Νύχτα στο Ελληνικό

[Geske 37]

It didn't get into the cd, but remember this in Zygos?

ΝΎΧΤΑ ΣΤΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΌ | | ΝIGHT AT THE ELLINIKO *

Μουσική: Μιχάλης Χριστοδουλίδης | | Music: Michalis Christodoulidis

Στίχοι: Μιχάλης Γκανάς | | Lyrics: Michalis Ganas

Η νύχτα θέλει να πετάξει | | The night wants to be flying

αλλά της λείπουν τα φτερά | | but her wings fail her.

η λύπη μου κάνει νερά | | My pain is leaking

και πλημμυρίζει το αμάξι | | and it floods the car.

Τα φώτα μου αναβοσβήνω | | I flash my headlights on and off

κι η πόλη τόσο δοτική | | and the city is so docile

σαν ρήμα στην παθητική | | like a verb in the passive

που δε θα μάθω να το κλίνω | | that I will not learn to conjugate.

Η νύχτα θέλει να πετάξει | | The night wants to be flying

και μπαίνω στο Ελληνικό | | and I go into the Elliniko

μ' ένα προαίσθημα κακό | | with a bad premonition

σαν τον αδιάβαστο ** στην τάξη | | like an unprepared [student] into the classroom

Αφίξεις και αναχωρήσεις | | Departures and arrivals,

και φώτα εκτυφλωτικά | | and blinding lights:

εδώ μαθαίνεις μυστικά | | Here you learn secrets

που δεν τα λένε στις ειδήσεις | | that the news does not mention.

Ο κόσμος πίνει και καπνίζει | | Everyone is smoking and drinking

στην αίθουσα αναμονής | | in the waiting room

κι είμαι στο πλήθος ο κανείς | | and I am, in the crowd, just the anyone

που τ' όνομά του το κερδίζει | | who deserves his name.

Καφές ζεστός και άσος σκέτος | | Hot coffee and a straight ace,

δύο η ώρα της νυχτός | | two hours into the night

είμαι σε όλα ανοιχτός | | I am open to anything

κι απογειώνομαι καθέτως | | even a vertical take-off.

Ραντάρ κανένα δε με πιάνει | | On the radar no one catches me

στην πτήση μου τη μαγική | | in my magical flight

γράφω στης νύχτας το χαρτί | | I write on the paper*** of the night

με συμπαθητική μελάνη | | with invisible ink.

Αφίξεις και αναχωρήσεις | | Departures and arrivals,

και φώτα εκτυφλωτικά | | and blinding lights:

εδώ μαθαίνεις μυστικά | | Here you learn secrets

που δεν τα λένε στις ειδήσεις. | | that the news does not mention.

* Athens' old airport

** means "unread, unlearned", but also, by my dictionnary: "of a dead person: "without funeral rites" ". How macabre!

*** also means "card" as in "postcard", as well as "map".

[Pikerni 0]

Thank you Geeske. I have loved this song for so long. Your translation is much better than the one I have. A gift. :lol:

[Geske 37]

You'd have the one in the booklet of 'The Running Roads'?

They are, I'm afraid, not very good translations.

"Τα φαντάσματα", which I posted yesterday, was simply not understood by the translator (can't blame them, it took Christo and me a good deal of time and discussion to make sense of it). I've also done Ο παλιος στρατιώτης, where there were some small, but important, shifts in meaning.

I hope to get Η άσφαλτος... complete and posted as print-it-yourself before the year is out, but it will depend not just on me, but also on how much time my faithful proofreaders have.

[Herbert 0]

Geeske,

ΝΥΧΤΑ ΣΤΟ ΕΛΛΙΝΙΚΟ - untranslatable the title, you gave it the subtitle: vol de nuit . So I did - for my own - before in German: Nachtflug.

The song and its rhythm to hear - wonderful, but the lyrics continue to be curious for me. Should this be the thoughts of a pilote approaching to an greec airport ?

Herbert

[Geske 37]

A pilot? No, a visitor to the airport, hanging around watching others travel. He has a troubled mind and no wings on his own, and is looking for distractions...

The title is translatable: "Elliniko" is a proper name (Eigenname), the name of the airport. And the song tells of a night spent there.

"Vol de Nuit" was not meant litteraly at all. It just occured to me because I was thinking of the guy who wrote the French book with that title, Antoine de Saint-Exupery . I disliked his books last time I tried - so, why was he in my mind? Because his most famous work, Le petit prince, inspired another song that Dalaras sings, Ο πριγκιπας.

