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 | Words of gold - 2434 Αναγνώσεις   | | | |       |  |
Στίχοι: Μάνος Ελευθερίου
Μουσική: Γιάννης Μαρκόπουλος
Πρώτη εκτέλεση: Χαράλαμπος Γαργανουράκης & Λάκης Χαλκιάς & Τάνια Τσανακλίδου
Άλλες ερμηνείες:
Βασίλης Παπακωνσταντίνου & Δημήτρης Υφαντής & Λιζέττα Καλημέρη
Μαλαματένια λόγια στο μαντήλι
τα βρήκα στο σεργιάνι μου προχθές
τ’ αλφαβητάρι πάνω στο τριφύλλι
σου μάθαινε το αύριο και το χθες
μα εγώ περνούσα τη στερνή την πύλη
με του καιρού δεμένος τις κλωστές
Τ’ αηδόνια σε χτικιάσανε στην Τροία
που στράγγιξες χαμένα μια γενιά
καλύτερα να σ’ έλεγαν Μαρία
και να `σουν ράφτρα μες στην Κοκκινιά
κι όχι να ζεις μ’ αυτή την κομπανία
και να μην ξέρεις τ’ άστρο του φονιά
Γυρίσανε πολλοί σημαδεμένοι
απ’ του καιρού την άγρια πληρωμή
στο μεσοστράτι τέσσερις ανέμοι
τους πήραν για σεργιάνι μια στιγμή
και βρήκανε τη φλόγα που δεν τρέμει
και το μαράζι δίχως αφορμή
Και σαν τους άλλους χάθηκαν κι εκείνοι
τους βρήκαν να γαβγίζουν στα μισά
κι απ’ το παλιό μαρτύριο να `χει μείνει
ένα σκυλί τη νύχτα που διψά
γυναίκες στη γωνιά μ’ ασετυλίνη
παραμιλούν στην ακροθαλασσιά
Και στ’ ανοιχτά του κόσμου τα καμιόνια
θα ξεφορτώνουν στην Καισαριανή
πώς έγινε με τούτο τον αιώνα
και γύρισε καπάκι η ζωή
πώς το `φεραν η μοίρα και τα χρόνια
να μην ακούσεις έναν ποιητή
Του κόσμου ποιος το λύνει το κουβάρι
ποιος είναι καπετάνιος στα βουνά
ποιος δίνει την αγάπη και τη χάρη
και στις μυρτιές του Άδη σεργιανά
μαλαματένια λόγια στο χορτάρι
ποιος βρίσκει για την άλλη τη γενιά
Με δέσαν στα στενά και στους κανόνες
και ξημερώνοντας Παρασκευή
τοξότες φάλαγγες και λεγεώνες
με πήραν και με βάλαν σε κλουβί
και στα υπόγεια ζάρια τους αιώνες
παιχνίδι παίζουν οι αργυραμοιβοί
Ζητούσα τα μεγάλα τα κυνήγια
κι όπως δεν ήμουν μάγκας και νταής
περνούσα τα δικά σου δικαστήρια
αφού στον Άδη μέσα θα με βρεις
να με δικάσεις πάλι με μαρτύρια
και σαν κακούργο να με τιμωρείς
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Lyrics: Manos Eleftheriou
Music: Yiannis Markopoulos
First version: Haralabos Yaryanourakis & Lakis Halkias & Tania Tsanaklidou
Other versions:
Vasilis Papakonstadinou & Dimitris Yfadis & Lizetta Kalimeri
Words of gold on the kerchief *
I found them when I was out walking day before yesterday
Tomorrow and yesterday were teaching you *
the alphabet out on the clover
But I was passing through the ultimate gate
tied up in time's yarns
The nightingales gave you no rest in Troy
where you bled dry a whole generation for nothing
It would have been better if your name had been Maria
and you had been a seamstress in Kokkinia
and not living with this company
not knowing the murderer's star *.
Many came back scarred
by the savage payment of time.
In between, on the way, four winds
took them for a walk for a while
and they found the light that does not tremble
and the sadness that has no cause.
And like the others, these too were lost,
they were found half-way, barking like dogs,
and from the old sufferings, nothing is left
but a dog thirsting in the night.
Women at the corner, by light of the acetylene,
are talking, not making sense, on the shore of the sea.
And on the open seas of the world there are the trucks
they will be unloaded in Kaisariani.
What happened to this century
that turned life over on its back like a turtle
How did fate and the years do it
you heard not one poet.
Who looses the worlds tangle?
Who is the captain in the mountains?
Who gives love and joy
and goes for a walk among the myrtles of Hades?
Words of gold in fields of grass,
who will find them for the next generation?
They bound me to the straights * and the canons
and at the dawn of one bad day,
archers, phalanxes and legions
took me and put me in a cage,
and in the dungeons, with the centuries as dice,
the money-lenders are playing their games.
I was looking for the great hunting,
and yet I was no mangas, no tough guy.
I passed by your own tribunals.
When you find me in Hades
you may judge me again, before witnesses,
and punish me like a criminal.
| | | | * "Words of gold upon...": the Greek has «στο μαντίλι», which can mean "on the handkerchief (or headscarf)" if referring to embroidery, but equally "in the handkerchief" if referring to something knotted into it, and in fact this might very well be the case, if one takes the verse to refer to the custom of tying the (gold) coins for the bride-price into a handkerchief when going to ask for her hand. I honestly have no idea whether Eleftheriou had one or the other in mind, or both, or something else altogether.
* Kerchief: «μαντίλι» can be a handkerchief as well as a headscarf, like the English word "kerchief", which is from the French "couvre-chef", head-covering, and admittedly _very_ archaic - but then, considering Eleftheriou's vocabulary, it serves him right.
* teaching you the alphabet: exceptionally, I haven't translated line-by-line here; it's often difficult, since word order is much more rigid in English than in Greek, but usually I do it anyway, because these translations are primarily subtitles or cribs. But here it would have been too unclear.
* The murderer's star: "star" as in, I think, horoscope, or destiny.
* Straights: again an archaic word, but it exactly translates «στενά», which means a narrow passage, either an alley in a city or (here, I think) a narrow sea passage like the Bosporus or Gibraltar. |  Geeske © 20-02-2006 @ 03:24 |
ystasino
02-06-2007 14:34 | Thanks for this great site:
I do have some issues with this translation as well.
Verse 1
Why "words of gold" and not, "golden words"?
Why "kerchief" and not "handkerchief?"
Why switch lines 3 and 4?
Not sure if it should be "yarns" or "threads" in line 6.
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Verse 2
Why is "??????????" translated as "gave you no rest"? How about "tormented" instead?
"It would have been better if your name had been Maria
and you had been a seamstress in Kokkinia"
should be
"Better had your name been Maria
And had you been a seamstress in Kokkinia"
(this is a poem and a song how many its and woulds do we really need to add?)
----
Verse 3
"In between, on the way, four winds"
should be
"In the intersection (or crossroads) of four winds"
????? is "Flame" and not "light"
?????? is "sorrow" and not "sadness"
----
Verse 4
"are talking, not making sense," should be "murmuring"
----
Verse 5
"words of gold" should be "golden words"
----
Verse 6
And finally in the most important final verse how is one to understand what "mangas" is to mean?
I have retranslated the entire verse as below:
"I was seeking the big hunt
But since I was neither cheeky nor forceful
I had to pass by your tribunal
since you ll find me in the Hades
to try me with torture
and punish me as if I were a felon"
**** I don't understand how the word "????????" can be translated as in before witnesses, I think the translator is taking the tribunal a little too literally.
Thanks,
Yiannis |
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