SAGA DE MIGUEL BOSÉ 2: STJÄRNOR LYSER UPP HORISONTEN

 Esta saga es una serie de traducciones, originalmente manuscritas en mi adolescencia, que se me ocurrieron en Gröna Lund, el parque de atracciones de Estocolmo. Vedlas como una presentación de Miguel Bosé al público sueco.

De här översättningarna var ursprungligen handskrivna i mina tonår och jag kom på dem på Gröna Lund i Stockholm. Se dem som en inledning i Miguel Bosé för svenska folket.

,........................,,.............

STJÄRNOR LYSER UPP HORISONTEN

(Horizonte de las estrellas)

Av Miguel Bosé

Översatt från spanskan av Sandra Dermark

i sina tonår på Gröna Lund

Reviserat den 6 augusti 2023

,,........................,....

Stjärnor lyser upp horisonten,

den där linjen som nästan gör mig galen...

Flera än knektarna vid fronten,

jag förstörde dem ej för kärlekskvalen...

...................

Du är så likblek, som liljan så vit,

strålande, tänker du på någon med flit?

Hur mår du?

Hur mår du?

Hur mår du?

......................

Stjärnor lyser upp horisonten,

lille prinsen nu sover i sin vagga...

Vore jag hans på ödesfronten,

skulle skönhet och lycka bli hans flagga...

,...................

Du är så likblek, som liljan så vit,

varm som en vattenfärg, chère Aphrodite,

Hur mår du?

Hur mår du?

Hur mår du?

.....................

Du är så likblek, som liljan så vit,

säg: vem kan älska dig? vem för dig hit?

Hur mår du?

,.......................

Jag är en evighetstidsresenär,

ingen epok tillhör mig, är mig kär...

Är du kär?

Är du kär?

Är du kär?

................

Stjärnor lyser upp horisonten...

SAGA DE MIGUEL BOSÉ 1: ÄLVA ELLER ÄNGEL?

 Esta saga es una serie de traducciones, originalmente manuscritas en mi adolescencia, que se me ocurrieron en Gröna Lund, el parque de atracciones de Estocolmo. Vedlas como una presentación de Miguel Bosé al público sueco.

De här översättningarna var ursprungligen handskrivna i mina tonår och jag kom på dem på Gröna Lund i Stockholm. Se dem som en inledning i Miguel Bosé för svenska folket.

,........................,,.............

ÄLVA ELLER ÄNGEL?

(Duende)

Av Miguel Bosé

Översatt från spanskan av Sandra Dermark

i sina tonår på Gröna Lund

Reviserat den 6 augusti 2023

,,........................,....

Tabu? Fullmåne? Majestät?

Klysché?

En välkommen och lycklig en au cœur

glacé

..............

De står, ja, de står upp,

ja, de står upp...

De står, de står i givakt

i den andra världen...

,.................

Om hon är en älva, kan-

-ske med fler önskningar hon sig nöjer?

Om hon är en ängel, kan

hon ha fallit ner från himlens höjder?

.................

Hög klack i vinrött, svart och guld

står ut 

I tvetydiga färger, c'est un brave

début

...............

De står, ja, de står upp,

ja, de står upp...

De står, de står i givakt

i den andra världen...

,.................

Om hon är en älva, kan-

-ske med fler önskningar hon sig nöjer?

Om hon är en ängel, kan

hon ha fallit ner från himlens höjder?

..........

Om hon är en älva,

om hon är en älva, åh?

Om hon är en älva,

om hon är en älva, åh?

,.............

Om hon är en älva, kan-

-ske med fler önskningar hon sig nöjer?

Om hon är en ängel, kan

hon ha fallit ner från himlens höjder?

................

Nätter av svårmod och trängtan,

i en evig väntan...

ELIAS BREDSDORFF ON H.C. ANDERSEN

In November 1843, Andersen wrote to Ingemann: "Two new adventures/fairytales (eventyr) are now as good as finished: one of them, Troldespejlet (The Magic Mirror) is not stupid, as I believe. 'Fan' (ie 'Old Nick') invents one day something that makes him very happy; he makes a mirror that has the power that everything beautiful that is reflected therein shrinks to nothingness, but each and every flaw increases and is lifted to the foreground. If a good thought rises in anyone's head, a sickening grin appears on this mirror. Once the whole Earth has reflected itself therein, 'Fan' flies up to the Heavens for the angels to see themselves in that mirror, but then the glass grins more and more as they gradually approach Heaven, so that it trembles and falls out of his hands. Thus the mirror crashes to the ground on Earth and shatters into trillions of shards; everything flies into the eyes of people, who subsequently get more eyes for the weak and flawed than for the remarkable; if a shard lodges in someone's heart, then they become cynics who know how to grin at everything! Now comes the story itself of the adventure, in which we see how this comes to light, and how, only by shedding many tears and looking deep into Nature, the shard of glass is cried out!"
Here, the idea for the premise of The Snow Queen is clearly sketched, but then, that time, it did not yield anything more. On the 5th of December 1844, he writes in his diary: "Writing The Snow Queen." Three days later, he records: "Written The Snow Queen; read it and 'The Christmas Tree' aloud at Fräulein Bülow's. Finished both fairytales." The book Nye Eventyr (New Adventures/Fairytales) containing both these Yuletide stories was released on the 21st of December the same year. To Ingemann he writes in January 1845: "My latest adventure tale, The Snow Queen, has been a pleasure to write down; it imposed itself upon my thoughts so intensely that the words just flowed forth on the paper."

In The Snow Queen there is no clear discerning line between the real world and the supernatural world. The title character herself is at first introduced as the stuff of legends, but she takes human form and spirits Kai away to the realm of cold reason because the glass shard from the demonic mirror has made him apt to live there. In his last moment of fear, before the kiss of the Snow Queen makes him forget everything, he tries to say his prayers or scream for help, but can only remember the nine times table.
Gerda has preserved all the innocence and warmth that Kai has lost, and, even though she can be of course delayed on her quest (by the old lady in the straw hat, by the confusion with the young prince, by the wild and obstinate robber maiden), nothing can stop her from carrying on until she has found him. After the male reindeer has taken her out of the woods (literally and metaphorically), she arrives in the Finmark where she seeks up the wise woman who is so wise that she can tie up all the winds on Earth into a knotted thread and make a potion that will give Gerda the strength of an army. But even that is not enough, as the Finnwoman explains to the reindeer:

"I cannot give her more power than she has already! Don't you see how powerful she is? Don't you see how people and animals have served her, how she has made it on her own two feet walking unscathed through fire and ice across the wide world? We can't tell her what power she harbours in her heart -- it consists of the fact that she is pure and innocent. If she herself cannot reach the Snow Queen's fortress and take out the glass shards from Kai's heart and eyes, we cannot help her either!"

At last Gerda arrives at the Snow Queen's palace, where the walls are made out of swirling snow, and the windowpanes and doors out of ice quenched by the piercing north winds. In the very centre of the endless throne room, before the throne of ice, there is a frozen pool, and there is Kai walking about and carrying some sharp, flat ice pieces, eagerly employed with solving the "Ice Puzzle of Reason," yet unable to arrange the ice shards so that they form a sun with the word ETERNITY written on it. "If you can make this shape and this word, only then you shall be once more your own lord and master of yourself; and I shall give you the whole wide world and a pair of brand new ice skates!" Gerda's tears of joy defrost the lump of ice in Kai's heart and dissolve the little glass shards, and Kai's own tears make the liquified shards to be washed out through his eyes. So great is their elation that even the glass shards dance out of sheer joy and arrange themselves in that very shape, spelling out that very word, that Kai was not able to lay down.
Brorson's carol Den yndigste rose er funden echoes as a leitmotif throughout the whole original novella, whose moral is in these words from the Gospel of Matthew: "Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

In spite of Andersen's undogmatic Lutheran Christianity, there was a dogma that he accepted without reserves: precisely the immortality of the soul. This thought he has succeeded to give such beautiful and genuine expressions in some of his tales, for example The Little Mermaid or The Snow Queen.
His religious conviction can be summed up in that he believed in the existence of a god, in that one had to behave themselves decently, and in the immortality of the soul. This well-known trinity of divinity, virtue, and immortality, which are the pillars of all theological rationalism, were also the foundations of Andersen's personal faith.
He believed as firmly as could be in some kind of higher plan, and he was so convinced that Providence had completely decided plans for him that he often took the name of the LORD in vain. To Jonas Collin he wrote on the 2nd of October 1825 that he thought "'tis really a pity that the LORD has made me so bad when it comes to learning Latin." And, when he felt himself overwhelmed with elation, he felt a desire to "press the LORD to my heart."
Andersen's religion was primitive and undogmatic; he regarded Jesus Christ as a role model that people were supposed to learn from and do their best to fashion themselves after, and he regarded Nature as the greatest and most spacious of churches. He went himself rarely to church to hear the service. One of the passages that were nearest to his heart was: "Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." That is the original message of The Snow Queen.
Once when Andersen was living at Holsteinborg, he read two of his tales aloud to a dying Frøken Borup, and, when he took his leave of her, he said "See you later." "Yes, up there," she replied. "Maybe," said the author, "and, if you reach that place before me, send my regards to my friends; I have many up there."

The Fairytale Author

H.C. Andersen was a creative artist, and his strength lies to a far higher degree in the original literary tale than in the retelling of old magic tales from folklore. It is therefore a fallacy to compare him to the Grimm brothers or to Asbjørnsen and Moe, something that is not unusual outside Scandinavia.
Yet it is equally true that a little number of fairytales, especially some of his very first, are based upon memories of Danish magic tales that he had heard in his childhood. He writes himself about this:

Throughout my childhood, I listened eagerly to adventures (magic tales) and stories, and many of them are still quite alive in my memories; some of them, in my own humble opinion, appear to be Danish from the start, straight from the word of mouth, and I have not found them in any other sources. In my own style have I retold them, allowing myself the licences that I found convenient, and letting fancy refresh the faded colours of the remembered pictures.

This statement concerns the following nine stories: "The Firelighter," "Big Jack and Little Jack," "The Princess and the Pea," The Travelling Companions, The Six Wild Swans, The Garden of Eden, "The Pig-Keeper," "Simple Simon" (AKA "Clod Hans"), and "Hans in Luck." Even into these stories has Andersen put his own personal style.
The greater number of his up to 156 adventures and stories are, however, of his own device. Of those he often wrote these so often quoted words: "they lay in the mind like seeds, and all they needed was a stream, a ray of sun, or a drop of absinthe, and they grew into flowers."
Andersen called his tales eventyr og historier, because he consciously told "adventures/magic tales/fairytales" from "stories;" the criterium being that the former contained supernatural elements, while the latter were completely realistic. Therefore, The Little Mermaid is a fairytale or adventure, while "The Emperor's New Clothes" is a story. But the divisive line is not always so clear, and Andersen himself not always so consequent.