[nikolas 86]

The night wants to be flying --> The night wants to fly

but her wings fail her --> but she lacks wings (or she doesn't have wings)

My pain is leaking (from η λύπη μου κάνει νερά). This is a metaphorical expression in Greek. We say that somebody κάνει νερά when he doesn't actually do what he is supposed or has promised to do.

docile: Δοτική is dativ. As an adjective (and not in grammar), it means someone who gives a lot. Here I guess it is used as an adjective, making a wordplay.

and I am, in the crowd, just the anyone --> and I am, in the crowd, the nobody (ποιητική αδεία)

who deserves his name. --> very freely, I would say: who must fight to have a name

Καφές ζεστός και άσος σκέτος | | Hot coffee and a straight ace,

Although I have never smoked, I know that ’σος is a brand of cigarettes, and σκέτος is probably the one with no filter.

two hours into the night --> at two o'clock in the night

even a vertical take-off. --> and I take off vertically

On the radar no one catches me --> No radar can catch me

*also the region there, not just the airport.

** this comes from the use of the verb 'διαβάζω' which means read. In religious things, they read wishes, in funerals, weddings, baptisms etc. So, in this context, it means that this person didn't take the wishes of church. But in the song of course, it means what you wrote.

*** χαρτί means just paper, neither card nor map. Χάρτης is a map, κάρτα is a card...

I hope this helps...

[Geske 37]

And he asks if it helps!! Hey, where did I learn the snatches of Greek I know, if not with this kind of help?

I've reworked the translation and am more convinced than ever that the translations in the Running Roads booklet are very poor work: most of the things you pointed out are things I kept from that translation and didn't re-check. Are good translators so rare in Greece? Or did he just have bad luck? Anyway...

I adopted nearly all the comments, except:

I kept 'her wings fail her' , which is hardly less literal than 'she lacks wings', since there is no exact equivalent for λύπω in English - and I like the expression.

Do you think 'two hours into the night' is not clear enough? Maybe not... Ok, I'll change that too.

Here we go...

ΝΎΧΤΑ ΣΤΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΌ | | ΝIGHT AT THE ELLINIKO *

Μουσική: Μιχάλης Χριστοδουλίδης | | Music: Michalis Christodoulidis

Στίχοι: Μιχάλης Γκανάς | | Lyrics: Michalis Ganas

Η νύχτα θέλει να πετάξει | | The night wants fly

αλλά της λείπουν τα φτερά | | but her wings fail her.

η λύπη μου κάνει νερά ** | | My pain is unreliable

και πλημμυρίζει το αμάξι | | and it floods the car.

Τα φώτα μου αναβοσβήνω | | I flash my headlights on and off

κι η πόλη τόσο δοτική *** | | and the city is in the giving mode,

σαν ρήμα στην παθητική | | like a verb in the passive

που δε θα μάθω να το κλίνω | | that I will not learn to conjugate.

Η νύχτα θέλει να πετάξει | | The night wants to be flying

και μπαίνω στο Ελληνικό | | and I go into the Elliniko

μ' ένα προαίσθημα κακό | | with a bad premonition

σαν τον αδιάβαστο **** στην τάξη | | like an unprepared [student] into the classroom

Αφίξεις και αναχωρήσεις | | Departures and arrivals,

και φώτα εκτυφλωτικά | | and blinding lights:

εδώ μαθαίνεις μυστικά | | Here you learn secrets

που δεν τα λένε στις ειδήσεις | | that the news does not mention.

Ο κόσμος πίνει και καπνίζει | | Everyone is smoking and drinking

στην αίθουσα αναμονής | | in the waiting room

κι είμαι στο πλήθος ο κανείς | | and I am, in the crowd, just the nodoby

που τ' όνομά του το κερδίζει | | who needs to win his name.

Καφές ζεστός και ’σος***** σκέτος | | Hot coffee and an Asos without filter,

δύο η ώρα της νυχτός | | two o'clock in the morning

είμαι σε όλα ανοιχτός | | I am open to anything

κι απογειώνομαι καθέτως | | and take off vertically.

Ραντάρ κανένα δε με πιάνει | | No radar catches me

στην πτήση μου τη μαγική | | in my magical flight

γράφω στης νύχτας το χαρτί | | I write on the paper of the night

με συμπαθητική μελάνη | | with invisible ink.

Αφίξεις και αναχωρήσεις | | Departures and arrivals,

και φώτα εκτυφλωτικά | | and blinding lights:

εδώ μαθαίνεις μυστικά | | Here you learn secrets

που δεν τα λένε στις ειδήσεις. | | that the news does not mention.

