αγαπάμε_____||_____ from among so many disasters, we learn how to love. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