The most unforgettable opening line in the Andersenian corpus is the introduction to The Snow Queen: "All right! Let us begin this story. And when we reach the end we shall know more than we already know, for here's a wicked troll, one of the most evil ones ever!" (The translation used in the Swedish version I translate the Bredsdorff analyses from, a 1980s Swedish version by Bengt Anderberg, renders "trold" as "vidunder")
Of how revolutionary Andersen's subversive, oral style was regarded by his contemporaries, we get an impression upon reading the leading conservative critic of the era, C. Molberg, rant about how the style and spoken form of the magic tale had to be. In 1842, he wrote that the genre had to be "as pure, correct, and cultured as the spirit of the language and its degree of development as the given time of setting requires. Wanting to tell eventyr to children or peasants in one particular style or another, or giving an artificial impression of the peasantry's natural, yet also circumstantial and not always equally successful or clear narrative technique, or in a so-called childish style, can only lead to ruining them in an insipid or incomprehensible fashion. To precisely translate the oral tale into a written medium often implies an incomprehensible and irksome purple prose or laconism; it is the spirit, the national character and completeness of the national stylistic form that have to be preserved; not the flaws and the shapelessness in the narrative style." To sum up in the same critic's words: "There is only one style that has to be used for telling magic tales: the good style or the pure and natural one -- the style that enables all readers, in the right fashion according to their circumstances, to connect to the text as its natural expression."
Even though Andersen is not mentioned by name, there was and is no doubt of whom Molberg is therefore clearly referring to.

In Andersen's fairytales, a queen is naturally not contented with a normal pair of scissors, but owns (like in "The Firelighter") a large pair of golden scissors.
And a fairytale princess does not abide by common social rules. She can perfectly decide to proclaim that she is to marry the one who can speak best for his own cause and not someone who can only stand still and look distinguished -- this occurs in both The Snow Queen and "Simple Simon."

There is a special reason that Andersen still feels so alive to Scandinavian readers, and that is the lack of humour in many translations into English and other languages, that makes foreign adults often unwilling to read his tales.
Even into the most serious sagas there is humour smuggled in secretly. Think only of the two crows -- the wild male and his fiancée, the tame royal pet -- who have the run of the castle grounds and address Gerda in such a cultured and courteous way: "My fiancé has spoken so beautifully about you, Mademoiselle! Your biography, as 'tis called, is quite a moving story, too!" As a reward for helping Gerda, the princess offers the crows the choice to either be free or receive fixed positions as courtiers, with all the leftovers from the kitchen that this entails. "And both crows bowed low and asked for their fixed positions, for they thought of their autumn years and said: 'It would be good indeed to have a nest egg at the end of the day,' in Crowatian." When Gerda resumes her journey in a carriage of pure gold that the princess has offered her on behalf of her quest, she is escorted with company for a while on the road:

The woodland crow, who was newly wedded, tagged along on board for the first three miles. He sat down by her side, for he could not stand riding a carriage backwards; it made him carriage-sick. And his wife stood on the garden gate flapping her wings; she did not tag along because she had a terrible headache, after receiving her fixed position and too much palace fare to eat.

On the way home, when Gerda asks about the fate of the crows, the robber maiden tells the end of their story:

"Yeah, the wild crow is dead! His tame wife is now widowed and walks about with bows of black crêpe tied round her ankles; she laments horribly, but it's all much ado about nothing!"

The Finnwoman, who in Story or Part the Sixth of The Snow Queen says the most decisive and deeply serious things about the power Gerda harbours, is at the same time a comic relief character. When she has received the message that the Sápmi woman has written on a dry salted codfish, and has read this message thrice, "she knew it by heart and dropped the fish into the pot, for it was still edible, and she never let anything go to waste."

Andersen is a master when it comes to what we might as well call humourous platitudes, for instance: "There were a lot of people, and twice as many feet as there were heads." "They travelled by train, in  fourth class, which travels as fast as first class." "The General was born the day after his daughter; naturally, earlier than she was born, decades before." "Three princes danced the waltz with her, which means first one of them, then the second, then the third." "Suddenly two will o'wisps came hopping in, the first one quicker than the second, and that was why that one came first." "'Sixth comes before seventh!' said the elven king, for he knew how to count." When Andersen addresses children in many of his tales, he makes an effort not to use words or expressions that might be difficult to understand. He contrives to write about microscopes without using the term itself. He writes "a young student, who was studying to become a vicar," instead of mentioning any "Theology degree." Whenever he occasionally uses a word that maybe children will not know, he makes an effort to explain the term. He says for example about a performer among his leading characters that "he devoted himself to be able to talk through his belly; that is called ventriloquy."
It happens that he uses French words or expressions in dialogues, and, in such cases, this occurs very consciously, with a lot of purpose:

"Superbe! Charmant!" said the court ladies, for all of them spoke French, each one of them worse than the other.

"Prenez garde aux enfants!" said Mr. Owl. "This is nothing for the owlets to hear!"

Another characteristic trait of Andersen's style is his ability to tie abstract concepts to a concrete reality. When the hero of "The Firelighter" has hefted down the third guard dog (the one with eyes like rose windows) to the ground, the tale explains how much gold there is in the treasure chest in a way that children can easily understand: "There would be enough to buy each and every candy cane in each and every sweetshop, and all the toys in each and every toy shop, in this whole wide world!"
Even in other cases there is concretisation of wealth. In The Six Wild Swans it is told that Eliza's older brothers, a half dozen young princes, "wrote on gold-framed blackboards with diamond chalk," and the elven king "had his crown dusted with chalk dust; it was chalk from university blackboards, and that is not easy to get for elves!"
Instead of only writing that the hero's father in "The Flying Saratoga Trunk" is wealthy, Andersen tells us that "he could as well have paved the whole high street, and almost a pair of little backstreets too, with silver coins." The addition of the little backstreets gives an impression of exactitude when it comes to measuring the extent of his fortune.
We hear in The Snow Queen that Kai is very rational, but we hear so much more than that. He himself tells the Snow Queen that he can "do maths in his head, and even with fractions, as well as the size in square miles of every country in Europe and how many inhabitants each country had."
The character of the messages depends of the narrator. In The Snow Queen, the woodland crow begins his conversation with Gerda: "In this kingdom where we presently now are, there lives a princess who is incredibly bright and well-read; one has to say that she is subscribed to all the newspapers that are published across the known world, and she has read all of them; 'tis true that she is so bright that she forgets what's in the papers as soon as she's read them, so clever is she."
Expressions like "everyone," "all people," or "the whole wide world" were too abstract for Andersen, so he often added something that was more concrete. The best example of this is surely the reward that the Snow Queen has promised Kai if he can arrange the ice puzzle pieces right, so that they form a sun with the word ETERNITY written in its centre: "only then you shall be once more your own lord and master of yourself; and I shall give you the whole wide world and a pair of brand new ice skates!" One such quote explains something crucial about Andersen's genius, since behind this expression there is both a sharp humour and a deep understanding about children's thinking. In 1861, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote to Jonas Collin Jr.:

'Tis completely wrong to call what Andersen is writing "fairytales." Those were his first ones, those little completed thingamies that one could fit inside a nutshell, and that one could pull out again and encompass a world with. In these tales, there also reigns a completely fulfilled form that does not seize anything else but the innermost core of the text. But nowadays, since Andersen, often unfairly, has been repressed from the realms of novel, poetry, drama, and philosophical essay, it was only to let all these suppressed shoots spring up like oaks through a ground of rock elsewhere; now he has, Heaven help me, his drama, his novel, his poetry, and his philosophy all present in the fairytales. That these are no longer magic tales is obvious. It's something Andersenian, and thus it does not fit into any literary categorisation... Now this genre is something that knows no limits, whether upwards, downwards, or sideways; neither in its form, and thus something that only the most ingenious nature is able to control...
But all of this unchainedness, that all the forms and all the worlds --tragedy, comedy, lyrism, epic, analysis, song, sermon, quip, the living, the lifeless-- are fused together as in a paradise, make someone shiver in anticipation of his next works! What kind of secret does he take to, what kind of journey must we undertake, and will we succeed or not?

Many of Andersen's tales are diverse.

Some of Andersen's tales were penned within a few days or even hours, while others took ages to write. In 1845, as we have said before, Andersen wrote to Ingemann that the text of The Snow Queen "danced directly upon the paper." It is a fact, incredible as it might sound, that he began to write The Snow Queen, one of his longest tales, on the 5th of December 1844, and that it was released in storybook format (along with "The Christmas Tree") on the 21st of December the same year. The whole novella was written, sent, printed, bound, and published within the lapse of a fortnight!


PS. The Andersen quotes in this article are my own translations straight from the Danish from the original tales and correspondences by Andersen and his Victorian contemporaries. The translations of the remarks and analyses are also of my own device, but via the Swedish, from Elias Bredsdorff.

WHY (NOT) TO FLIRT WITH LULU AMOUR

Hugtto!Precure, Episode
My Own Review - EPISODE 13
WHY (NOT) TO FLIRT WITH LULU AMOUR

Meet Lulu Amour. The fact that her given name is spelled with those Rs? The usual Asian L/R mixup. At least they got her French surname right!

It doesn’t take long for Lulu to make quite an impression on her classmates; she excels at everything, from literature to tennis.

Lulu utterly defeats in a game of tennis

Lulu seems to be able to master everything she turns her hand to. This results in several of the male students attempting to ask her out. Lulu’s response to that?

Lulu threatens to ‘take them out’

The boys swiftly give up on her after that show of strength.

Lulu made an impact at school as her intellect and physical prowess are at the top condition, acing everything from literature to tennis. She was ever courted by some male students, however since she has no understanding of love, queer or straight (ironic considering her surname) she took it as a challenge (by punching a pillar so hard) and drove her male suitors away.

Say 'allo to her little friend. In fact, Mr. Wright-Hooke is dying to see those guys...

Lulu’s surprise party

However, Lulu doesn’t seem to react well to the surprise party at all. She finds it pointless – not even Harry and Hugtan’s entertainment changes her mind on that.

Dreadpan. Get used to this; it's Lulu Amour's default expression.

(I wanted to write "deadpan" and a key finger of mine stumbled on the R key for some Freudian slip reasons... so the "dreadpan" thing, which fits her like a glove, has stuck)

They hosted a surprise housewarming  - welcome party for Lulu thinking she might have problems adjusting to her new environment. Instead of being surprised, Lulu felt indifferent and could not understand the meaning for the party, in her usual deadpan tone. (Even Hug-tan was left speechless!)

Although it was one scene, Papple was discussing with the Mysterious Man from before how many Future crystals are there and there are Pink, Blue, Yellow, Rose and Navel Orange. Which might indicate that Rose and Navel Orange are the remaining Precures members.

The strange and creepy part was the Mysterious Man was washing his hands very thoroughly like a cleaning disorder (OCD... or Pontius Pilate reference?) and it might play a factor of his behaviour when he appeared onscreen preaching something very significant to the main plot.