I've also adapted the footnotes so you can check them (you know what I intend them for, right?)

* Athens' old airport and the surrounding region

** κάνω νερά, a metaphorical expression to describe someone who does not do what they are supposed to.

***Δοτική is the dative case, from the word meaning 'to give'.

**** Αδιάβαστο normally means "unread, unlearned", as here. Curiosity: it also means, speaking of a dead person "without the funeral rites [having been read]". Macabre

***** ’σος, the Ace, a Greek brand of cigarettes.

Oh, and ποιητική άδεια is called 'poetical license' in English.

[nikolas 86]

Geeske, maybe it was not a Greek translator, who knows. The point is, no matter who (s)he is, does anybody check them afterwards? Because if those were mistakes of a professional, then I think nobody checks!

Anyway. I changed the bit about the wings because this way, I unedrstand that he has wings but they don't work. That is why I prefer he lacks or is missing wings.

Two hours in the night seems as a duration of two hours. The songs means at two o'clock. Otherwise it would say 2 ώρες μέσα στη νύχτα. If, though, you meant that we have been for two hours in the night, which might mean it is 2 o'clock, maybe it is not very clear and then, when does the night actually start?

* maybe someone knows more, but I think that the airport took the name after the region.

** just to make it moreclear, it can be something and not only somebody. For example I buy a new computer and sometimes it crashes. Then, my computer κάνει νερά.

*** When I said wordplay, it was because he used the word literally when it is a grammar term, and the it was followed by another expression containing grammar terms.

****it doesn't have to be the funeral rites. For example, orthodox people must be baptised, otherwise it is a pity if they die. If though a newly born baby dies and they don't manage to baptise it, then it was αδιάβαστο. (because it wasn't baptised)

***** the favorites of my grandfather

[christos-regnis 57]

* maybe someone knows more, but I think that the airport took the name after the region.

Yes.. the name "Elliniko" or "Hellinikon" is the name of the nearby region (it is one of the munipacilities of South Athens) and gave its name to the airport since the 50's..

Of course the song refers not to the region but to airport only..

It is very common for an airport to take its name by the neighbouring area like Heathrow, Gatwick, in London or Orly in Paris.. etc....

***** the favorites of my grandfather

my grandfather also smoked them until the doctor forbade him from doing that..

[Tsinavo 0]

I don't know why, but I think the title of this song is really magic.

[christos-regnis 57]

I don't know why, but I think the title of this song is really magic.

I don't know for you and maybe it sounds a bit strange but I love being in airports (even if I am there not for a trip but just for spotting :blink: .. and especially during nights just some hours before the dawn.. (my favorite time ! ).. so I think this song suits me perfectly ..

I think that all of us can find a song that is near our personal life or habbits in Dalara's discography ..

[Anna 752]

I don't know for you and maybe it sounds a bit strange

but maybe the title is the 'goodbuy 'to the old beloved airport!!

[christos-regnis 57]

but maybe the title is the 'goodbuy 'to the old beloved airport!!

Oh !! Yees Anna ! Really beloved airport.. The new airport may be much more modern, clean and spacious but it is faceless and cold ..

In addition, I am very angry reading that they are going to demolish it in order to transform the whole airport area into a giant park (?! maybe some of the land become building plots finally ..). It will be a global novelty (πρωτοτυπία!!) to ruin an airport (with a value of millions) in order to make a park.. .. They can very easily maintain a part of the old airport and convert some other useless areas into parks..

Sorry for writing all these in this topic and forum but I think that this a major problem that puzzled and angered the people who are occupied with aviation in Greece the last 2-3 years.. and must become more known to the public.. as the government has done nothing..

Let's listen to some music to forget about this .. :blink: :lol:

[Kenan Basar 0]

Nikola,Geeske,

killjoy or wet blanket could be more suitable instead of "unreliable"for κάνει νερά ?

[Geske 37]

κάνει νερά : I finally looked in the right place in the dictionary (under κάνω instead of νερό) and found "to let somebody down, to get cold feet" - the last, especially, is a charming English idiom... I like the 'wet blanket' very much, too, if only in connection with the 'flood' in the next line!

so:

η λύπη μου κάνει νερά ** | | My pain gets cold feet

και πλημμυρίζει το αμάξι | | and it floods the car.

or

η λύπη μου κάνει νερά ** | | My pain feels like a wet blanket

και πλημμυρίζει το αμάξι | | and it floods the car.

??