Lulu created a theender from a female student suffering... it is not known what caused her to be targeted; the girls went to battle, and they were actually worried about Lulu upon hearing she was in the park during the attack.

The resulting theender is, of course, a Faulty Tower (I had to pop that pun in somewhere...)

Lulu was the one who summoned the theender -  she decided it would be more effective to revert to previous methods in an attempt to learn more about PreCure power.

However, this theender has a trick up its sleeve, and transforms.

Their foe takes on an UFO-like form. Cure Yell ends up clinging to it, but she gets thrown off. Following that, Cure Yell ends up talking to Lulu.

Cure Yell tells Lulu that she wants to be family – they may have differences, but they’ll be able to work them out. When Lulu asks on what basis, the pink Cure gives her a simple one: Hana Nono likes (suki) Lulu.

... which somehow triggered a strange feeling in her body.

Like warmth...

Why are her heart circuits all warm and glowing?

Following that, they take out the theender in the usual way, and find Lulu is safe and sound.

Later that night, Hana sneaks into Lulu’s room and is eager to get to know more about her.

Lulu at the Nonos': just like me as a teen at the Garcés'. Finding time to bond with a foster clan that had happily married parents and siblings.

 After the battle, Lulu expressed her feelings during dinner and everyone was happy about it. 

Although Lulu recorded her findings, she could not really understand why Hana's words had an effect on her but she decided to continue to monitor her as they both felt asleep...

Hana ends up falling asleep pretty quickly, and then Lulu is left wondering what Hana would think if she knew her true identity. She quickly casts that thought aside, and then falls asleep alongside Hana.

That brings this episode to an end, and I think it was a pretty good start for an arc that will be focusing on Lulu. I like Lulu a lot, and this episode just further reinforced that for me.

It seems pretty obvious where this arc is headed. If it gives us more episodes like this one, then I have no problem with that all.
I also wonder if the episode title, ‘The Transfer Student is Fresh & Mysterious’, is a shout-out to Fresh Pretty Cure. I have said before that Lulu reminds a lot of Eas from that particular season.

Although I am still curious about Lulu's real identify is a) a gynoid or cyborg or, b) an enhanced human who has detached all emotions (Ken Ichijoji or Snow Queen style).

So far, both of these theories are plausible. Though... The fact that Lulu's heart is made of silicon and Tron lines appears to support the fembot theory.

But her frank and unintentionally savage comments (Lulu, like Yours Truly or Applejack, is so straightforward that she makes a pretty gauche first impression) made it hard for anyone to approach her. In fact she was so rock solid, that no one was able to get through to her, and it had gotten to the point it actually discouraged her from persisting any further. 

However the important thing to note this episode was Pupple’s discussion about the Future Crystals. The White one is said to have been destroyed, but it is still missing. I have been suspecting this for a while now, but I firmly believe Hugtan is the White Crystal herself, especially given her power is white as well.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
The one were Lulu Amour makes an entrance at class. As a general rule, every dark magical girl just has to infiltrate the same school her enemies attend, and most usually don the corresponding uniform. And she has to one-up all her classmates in everything, making the Smart Girl or Brains of the sentai appear to be a twit, and the Big Girl or Brawn appear to be a puny sissy, in comparison. And Lulu Amour, as expected by Yours Truly, excels at everything, from literature to tennis via driving away any male suitors.
I have always had a thing for Aces, broken or otherwise. Just because they're faster, but especially smarter, than the average audience surrogates. I am NOT the kind who likes Fools who are often put as the stock protagonists of anime... I prefer Aces, and tragedy to comedy, overall. (Of course it depends of the kind of comedy; British-style clever comedy, like Monty Python and other such shows --also, Lemony Snicket--, as well as parodies, are always hilarious to me).



CURE MA CHÉRIE - EMIRU AIZAKI (IDOL SINGER) - FUTURE CRYSTAL RED, CRYSTAL ROUGE
CURE AMOUR - LULU AMOUR (IDOL DANCER) - FUTURE CRYSTAL PURPLE, CRYSTAL VIOLETTE
WEAPON: TWIN LOVE GUITAR
Mais oui... En français? And, though none of them is a bifauxnen, I ship these two already.




On the Charalu front, we wonder if the new YouTuber Charalit post-heel-face-turn will come across Lulu and how their reunion will be... So far, there is a bit of a Charalu/Emilu conflict within me... but we shall see how it all unfurls along this summer cour, right?



IN NEXT EPISODE (14)


The only thing difference is Lulu is behaving like a machine who thinks with logic and since this is a show about love and friendship, Lulu might get affected by the girls' actions and her emotions will start to appear and will play a big factor during the later part of the arc.
Next episode, the girls including Lulu take a job at the local kindergarten, and with so many toddlers running around, chaos follows! Until then, see you in the next post!

TRANSLATIONS THAT EQUAL OR SURPASS THE ORIGINAL

This post is about lyrics and poetry, more specifically.
A translator who must obey these constraints is more susceptible to becoming a traitor, since he has to count the syllables of the words and pay heed to the stress. Thus, such a Herculean task requires both linguistic and musical intelligence.
Yet there are some lyric translators who (IMOHO) have managed not to become the likes of Judas Iscariot, Vidkun Quisling, Peter Pettigrew, and Theon Greyjoy.
This post is my review of these translations.

1. The Arbiter vs. Jag vill se schack
From the musical Chess (Swedish translation: Lars Rudolfsson)

The Arbiter

I've a duty as the referee

At the start of the match

On behalf of all our sponsors

I must welcome you

Which I do - there's a catch


I don't care if you're a champion

No one messes with me

I am ruthless in upholding
 What I know is right

Black or white - as you'll see


I'm on the case (case)

Can't be fooled

Any objection

Is overruled


Yes I'm the Arbiter and I know best


He's impartial, don't push him, he's unimpressed


You got your tricks (tricks)

Good for you

But there's no gambit

I don't see through


Oh I'm the Arbiter, I know the score


From square one I'll/he'll be watching all 64


If you're thinking of the kind of thing

That we've seen in the past

Chanting gurus, walkie-talkies,

Walkouts, hypnotists,
Tempers, fists - not so fast


This is not the start of World War Three

No political ploys

I think both your constitutions are terrific so

Now you know, be good boys


I'm on the case (case)

Can't be fooled

Any objection

Is overruled


Yes I'm the Arbiter and I know best


He's impartial, don't push him, he's unimpressed.


You got your tricks (tricks)

Good for you

But there's no gambit

I don't see through


Oh I'm the Arbiter, I know the score


From square one I'll be watching all 64


I'm on the case (case)

can't be fooled!

You've got your tricks (tricks)

good for you!


I'm on the case (case)

Can't be fooled

Any objection

Is overruled

Yes I'm the Arbiter and I know best


He's impartial, don't push him, he's unimpressed


You got your tricks (tricks)

Good for you

But there's no gambit

I don't see through


Oh I'm the Arbiter, I know the score


From square one I'll be watching all 64


Oh I'm the Arbiter, I know the score


From square one I'll be watching all 64

Jag vill se schack

Jag är vald till högsta domare
Qui ne dit mon consent
La parole est d'argent et le silence est d'or
Den som rår - det är jag

Jag vill understryka först som sist
qui s'y frotte s'y pique
Jag kan inte tolerera en turnering som
handlar om - politique

Jag vill se schack
ädel kamp
utan intriger
och övertramp
Ett spel som genomsyras av esprit

Inspirerat av bildning och fantasi

Jag vill se schack
som en gest
för fred och vänskap
i öst och väst
Ett spel som trotsar tidens tyranni

och besegrar fördumningens barbari

Som representant för domarkåren
ser vi en veteran: Jean Jacques van Boren
Stormästar'n ifrån Sovjetunionen
tävlar mot USA:s champion om tronen

Il y a un commencement à tout
Jag vill ha discipline
Men jag överser ibland ifall
ett fel begås
Pas de rose sans épines

Döma rättvist är min ambition
C'est mon mot de le fin
Och vi tävlar i en anda som är
sund och frisk
Qui ne risque rien n'a rien!

Jag vill se schack
ädel kamp
utan intriger
och övertramp
Ett spel som genomsyras av esprit

Inspirerat av bildning och fantasi

Jag vill se schack
som en gest
för fred och vänskap
i öst och väst
Ett spel som trotsar tidens tyranni

och besegrar fördumningens barbari

Som representant för domarkåren
ser vi en veteran: Jean Jacques van Boren
Stormästar'n ifrån Sovjetunionen
tävlar mot USA:s champion om tronen

Why the translation is better:

• Two words: Gratuitous. French: Qui ne dit mon consent, La parole est d'argent et le silence est d'or, qui s'y frotte s'y pique, politique, esprit, Il y a un commencement à tout, discipline, Pas de rose sans épines, C'est mon mot de le fin, Qui ne risque rien n'a rien! Combining Swedish with another language... and with one so different, besides. And the presence of French makes him appear less stern and more cultured than the Arbiter in the original musical.
• The Anglophone Arbiter is concerned with sticking to the rules. The Swedish one is for crossing boundaries, reconciliating East and West, a supporter of both world peace and high culture. That also makes the Swedish lyrics more touchy-feely. His neutrality, impartial attitude, and pacifism coupled with his cultural level and intellectualism (vs. strict adherence to rules in the original) are the traits emphasized
• Two more words: Rolf. Skoglund. Nice-sounding veteran baritone/tenor with over-the-top flamboyant performance.

2. Be Prepared vs. Var beredd
From the musical The Lion King

Be Prepared

I know that your powers of retention
Are as wet as a warthog's backside
But thick as you are, pay attention
My words are a matter of pride

It's clear from your vacant expressions
The lights are not all on upstairs
But we're talking kings and successions
Even you can't be caught unawares

So prepare for a chance of a lifetime
Be prepared for sensational news
A shining new era
Is tiptoeing nearer

And where do we feature?

Just listen to teacher
I know it sounds sordid
But you'll be rewarded
When at last I am given my dues!
And injustice deliciously squared
Be prepared! 

Yeah! Be prepared. We'll be prepared! For what?

For the death of the king

Is he sick?

No, fool! We're going to kill him. And Simba, too

Great idea! Who needs a king?

No king, no king! La la la la la!

Idiots! There will be a king!

But you said...

I will be king! Stick with me and you'll never go hungry again!

Yay, all right! Long live the king!
Long live the king!

It's great that we'll soon be connected
With a king who'll be all-time adored

Of course, quid pro quo, you're expected
To take certain duties on board
The future is littered with prizes
And though I'm the main addressee
The point that I must emphasize is
You won't get a sniff without me!

So prepare for the coup of the century
Be prepared for the murkiest scam 
Meticulous planning 
Tenacity spanning 
Decades of denial 
Is simply why I'll 
Be king undisputed
Respected, saluted
And seen for the wonder I am
Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared
Be prepared!

Yes, our teeth and ambitions are bared -
Be prepared!


Var beredd

Jag vet att ni saknar förmåga
Att förstå allra enklaste sak
Men trots att ni är mest en plåga
Ska jag delge er nåt i min smak

Ni har inte erfarenheten
Inget begrepp hur man gör
En kunglig entré och jag vet en
Som ni nog snart bör buga er för

Var beredd, här är chansen för livet
Var beredd på en stor sensation
En tid fylld av ära
Den är ganska nära
Och vad ska vi göra
Nu ska ni få höra

Vad mästaren tänker
Belöning jag skänker
Ja, åtminstone lite beröm
Ett geni som har oanad bredd
Var beredd

Ja, var beredd! Hehe, vi är beredda. På vad då?
Att Kungen ska dö.
Va? Är han sjuk?
Jodå, snart är han död, liksom Simba också
Bra idé, vem behöver nån kung?
Ingen kung, ingen kung, lalalalalala...
Idioter! Det kommer en kung!
Men du sa ju?
Jag blir er kung
Följ med mig
Och ni ska aldrig behöva vara hungriga mer!
Ja! Länge leve kungen
Leve kungen

Kom med allihop vi förenas
För den kungen som bjuder till fest

Än sen, bara sjung, tack för senast
Får ni uppdrag som ni klarar bäst

Då kan ni ta hem första priset
Bara lyd minsta vink som jag ger
För utan min kraft och min vishet
Är det tämligen ute med er

Var beredd på en kupp ojämnförlig
Var beredd på ett brott helt perfekt
Så noggrant planerat
Och väl regisserat
En nolla regerat
Den tid som passerat
Men snart är den över
Den kung ni behöver
Ska hyllas och vissas respekt
Jag står högst och då vill jag bli sedd
Var beredd

Jag står högst och då vill jag bli sedd
Var beredd!

Why the translation is better:

• Instead of Jeremy Irons, Scar is voiced by Sweden's resident epitome of the badass baritone, awesomely-sounding, and completely queer and out-of-the-closet Rikard Wolff (nicknamed "Rikki-tikki-tavi", born in Stockholm but raised in Värmland). Who makes Irons sound like a castrated cat, comparing how sinister both performances are. Also serves as a parental/adult Disney fan bonus!
• The lyrics are written in such a way that they may refer to other scenarios than the savannah drama (to a human's ambition and to others' naiveté and blind loyalty). Thus, Swedes have made AMVs with sinister evil organizations of human characters like Organization XIII... or even the Third Reich itself.
• "En nolla regerat den tid som passerat": A zero has ruled in the past...
• The final verse "Jag stâr först och sâ vill jag bli sedd" (I'm the first and thus I want to be seen) connotes such an ego and such a craving for attention!!
• HOWEVER, there is one little change that makes me condescend. That is, the Swedish translation changing the Latinism "quid pro quo," which gives Scar that wicked-cultured air I adore so much, into "bara sjung," (keep on singing) in plain Norse Swedish. In fact, in my own cover of Var beredd, I substitute "bara sjung," for the original "quid pro quo," to that effect.

3. Innaffia l'ugola vs. Komm, liebes Becherlein
From Verdi's opera Otello, libretto by Arrigo Boito, German translation by Max Kalbeck

Innaffia l'ugola

Innaffia l'ugola! 
Trinca, tracanna! 
Prima che svampino 
canto e bicchier.

CASSIO 
(a Jago, col bicchiere in mano.)
Questa del pampino 
verace manna 
di vaghe annugola 
nebbie il pensier.

JAGO 
(a tutti)
Chi all'esca ha morso 
del ditirambo 
spavaldo e strambo 
beva con me! beva con me, 
beva, beva, beva con me!

TUTTI 
Chi all'esca ha morso ecc.

JAGO
Beva, beva.

TUTTI 
... beve, beve con te, ecc

JAGO 
(piano a Roderigo 
indicando Cassio)
Un altro sorso è brillo egli è.

RODERIGO 
(a Jago)
Un altro sorso è brillo egli è.

JAGO 
(Forte, a tutti)
Il mondo palpita 
quand'io son brillo! 
Sfido l'ironico Nume 
e il destin!

CASSIO 
(bevendo ancora)
Come un armonico liuto oscillo; 
La gioia scalpita sul mio cammin!

JAGO 
Chi all'esca ha morso, ecc...

TUTTI 
Chi all'esca ha morso, ecc...

JAGO 
(a Roderigo)
Un altro sorso e brillo egli è!

RODERIGO 
(a Jago)
Un altro sorso e brillo egli è!

JAGO 
(Forte a tutti) 
Fuggan dal vivido nappo 
i codardi. . .

CASSIO 
(interrompendo)
In fondo all'anima ciascun 
mi guardi! 

(beve)

JAGO 
(Interrompendo)
... che in cor 
nascondono frodi.

CASSIO 
(Barcollando)
Non temo, non temo il ver....

JAGO 
Chi all'esca ha...
... morso del ditirambo...

CASSIO 
(barcollando) 
non temo il ver... 
... non temo il ver. 

JAGO 
... bevi con me...

CASSIO 
non temo il ver... 

JAGO 
bevi, bevi con me.

CASSIO 
e bevo e bevo e bevo...

CIPRIOTTI 
(La metà del Coro. Ridendo)
Ah! Ah ah! Ah ah! Ah ah!. . .
. . .Ah ah! Ah ah! Ah ah!

CASSIO 
Del calice. . .

JAGO 
(a Roderigo) 
Ègli è briaco fradicio.

CASSIO 
(Con voce sempre più soffocata)
del calice...
... gli orli...

JAGO 
(A Roderigo)
Ti scuoti. 
Lo trascina a contesa. 
È pronto all'ira,

CIPRIOTTI 
(gli altri ridono di Cassio)
Ah ah! Ah ah!

JAGO 
(A Roderigo)
...t'offenderà...
ne seguirà tumulto!

CASSIO 
(ripiglia, ma con voce soffocata)
del calice. . .gli orli. . .

JAGO 
(A Roderigo)
Pensa che puoi cosi del lieto Otello
turbar la prima vigilia d'amor!

RODERIGO 
(risoluto, risponde, a parte, a Jago) 
Ed è ciò che mi spinge.

CASSIO 
... s'impor... s'impor... s'imporporino.

CIPRIOTTI 
Ah! Ah ah! Ah ah!

RODERIGO, JAGO, CASSIO, CIPRIOTTI 
Bevi, bevi con me, bevi con me. 

Komm, liebes Becherlein
JAGO 
mit dem Becher in der Hand; die Menge läuft neugierig zusammen 
Komm, liebes Becherlein, 
Blinke, ja blinke! 
Ehe das Leben uns 
Flüchtig verraucht! 

CASSIO 
zu Jago, den Becher in der Hand 
Ich armes Zecherlein 
Trinke, ja trinke! 
Die Reben geben uns, 
Was man nur braucht. 

JAGO 
zu allen 
Ein kleines Schlückchen kann 
Jeder vertragen, 
Wer's drauf will wagen, 
Trinke mit mir! 

CHOR 
Ein kleines Schlückchen kann 
Jeder vertragen. 
Ich will es wagen, 
Trinken mit dir! 

JAGO 
leise zu Rodrigo, auf Cassio deutend 
Das feinste Stückchen dann 
Siehest du hier! 
laut 
Nicht dünke weise dich, 
Trink dich gescheiter! 
Wer sich Gedanken macht, 
Ist nur ein Tropf! 

CASSIO 
von neuem trinkend 
Dreh ich im Kreise mich, 
Komm ich nicht weiter, 
Ach, was mich schwanken macht, 
Trag ich im Kopf. 

JAGO 
wie oben 
Ein kleines Schlückchen kann 
Jeder vertragen, 
Wer's drauf will wagen, 
Trinke mit mir! 

ALLE 
Ein kleines Schlückchen kann 
Jeder vertragen. 
Ich will es wagen, 
Trinken mit dir! 

JAGO 
zu Rodrigo 
Das feinste Stückchen dann 
Siehest du hier. 
laut 
Nur durch die Kehle geht 
Der Weg zum Herzen ... 
Seelchen, was zitterst du? 
Droht dir Gefahr? 

CASSIO 
den Becher schwenkend, ausser sich 
Was in der Seele steht: 
Freuden und Schmerzen ... 
trinkt 
Das ist ja klar ... 
taumelnd 
Das ist ja klar ... ich trinke ... 

ALLE 
lachen 
Ha, ha! 

CASSIO 
Ich Zecherlein trinke ... 
Ich armes Zecherlein ... 

JAGO 
zu Rodrigo, während die andern lachen 
Er ist total betrunken. Nun musst du 
Ihn in Händel gleich verwickeln. 
Er neigt zum Jähzorn, beleidigt dich, 
Und der Skandal ist fertig! 
So auch auf gute Art kannst du Othello 
Die erste Liebesnacht versalzen. 

RODRIGO 
entschlossen 
Zum Teufel, das will ich! 

Why the translation is better: 

• Irony: "Ein kleines Schlückchen kann jeder vertragen" ("Anyone can hold just one little sip")...
• The German Iago is a fusion of Tyrion Lannister with Stannis Baratheon and Petyr Baelish. Could be a Westerosi character in his own right.
• Game-of-Thrones-style philosophy: "Nur durch die Kehle geht der Weg zum Herzen"... "Only through the throat can the heart be reached".
• The German Cassio is more naive than in the savvier original libretto. The way he is conscious of the fact that Iago is leading him down the primrose path while under the influence, before getting completely intoxicated... He reasons more like the lilywhite young lieutenant most of us have in mind. And "das ist ja klar" ("that's true, indeed") sounds far more like an eerie refrain than "non temo il ver" ("I don't fear my true self").
• The Othello story needs to be told in German. Not in English, or Italian, or Spanish... The storyline and characters are best fit for the German language.

3.5. Mention of Honour
(Modern) Major General's Song vs. Cançó del Mariscal
From the musical The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan, translated into Catalan by Xavier Bru de Sala

Major General's Song

I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
          I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
          I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
          From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
          I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
          I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
          About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news,
          With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

ALL:      With many cheerful facts, etc.

GENERAL:  I'm very good at integral and differential calculus;
          I know the scientific names of beings animalculous:
          In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
          I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

ALL:      In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
          He is the very model of a modern Major-General.

GENERAL:  I know our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's;
          I answer hard acrostics, I've a pretty taste for paradox,
          I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus,
          In conics I can floor peculiarities parabolous;
          I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies,
          I know the croaking chorus from the Frogs of Aristophanes!
          Then I can hum a fugue of which I've heard the music's din afore,
          And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore.

ALL:      And whistle all the airs, etc.

GENERAL:  Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform,
          And tell you ev'ry detail of Caractacus's uniform:
          In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
          I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

ALL:      In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
          He is the very model of a modern Major-General.

GENERAL:  In fact, when I know what is meant by "mamelon" and "ravelin",
          When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin,
          When such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more wary at,
          And when I know precisely what is meant by "commissariat",
          When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery,
          When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery --
          In short, when I've a smattering of elemental strategy,
          You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee.

ALL:      You'll say a better Major-General, etc.

GENERAL:  For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury,
          Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century;
          But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
          I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

ALL:      But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
          He is the very model of a modern Major-General.

Cançó del Mariscal

Jo sóc el mariscal de la carrera més modèlica, 
i amb barcos de paper he inventat l'esquadra més quimèrica, 
exemple de saviesa tan extensa com endèmica, 
sóc sempre el campió de la polèmica acadèmica. 

Tinc grans coneixements en integrals i en matemàtica, 
he escrit els manuals de la balística hidrostàtica, 
calculo hipotenuses més de pressa que Pitàgores... 

(Pitàgores, Pitàgores... ja ho tinc!) 

conec les tres virtuts de les arrels de les mandràgores! 

TOTS 

Coneix les tres virtuts de les arrels de les mandràgores,

coneix les tres virtuts de les arrels de les mandràgores,

coneix les tres virtuts de les arrels dels màndra-dràgores!

MARISCAL 

Jo faig raonaments d'exactitud aristotèlica 
i lligo cel i infern amb una rima maquiavèl·lica, 
amb barcos de paper he inventat l'esquadra més quimèrica, 
jo sóc el mariscal de la carrera més modèlica. 

TOTS 

Amb barcos de paper ha inventat l'esquadra més quimèrica, 
perquè és el mariscal de la carrera més modèlica. 

MARISCAL 

Cada any guanyo el concurs de pescadors de cefalòpodes. 
Sóc una autoritat en els anèl·lids i els artròpodes. 
Retallo les plantilles per cosir sabates úniques 
pels peus dels elefants que van morir a les guerres púniques. 

Sé els noms de les princeses i les reines visigòtiques,

domino el grec i l'àrab i altres llengües més exòtiques
tinc fama d'estrateg com el carlí Zumalacàrregui... 

(Zumalacàrregui, càrregui... ja ho tinc!) 

Com que és tan complicada, aquesta rima me la càrregui. 

TOTS 

Com que és tan complicada, aquesta rima se la càrregui... 

MARISCAL 

Les lletres i les ciències davant meu es tornen tímides 
i em tenen per l'hereu apocalíptic de l'Arquímedes, 
amb barcos de paper he inventat l'esquadra més quimèrica, 
jo sóc el mariscal de la carrera més modèlica. 

TOTS 

Amb barcos de paper ha inventat l'esquadra més quimèrica, 
perquè és el mariscal de la carrera més modèlica. 

MARISCAL 

Navego amb el compàs i faig els versos amb la brúixola 
que marca sense error les bones rimes en esdrúixola. 
Es tracta d'entrenar la calibòssia més anàrquica 
per fer rimar paraules com república i monàrquica.

La història més histèrica i l'Espanya celtibèrica, 
i cada riu d'Europa amb tribus d'Àfrica i d'Amèrica. 
Astròleg, meteoròleg, interpreto a diari el cel...

(diarielcel, àrielcel... no, no, no patiu, no patiu, ja ho tinc!) 

i afino les cançons d'aquells pesats de Mar i Cel! 

TOTS 

I afina les cançons d'aquells pesats Dagoll de Mar i Cel,

i afina les cançons d'aquells pesats Dagoll de Mar i Cel,

i afina les cançons d'aquells pesats Dagolls Dagom de Mar i Cel!
MARISCAL 

I és que sóc l'exemple viu de la modernitat simpàtica,
p'rò encara no sé res de la genètica informàtica,
amb barcos de paper he inventat l'esquadra més quimèrica.
Jo sóc el mariscal de la carrera més modèlica.

TOTS

Amb barcos de paper ha inventat l'esquadra més quimèrica,
perquè és el mariscal de la carrera més modèlica.

Maestro, presto agitato, si'l vous plait!

Navego amb el compàs i faig els versos amb la brúixola 

que marca sense error les bones rimes en esdrúixola. 
Es tracta d'entrenar la calibòssia més anàrquica 
per fer rimar paraules com república i monàrquica.

Tinc grans coneixements en integrals i en matemàtica, 
he escrit els manuals de la balística hidrostàtica, 
calculo hipotenuses més de pressa que Pitàgores,

conec les tres virtuts de les arrels de les mandràgores. 

TOTS 

Coneix les tres virtuts de les arrels de les mandràgores,

coneix les tres virtuts de les arrels de les mandràgores,

coneix les tres virtuts de les arrels dels màndra-dràgores!

MARISCAL 

Jo faig raonaments d'exactitud aristotèlica 
i lligo cel i infern amb una rima maquiavèl·lica, 
amb barcos de paper he inventat l'esquadra més quimèrica, 
jo sóc el mariscal de la carrera més modèlica. 

TOTS (i final)

Amb barcos de paper ha inventat l'esquadra més quimèrica, 

perquè és el mariscal de la carrera més modèlica!

Why the translation is better:

• The Catalan version has got oodles of complicated words, translates Pinafore as Mar i Cel (a historical play performed by the translators of the operetta), has the Major General turned Field Marshal trying to find a rhyme for the surname of Carlist general "Zumalakarregi" and saying "aquesta rima me la càrregui" ("this rhyme I'm not going to carry-gi")...
• Plus: Mandrake expert? Cephalopod fishing? Astrology? Making shoes by hand for the pachyderm casualties of the Punic Wars? Geometry? Ballistics? And he even writes poetry? This Field Marshal is much more of a renaissance man than the Modern Major General! (At least there's something he's not that much of an expert in... IT, what else?)
•  And the whole song sounds as redoubtably as the English original! Definitely, could such an iconic patter song get better?

4. Kristina vs. Queen Christina, a Seventeenth-Century Tableau
Carl Snoilsky, translated directly from the Swedish by the mistress of this blog:

Kristina

På sorggemakets svarta sammet
En solglimt faller från gardin,
I sneda strimman dansar dammet
Som pärlorna i ett glas vin.

I stormande och hädisk smärta
En kvinna finns här dag och natt.
Ett guldskrin med en hjältes hjärta
Hon tillber som sin enda skatt.

En liten flicka sammanknipen
På pallen dväljs vid hennes fot.
Det bor en sällsam glans i djupen
Av dessa stora ögonklot.

Hon vänder sida efter sida
I boken, som till jul hon fick,
Och Gustaf Adolfs segrar skrida
Förbi i Merians kopparstick.

Blott någon gång från bladen ilar
En flyktig blick, brådmoget klok.
Så kyligt undrande den vilar
På gråterskan i änkedok.

Nu knackar det på dörren sakta:
Försiktigt, tyst den låtes upp.
På tröskeln syns en man betrakta
Med forskaröga denna grupp.

Utöfver kragens spetsar skjuter
Ett bredt och tvärklippt, grånat skägg,
Den svarta silkesstrumpan sluter
Sig utan veck om kraftig lägg.

Sin hälsning med en hovmans vana
Till damen sirligt fram han bär,
Men något finns, som låter ana,
Att det är han, som råder här.

Som svar han blott får tårefloder;
Till flickan med sin bok i knät
Han vänder sig från hennes moder
Och kallar henne Majestät.



Queen Christina, a Seventeenth-Century Tableau

Through fully draped black velvet curtains,

the sun casts a fine ray of light.

In that sole note of light and colour,

dust-bunnies dance and move aright.

There’s, night and day, a mourning lady

by sorrow always torn apart.

A golden shrine holds her sole treasure:

her late beloved spouse’s heart.

A little girl of six is reading

kneeling before her skirt, below.

In those large steel-blue eyes resides

a strange, enchanting, eerie glow.

She turns, and turns, and turns the pages

of her book, but no fairy tales:

“The Great Gustavus killed at Lützen,

yet Protestant glory prevails”.

Rarely, precocious, clever glances

dart from the pages forth and back,

so coldly and curiously resting

upon the weeping one in black.

Knocks on the door are heard, it’s opened

quite carefully, and then our clan

of two is observed from the threshold

by an objective gentleman.

He wears black tights on legs developed,

collar and cuffs are lined with lace,

a goatee streaked, gray, white and worthy,

on his aged, venerable face.

He salutes them just like a courtier,

trying the lady to relieve,

but something tells that she’s his vassal:

appearances do not deceive.

Tears doth the dowager respond in,

then the blond child, on bended knee,

the serious gentleman approaches,

addressing her: “Your Majesty”.

Why the translation equals the original:
Because it quotes the storybook outright, giving more details on the death of the father/husband (Gustavus Adolphus himself!)
Because Oxenstierna, the chancellor, is here described "from toe to head", from below, as a child would view an adult.
Because "i stormande och hädisk smärta" equals "by sorrow always torn apart" pretty nicely. My Eleanor, like Snoilsky's, could have been a Poe heroine as well. That part of her life story has always reminded me of Poe's tragic and eerie, sinister love-beyond-death stories.
Because I was as true to Snoilsky as can be when I translated it.
Because Oxenstierna bends the knee to Christina in my translation, which is pretty logical (Christina being both a child and his liege lady), and yet Snoilsky doesn't state that in the original.


5. Does your Mother Know vs. Väntar inte mamma pâ dig?
ABBA (both versions). From the musical Mamma Mia!

Does your Mother Know

TANYA:
You're so hot
Teasing me
So you're blue but I can't
Take a chance on a kid like you
It's something I couldn't do

There's that look
In your eyes
I can read in your face
That your feelings are driving you wild
But boy you're only a child

Well, I could dance with you honey
If you think it's funny
But does your mother know that you're out?
And I could chat with you baby
Flirt a little maybe
But does your mother know that you're out?

PEPPER:
Take it easy:

TANYA:
Take it easy
Better slow down boy
That's no way to go
Does your mother know?

PEPPER:
Take it easy

TANYA:
Take it easy
Try to cool it boy
Take it nice and slow
Does your mother know?

I can see
What you want
But you seem pretty young
To be searching for that kind of fun
So maybe I'm not the one

Now, you're so cute
I like your style
And I know what you mean
When you give me a flash of that smile
But boy you're only a child

EVERYONE:
Well, I could dance with you honey
If you think it's funny
Does your mother know that you're out?
And I could chat with you baby
Flirt a little maybe
Does your mother know that you're out?

PEPPER:
Take it easy
Better slow down girl
That's no way to go

EVERYONE:
Does your mother know?

PEPPER:
Take it easy
Try to cool it girl
Play it nice and slow

EVERYONE:
Does your mother know?

Well, I could dance with you honey
If you think it's funny
But does your mother know that you're out?
And I could chat with you baby
Flirt a little maybe
But does your mother know that you're out?

Well, I could dance with you honey
If you think it's funny
But does your mother know that you're out?
And I could chat with you baby
Flirt a little maybe
But does your mother know that you're out?

Väntar inte mamma pâ dig?

TANJA
Du är het
Kittlar mig
Jag kan se
Vad du vill och du hoppas
Att jag kan ge
Men det är ingen idé

I din kropp
En vulkan
Hela du bara skakar
Och vill att jag blir likadan
Men du är bara ett barn

En enda dans kan jag våga
Men jag måste fråga
Väntar inte mamma på dig
Ett litet ord i ditt öra
Se men inte röra
Väntar inte mamma på dig

PEPPAR'N
Fantasier

TANJA
Fantasier
Men den drömmer är
Säkert bäst på håll
Har din mamma koll

PEPPAR'N
Fantasier

TANJA
Fantasier
Vad din längtan är
Spelar ingen roll
Har din mamma koll

KILLARNA
Go Peppar'n!
Go Peppar'n!

Och fem
Och sex
Och sju
Och ått

TANJA
Jag förstår
Ge och ta
Men jag tror inte alls
Du är mogen för det jag vill ha
Så mycket yngre än jag

Du är så söt
Och så spontan
I ditt leende
Läser jag lätt varje del i din plan
Men du är bara ett barn

ALLA
En enda dans kan jag våga
Men jag måste fråga
Väntar inte mamma på dig
Ett litet ord i ditt öra
Se men inte röra
Väntar inte mamma på dig

PEPPAR'N
Fantasier

ENSEMBLE
Fantasier

PEPPAR'N
Men den drömmer är
Säkert bäst på håll

ALLA
Har din mamma koll

PEPPAR'N
Fantasier

ENSEMBLE
Fantasier

PEPPAR'N
Vad din längtan är
Spelar ingen roll

ALLA
Har din mamma koll

En enda dans kan jag våga
Men jag måste fråga
Väntar inte mamma på dig
Ett litet ord i ditt öra
Se men inte röra
Väntar inte mamma på dig

En enda dans kan jag våga
Men jag måste fråga
Väntar inte mamma på dig
Ett litet ord i ditt öra
Se men inte röra
Väntar inte mamma på dig
Väntar inte mamma på dig
Väntar inte mamma på dig


Why the translation is better:
It has, on the intense beat meant for the word "honey", a scrumptious "våga" ("dare"):
Well, I could dance with you honey
En enda dans kan jag våga


It replaces "take it easy" with "fantasier", and "try to cool it, boy," with "men den drömmen är": the "keep calm and carry on" message in that part of the lyrics to "this is a fantasy, a dream come true, but we must keep the distances":

PEPPER:
Take it easy

TANYA:
Take it easy
Try to cool it boy
Take it nice and slow

versus

PEPPAR'N
Fantasier

TANJA
Fantasier
Men den drömmer är
Säkert bäst på håll

A significant deviation from the original, and more suitable for the May-December romance between a humble sensitive teenager and an empowered, aggressive divorcée two or three decades his senior (which occurs during the course of this number).
That "honey" at the end of the refrain's first verse is as explosive a word as "våga".
And finally, the singer-actress herself:
Charlott Strandberg, the Swedish Tanya, actually eclipses her Anglophone counterpart Christine Baranski and makes her sound like Catelyn Stark, thanks to the Swedish actress's strong and aggressive contralto: the most convenient voice for an empowered and independent serial divorcée with a badass attitude.


6. Tainted Love vs. Falso Amor
Soft Cell covered by La Unión

Tainted Love

Sometimes I feel I've got to run away
I've got to get away
From the pain you drive into the heart of me.
The love we share seems to go nowhere

And I've lost my light 

for I toss and turn - I can't sleep at night.

Once I ran to you
now I'll run from you

This tainted love you've given -
I give you all a boy could give you.
Take my tears and that's not nearly all 

tainted love - tainted love.

Now I know I've got to run away
I've got to get away.
You don't really want any more from me -
To make things right you need someone to hold you tight

And you'll think love is to pray

 but I'm sorry I don't pray that way

Once I ran to you,
now I'll run from you,

This tainted love you've given -
I give you all a boy could give you.
Take my tears and that's not nearly all 

tainted love - tainted love.

Don't touch me please 

 I cannot stand the way you tease.
I love you though you hurt me so

Now I'm gonna pack my things and go.
Tainted love - tainted love
Touch me baby, tainted love
Tainted love - tainted love

Falso Amor

Me haces sentir que tengo - que huir
Que tengo - que salir
Del dolor inmenso que está causando en mí.
Tu amor ya no tiene solución
Y si pierdo la razón 
es de darle vueltas sin poder dormir.

Una vez fui hacia tí (ahhhhh)
Ahora me voy de tí.
Este amor envenenado
Es todo lo que tú me has dado
Ni una lagrima vales de amor.

Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)

(tainted love)

Ahora sé que tengo, que huir
Que tengo, que salir
Porque nunca has hecho nada bueno 
Por mí sabrás 
que el amor no es aguantar
Si es tu forma de pensar
De esta forma no quiero jugar.

Una vez fui hacia tí (ahhhhh)
Ahora me voy de tí.
Este amor envenenado
Es todo lo que tú me has dado
Ni una lagrima vales de amor.

(tainted love)

Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)

(tainted love)
(tainted love)
(tainted love)
(love)

Una vez fui hacia tí (ahhhhh)
Ahora me voy de tí.
Este amor envenenado
Es todo lo que tú me has dado
Ni una lagrima vales de amor.

Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)
No quiero tu falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)

Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(ohhhhhh ohhhhhh)

No quiero verte de repente
No quiero tu falso amor
Lo siento pero es mejor
Voy a hacer maletas y decirte adiós.

Why the translation equals the original:
This cover is extremely faithful to the English original.

Sometimes I feel I've got to run away
I've got to get away
From the pain you drive into the heart of me.
The love we share seems to go nowhere

And I've lost my light 

for I toss and turn - I can't sleep at night.

Me haces sentir que tengo que huir

Que tengo que salir
Del dolor inmenso que está causando en mí.
Tu amor ya no tiene solución
Y si pierdo la razón 
es de darle vueltas sin poder dormir.

Once I ran to you
now I'll run from you
Una vez fui hacia tí (ahhhhh)
ahora me voy de tí.

Now I'm gonna pack my things and go.
Voy a hacer maletas y decirte adiós.


Just compare both versions! This is LOYALTY capitalized.



7. King Herod's Song vs. Herodes' sâng
From the musical Jesus Christ Superstar
Translated into Swedish by Ola Salo in 2008

King Herod's Song

Jesus, I am overjoyed 
To meet you face to face 
You've been getting quite a name 
All around the place 
Healing cripples 
Raising from the dead 
Now I understand you're God 
At least that's what you've said 

So you are the Christ 
You're the great Jesus Christ 
Prove to me that you're divine 
Change my water into wine 
That's all you need do 
Then I'll know it's all true 
C'mon King of the Jews 

Jesus you just won't believe 
The hit you've made around here 
You are all we talk about 
You're the wonder of the year 
Oh what a pity 
If it's all a lie 
Still I'm sure 
That you can rock the cynics if you try 

So if you are the Christ 
Yes the great Jesus Christ 
Prove to me that you're no fool 
Walk across my swimming pool 
If you do that for me 
Then I'll let you go free 
C'mon King of the Jews 

I only ask what I'd ask any superstar 
What is it that you have got 
That puts you where you are? Oh, ho ho 
I am waiting 
Yes I'm a captive fan 
I'm dying to be shown 
That you are not just any man 

So if you are the Christ 
Yes the great Jesus Christ 
Feed my household with this bread 
You can do it on your head 
Or has something gone wrong? 
Jesus, why do you take so long? 
Aw, c'mon King of the Jews 

Hey! Aren't you scared of me Christ? 
Mr. Wonderful Christ! 
You're a joke, you're not the Lord 
You are nothing but a fraud 
Take him away 
He's got nothing to say! 
Get out you King of the 
Get out you King of the, 
Get out you King of the Jews! 
Get out of here, you, you! 
Get out of here, you! 
Get out of my Life!


Herodes' sâng

Jesus, jag är stormförtjust
att äntligen ha dig här!
Vi har alla noga följt
din galna karriär...
Du helar sjuka,
och de döda giver du liv...
och nu det här att du är GUD:
vilket härligt initiativ!

Sâ om du är GUD,
Jesus Christus, är GUD,
visa din gudomlighet:
gör mitt vatten till Moët!
Nân sân liten grej,
och jag ger dig fri lejd...
kom loss, JUDARNAS KUNG!!

Jesus, det är offattbart
hur snabbt du blitt sâ stor
och vi har enigt utnämt dig 
till ârets sensation (fransk brytning pâ sista ordet)
Åh vilket öde!!
att alltid vara fejk
om bubblan spricker
nu när du har fått ditt stora break...

Sâ om du är GUD,
Jesus Christus, är GUD,
visa dâ att du är cool:
gâ pâ vattnet i min pool...
fâr vi se magi
sâ blir du genast fri;
kom loss, GUDARNAS KUNG!!

En frâga som jag frâgar till varenda superstar:
"vad är det där som du har som de andra inte har?"
Âh, jag längtar!!
jag är ju redan frälst
och vill ju bara inte
att du är som vem som helst...

Sâ om du är GUD,
Jesus Christus, är GUD,

fixa landets hungersnöd,

... mitt palats till bröd!

Hör du inte alls pâ? 

Värför dröjer du sâ/dâ?

Kom loss, JUDARNAS... 

kom loss, GUDARNAS...

Hörrö? Kör du med mig? 

Inte ens en liten grej?

Du kanske är för fin för det,

DIN LILLE USLE BEDRAGARE!!

Försvinn ur min syn

nu, din lame martyr!!

Kom an, försvinn ur mitt...

Försvinn du, försvinn ur mitt...

Försvinn du, försvinn ur mitt... 

LI-I-I-IV!!!

Why the translation is better:

• Lars Humble, the Swedish Herod, is obviously gay, and he sounds even queerer than his Anglophone counterpart (Josh Mostel). Skoglund, for instance, lapses, at Âh, vilket öde", into a memorable falsetto, as he lengthens the stressed syllables of the verse (which does not occur in the English original). Lars Humble has got, like Rolf Skoglund or Sacha Baron-Cohen (as Monsieur Thénardier), what I usually call a "queer baritone": not very deep, but very funny and effeminate sounding!
• Due to rhyming constraints (the previous verse ended with an -et word), a verse in the first refrain goes "Gör mitt vatten till Moët!", id est, "Turn my water into Moët!", which is far classier and more sparkling than the usual red wine. (After all, the first time I came across Moët et Chandon was in the Killer Queen's pretty cabinet)
• Like Rikard Wolff, Rolf Skoglund, and Charlott Strandberg, Lars Humble fits his character so well and gives such a performance that the original just can't hold a candle to it.

8. Mil maneras de olvidar a un chulo vs. 50 Ways to Leave your Lover
Paul Simon versioned by Joaquín Sabina (and sung by Caco Senante)

50 Ways to Leave your Lover

The problem is all inside your head
She said to me
The answer is easy if you
Take it logically
I'd like to help you in your struggle
To be free
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover

She said it's really not my habit
To intrude
Furthermore, I hope my meaning
Won't be lost or misconstrued
But I'll repeat myself
At the risk of being crude
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover


Just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

She said it grieves me so
To see you in such pain
I wish there was something I could do
To make you smile again
I said I appreciate that
And would you please explain
About the fifty ways

She said why don't we both
Just sleep on it tonight
And I believe in the morning
You'll begin to see the light
And then she kissed me
And I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover

Just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

Mil maneras de olvidar a un chulo 

A una lumi de postín, 
mi brother Paul Simón
con tremendo swing 
después de un rico making love,
dicen que le dijo 
que el cianuro y el daiquiri
son más differents 
que un cordobés y un guiri

Palabrita del niño Jesús, 
me no understand
que un sex symbol como tú 
se encoñe de un gañán,
tan canchera, tan de luxe 
y tan tonta del culo,
habiendo mil maneras 
de olvidar a un chulo.

Abre los ojos, 
echa el cerrojo,
juega tus cartas, 
hazte un favor,
prueba la tarta, 
vive la vida,
venda la herida 
del corazón.

No limpies babas 
del enemigo,
cuenta contigo, 
¡recíclate!
pela la pava 
con quien te quiera,
toca madera 
y ponte de pie.

En spanglish a un francés 
le llaman "sixty-nine,"
si la dama es amateur 
apúntate compay,
pero pisa el freno 
que la teta de novicia
es como una dieta 
de veneno con caricias.

Con la farlopita 
que se traga esa nariz
cuántas fatiguitas, 
¿quién se paga un benjamín?
tan canchera, tan de luxe 
y tan tonta del culo,
habiendo mil maneras 
de olvidar a un chulo...

Búscate un menda 
que no te venda,
suéltate el pelo, 
cámbiate el chip
que el dormitorio 
no es un velorio,
que no hay más cielo 
que este de aquí...

Cómete el coco, 
mímate un poco,
no compres trapos 
de todo a cien,
pierde las llaves,
quema las naves,
sobran los guapos, 
¿no te das cuén?

¡Dile a Domingo 
que atraque un bingo,
que cante misa 
y que aprenda inglés!,
que tus caderas 
siguen solteras,
que sus camisas 
las planche él.

Tira complejos 
por la ventana,
con lo que ganas 
monta un tablao,
pasa de viejos, 
corta con Guille
y a quien te humille, 
la cuenta ¡y chao!

¡Dale a Josele 
donde le duele!,
marca una fecha,
baja el telón,
y si amenaza, 
ponle dos tazas
de la cosecha 
de don Simón.

¡Oye Felipe, 
que tengo gripe!
que folle Rita 
con mister Frank
y si te altera 
la primavera,
ven mamacita 
con tu papá.

Why the translation is better:
The US original is a blues, with everything that a blues entails: slow, weary, and as exciting as watching the grass grow without any distractions. Sabina not only changed the lyrics: he has cranked the tune up to a flamenco tempo.
Again, Sabina's penchant for lists: everything he puts his heart into becomes a patter song. So does the refrain of this one, which has different lyrics in each and every iteration (a rarity for Western refrains!), listing a heart-pounding, redoubtable catalogue of puns and metaphors. Not always the same old Roy, Jack, Stan, et consortes, but a reasonable and passionate list of all the ways there are to leave your lover and forget your "chulo".
And the Spanish, Andalusian, local colour. Just have a look at these verses:

que tus caderas 
siguen solteras,
que sus camisas 
las planche él.

Tira complejos 
por la ventana,
con lo que ganas 
monta un tablao,

¡Dale a Josele 
donde le duele!,
marca una fecha,
baja el telón,
y si amenaza, 
ponle dos tazas
de la cosecha 
de don Simón.

Basically, there cannot be more blunt-force honesty or more "descaro" in here. These are the real, effective, heart-on-sleeve ways to leave your lover and to forget your "chulo".

PS. For foreigners outside Spain:

"Tablao": a flamenco stage.

"Don Simón": cheap red wine sold in tetrabricks.

Tenez-vous bien VS. Mi gran noche


Tenez-vous bien, Salvatore Adamo:

Pour une fois je m'étais décidé
à semer mes principes
Pour une fois je m'étais écrié
ce soir je m'émancipe
Très sûr de moi j'avais mes beaux souliers
j'suis entré dans la danse
Y avait pas d'quoi être maître de ballet
pour garder la cadence

Tenez-vous bien
les poupées car ce soir
je suis plein d'idées folles
Tenez-vous bien
les poupées car ce soir
je prends la parole



Là devant moi y avait une de ces filles
comme on colle aux affiches
Au fond de moi y avait comme un génie
qui me criait : chiche !
Et c'est ainsi que bravant la fumée
je lui lance une œillade
Je suis verni car la belle subjuguée
tombe dans l'embuscade

Crénom de nom ! fallait-il que je l'aime
pour suer de la sorte
Sacré démon qui faisait rimer je t'aime
avec va vers la porte

Tenez-vous bien les poupées car ce soir
je suis plein d'idées folles
Tenez-vous bien les poupées car ce soir
je prends la parole

Il est trois heures je suis seul dans mon coin
garçon encore un, vite !
Ayez bon cœur ce n'est si bien
je veux vivre la suite
Remontez donc cette fichue machine
à fabriquer les rêves
J'ai d'quoi payer, je travaille à l'usine
encore un et j'me lève

Tenez-vous bien les poupées car ce soir
je suis plein d'idées folles
Tenez-vous bien les poupées car ce soir
je prends la parole
Tenez-vous bien les poupées car ce soir
je suis plein d'idées folles
Tenez-vous bien
les poupées car ce soir
je prends la parole.....


Mi gran noche, Raphael:

Hoy para mí, es un día especial:
hoy saldré por la noche...
Podré vivir lo que el mundo nos da
cuando el sol ya se esconde...
Podré cantar una dulce canción
a la luz de la luna
y acariciar y besar a mi amor,
como no lo hice nunca.

¿Qué pasará, qué misterio habrá?,
Puede ser mi gran noche
Y al despertar, ya mi vida sabrá
algo que no conoce.
Yay, yay, yay, yay,
Yaylalalaralalay, yalalalaralayla.
Yay, yay, yay, yay,
Yaylalalaralalay, yalalalaralayla.

Caminaré, abrazado a mí amor,
por las calles sin rumbo...
Descubriré, que el amor es mejor,
cuando todo está oscuro...
Y sin hablar, nuestros pasos se irán,
a buscar otra puerta,
Que se abrirá, como mi corazón
cuando ella se acerca.

¿Qué pasará, qué misterio habrá?,
Puede ser mi gran noche
Y al despertar ya mi vida sabrá
algo que no conoce.
Yay, yay, yay, yay,
Yaylalalaralalay, yalalalaralayla.
Yay, yay, yay, yay,
Yaylalalaralalay, yalalalaralayla.

Será, será, esta noche ideal
que ya nunca se olvida...
Podré reír y soñar y bailar,
disfrutando la vida...
Olvidaré la tristeza y el mal
y las penas del mundo
y escucharé, los violines cantar,
en la noche sin rumbo.

¿Qué pasará, qué misterio habrá?,
Puede ser mi gran noche
Y al despertar ya mi vida sabrá
algo que no conoce.
¿Qué pasará, qué misterio habrá?,
Puede ser mi gran noche.
¿Qué pasará, qué misterio habrá?,
Puede ser mi gran noche.

Aquarela, Toquinho VS Acuarela, Seguridad Social

Aquarela, Toquinho

Numa folha qualquer

Eu desenho um Sol amarelo

E, com cinco ou seis retas

É fácil fazer um castelo

Corro o lápis em torno da mão

E me dou uma luva

E, se faço chover, com dois riscos

Tenho um guarda-chuva

Se um pinguinho de tinta

Cai num pedacinho azul do papel

Num instante, imagino

Uma linda gaivota a voar no céu

Vai voando, contornando

A imensa curva norte-sul

Vou com ela viajando

Havaí, Pequim ou Istambul

Pinto um barco à vela

Branco navegando

É tanto céu e mar

Num beijo azul

Entre as nuvens vem surgindo

Um lindo avião rosa e grená

Tudo em volta colorindo

Com suas luzes a piscar

Basta imaginar, e ele está partindo

Sereno e lindo

E, se a gente quiser

Ele vai pousar

Numa folha qualquer

Eu desenho um navio de partida

Com alguns bons amigos

Bebendo, de bem com a vida

De uma América a outra

Eu consigo passar num segundo

Giro um simples compasso

E, num círculo, eu faço o mundo

Um menino caminha

E caminhando chega no muro

E ali logo em frente

A esperar pela gente, o futuro está

E o futuro é uma astronave

Que tentamos pilotar

Não tem tempo, nem piedade

Nem tem hora de chegar

Sem pedir licença

Muda nossa vida

E depois, convida

A rir ou chorar

Nessa estrada, não nos cabe

Conhecer ou ver o que virá

O fim dela, ninguém sabe

Bem ao certo onde vai dar

Vamos todos

Numa linda passarela

De uma aquarela que, um dia, enfim

Descolorirá

Numa folha qualquer

Eu desenho um Sol amarelo (que descolorirá)

E, com cinco ou seis retas

É fácil fazer um castelo (que descolorirá)

Giro um simples compasso

E, num círculo, eu faço o mundo (que descolorirá)

Acuarela, Seguridad Social 

En los mapas del cielo
El Sol siempre es amarillo
Y la lluvia y las nubes
No pueden velar tanto brillo

Ni los árboles nunca
Podrán ocultar el camino
De su luz hacia el bosque profundo
De nuestro destino

Esa hierba tan verde
Se ve como un manto lejano
Que no puede escapar
Que se puede alcanzar con solo volar

Siete mares he surcado
Siete mares color azul
Yo soy nave, voy navegando
Y mi vela eres tú

Bajo el agua
Veo peces de colores
Van donde quieren
No los mandas tú

Por el cielo va cruzando
Por el cielo color azul
Un avión que vuela alto
Diez mil metros de altitud

Desde tierra lo saludan con la mano
Se va alejando
No sé dónde va
No sé dónde va

Sobre un tramo de vía
Cruzando un paisaje de ensueño
En un tren que me lleva de nuevo
A ser muy pequeño

De una América a otra
Tan solo es cuestión de un segundo
Basta con desearlo
Y podrás recorrer todo el mundo

Un muchacho que trepa
Que trepa a lo alto de un muro
Si se siente seguro
Verá su futuro con claridad

Y el futuro es una nave
Que por el tiempo volará
A Saturno, después de Marte
Nadie sabe dónde llegará

Si le ves venir, si te trae amores
No te los roben sin apurar
Aprovecha los mejores
Que después no volverán

La esperanza jamás se pierde
Los malos tiempos pasarán
Piensa que el futuro es una acuarela
Y tu vida un lienzo que colorear (que colorear)

En los mapas del cielo
El Sol siempre es amarillo
Tú lo pintarás
Y la lluvia y las nubes
No pueden velar tanto brillo
Tú lo pintarás
Basta con desearlo y podrás
Recorrer todo el mundo
Tú lo pintarás
Tú lo lograrás

"Llamando a la Tierra", M-Clan (Serenade [AKA Did You See the Light, by Steve Miller Band]):

He visto la luz 
hace tiempo Venus se apagó 
he visto morir 
una estrella en el cielo de Orión 
No hay señal,
no hay señal de vida humana y yo 
perdido en el tiempo 
perdido en otra dimensión. 

Soy el capitán 
de la nave tengo el control 
llamando a la Tierra 
esperando contestación 
Soy un cowboy 
del espacio azul eléctrico 
a dos mil millones de años luz de mi casa estoy. 

Quisiera volver 
no termina nunca esta misión 
Me acuerdo de ti 
como un cuento de ciencia ficción 
no estoy tan mal 
juego al póker con mi ordenador 
se pasan los días 
no hay noticias desde la estación.

Did you see the lights
As they fell all around you
Did you hear the music
Serenade from the stars

Wake up, wake up
Wake up and look around you
We're lost in space
And the time is our own

Whoa, whoa
Did you feel the wind

As it blew all around you

Did you feel the love

That was in the air

Wake up, wake up

Wake up and look around you

We're lost in space

And the time is our own

Whoa, whoa

Iiiiiiiiii

The sun comes up

And it shines all around you

You're lost in space

And the Earth is your own

Whoa, whoa

"Mil maneras de olvidar a un chulo", Joaquín Sabina, sung by Caco Senante (Fifty Ways to Leave your Lover):

A una lumi de postín,

mi brother Paul Simón
con tremendo swing 

después de un rico making love,
dicen que le dijo 

que el cianuro y el daikiri
son más differents 

que un cordobés y un guiri
Palabrita del niño Jesús, 

"me no understand"
que un sex symbol como tú 

se encoñe de un gañán,
tan canchera, tan deluxe 

y tan tonta del culo,

habiendo mil maneras 

de olvidar a un chulo.
Abre los ojos, 

echa el cerrojo,
juega tus cartas,

hazte un favor,
prueba la tarta, 

vive la vida,
venda la herida 

del corazón.
No limpies babas 

del enemigo,
cuenta contigo, 

recíclate,
pela la pava 

con quien te quiera,
toca madera, 

ponte de pie.
En spanglish a un francés 

le llaman "sixty-nine",
si la dama es amateur,

apúntate compay,
pero pisa el freno

que la teta de novicia
es como una dieta 

de veneno con caricias.
Con la farlopita 

que se traga esa nariz
cuántas fatiguitas, 

¿quién se paga un benjamín?
tan canchera, tan de luxe 

y tan tonta del culo,
habiendo mil maneras 

de olvidar a un chulo.
Búscate un menda 

que no te venda,
suéltate el pelo, 

cámbiate el chip
que el dormitorio 

no es un velorio,
que no hay más cielo 

que éste de aquí.
Cómete el coco, 

mímate un poco,
no compres trapos 

de todo a cien,
pierde las llaves, 

quema las naves,
sobran los guapos, 

¿no te das cuén?
Dile a Domingo 

que atraque un bingo,
que cante misa 

y que aprenda inglés,
que tus caderas 

siguen solteras,
que sus camisas 

las planche él.
Tira complejos 

por la ventana,
con lo que ganas 

monta un tablao,
pasa de viejos, 

corta con Guille
y a quien te humille, 

la cuenta ¡y chao!
Dale a Josele 

donde le duele,
marca una fecha, 

baja el telón
y si amenaza, 

ponle dos tazas
de la cosecha 

de don Simón.
¡Oye Felipe!

que tengo gripe,
que folle Rita 

con mister Frank
y si te altera 

la primavera,
ven mamacita 

con tu papá.

“The problem is all inside your head”
She said to me
“The answer is easy if you
Take it logically
I’d like to help you in your struggle
To be free
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover”

She said, “It’s really not my habit to intrude
Furthermore, I hope my meaning
Won’t be lost or misconstrued
But I’ll repeat myself
At the risk of being crude
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover”

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

Ooh, slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just listen to me
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

She said, “It grieves me so
To see you in such pain
I wish there was something I could do
To make you smile again”
I said, “I appreciate that
And would you please explain
About the fifty ways?”

She said, “Why don’t we both
Just sleep on it tonight
And I believe in the morning
You’ll begin to see the light”
And then she kissed me
And I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

Slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just listen to me
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

Dame más, Álex de la Nuez/Pablo Galán (Give it Up)

No hay más tiempo, que perder, 
Tengo prisa, por saber. 
Oh... Necesito saber si es un cuento, 
O si estoy viviendo solo un sueño, 
¡Dame más!, 

dame 24 horas más. 
Por eso 
Dame, dame, dame, dame, 

dame, dame, dame, dame, 
Dame más, 

¿Qué me das? 

24 horas más. 
Dame, dame, dame, dame, 

dame, dame, dame, dame, 
Dame más, 

¿Qué me das?

 24 horas más. 

Un millón de besos 

y tu afecto, 

para mí sería 

lo perfecto. 
¡Dame más!, 

dame 24 horas más. 

Estoy tan loco 

por ti 
Hey hey hey hey, 

es así

Oh... 24 horas 

con mi alma, 

yo lo siento pero 

¡no me basta! 
¡Dame más! 

Dame 24 horas más 

Por eso, 
Dame, dame, dame, dame, 

dame, dame, dame, dame, 
Dame más, 

¿Qué me das? 

24 horas más. 
Dame, dame, dame, dame, 

dame, dame, dame, dame, 
Dame más, 

¿Qué me das? 

24 horas más. 

Un millón de besos

y tu afecto
para mí sería 

lo perfecto. 
¡Dame más!, 

dame 24 horas más. 

¡Hey nena!, 

no me mires así, 
¡Hey nena!, 

no me mires así. 
24 horas 

con mi alma, 
Y quedarnos 

toda la semana
¡Dame más!, 

dame 24 horas más. 

Si me estoy volviendo loco, si soy sólo un tonto, 
Si me dices que me quieres, o si tú me mientes, 
Si me subes o me bajas, si te da la gana, 
De tirar por la ventana, toda las semanas, 
Si no puedo parar, si no puedo parar, 
Escucha calladita, ya no aguanto más, 
Que me estoy acostumbrado y ya no puedo parar, 
Cualquier día de estos, yo me voy a cansar, 
Que me voy de camarero y me vas a echar de menos, 
Anda, búscate en el bolso a ver si te has dejado, 
las llaves de tu casa, en algún otro lado, 
Las ganas de besarme, ¿Dónde te las has dejado? 
y ahora te lo digo tu no te me escapas 

que te quiero pegadita a mí como una lapa. 

24 horas 

con mi alma 

y quedarnos toda 

la semana, 
¡Dame más!, 

dame 24 Horas más. 
Por eso, 
Dame, dame, dame, dame, 

dame, dame, dame, dame, 
Dame más, 

¿Qué me das? 

24 horas más. 
Dame, dame, dame, dame, 

dame, dame, dame, dame, 
Dame más, 

¿Qué me das? 

24 horas más. 

24 horas

con mi alma, 

yo lo siento pero 

¡no me basta! 
¡Dame más! 

Dame 24 horas más.

Un millón de besos 

y tu afecto, 

para mí sería 

lo perfecto. 
¡Dame más!, 

dame 24 horas más. 

Por eso, 
Dame, dame, dame, dame, 

dame, dame, dame, dame, 
Dame más, 

¿Qué me das? 

24 horas más. 
Dame, dame, dame, dame, 

dame, dame, dame, dame, 
Dame más, 

¿Qué me das? 

24 horas más. 

Your good lovin is what I need
Good lovin is what I need
Oh, a little bit of love and some affection
Keep me movin in the right direction
Good lovin is what I need

So come on give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it up, give it up
Come on darlin give it up
Give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it up, give it up
Come on darlin give it up

A little bit of love and some affection
Keep me movin in the right direction
So give it up, give it up
Come on darlin give me your love

I am so in love with you

Baby, its true
Come on darlin, we got to be smart
Come on darlin, dont play with a heart
Give it up, give it up, come on darlin give me your love

Hey, hey baby
Dont do me this way
No, no
Hey, darling
Dont do me this way

A little bit of love and some affection
Keep me movin in the right direction
So give it up, give it up
Come on darlin give me your love

So come on give it up, give it up
Come on darlin give me your love
Oh, oh give it up, give it up
Come on darlin give me your love

Oh, a little bit of love and some affection
Keep me movin in the right direction
So give it up, give it up, come on darlin give me your love

So come on give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it up, give it up
Come on darlin give it up
Give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it, give it up, give it up
Come on darlin give it up

A little bit of love and some affection
Keep me movin in the right direction
So give it up, give it up, come on darlin give me your love

Tren de Largo Recorrido, La Unión (Long Train Running)

Al doblar una esquina
te había visto pasar
saliste huyendo sola
sin mirar atrás
Sin amor
yo voy a enloquecer

no no no...
Sin amor...
Te fuiste sin reproches
en tiempo de olvidar
Dejaste tu familia
sin mirar atrás
Sin amor
yo voy a enloquecer

no no no...
Sin amor.
Te fuiste con el tren
alguien te oyó rezar
te fuiste con el tren
sin volver la vista atrás
Sin amor
yo voy a enloquecer

no no no...
Sin amor quién sabe donde 
puedes estar.

Down around the corner 

 half a mile from here
You see them old trains runnin'
And you watch them disappear

Without love, where would you be now, without love?

You know I saw Miss Lucy 

down along the tracks
She lost her home and her family
And she won't be comin' back 

Without love, where would you be now, without love 

Well, the Illinois Central

And the Southern Central Freight
Gotta keep on pushin', mama
'Cause you know they're runnin' late

Without love, where would you

Where pistons keep on churnin'
And the wheels go 'round and 'round
And the steel rails are cold and hard
For the miles that they go down

Without love, where would ya be right now
Without love, where would you be now?

Got to get it, baby, baby, won't you move it down?
Won't you move it down?
Baby, baby, baby, baby, won't you move it down?
When the big train run
And the train is movin' on
I got to keep on movin'
Keep on movin'
Keep on movin'
Gonna keep on movin'

Falso Amor, La Unión (Tainted Love)

Me haces sentir que tengo 

que huir
que tengo 

que salir
del dolor inmenso que está causando en mí
tu amor 

Ya no tiene solución
y si pierdo la razón 

es de darle vueltas sin poder dormir.

Una vez fui hacia tí (Ahhhhh)
ahora me voy de tí.
Este amor envenenado
es todo lo que tú me has dado
¡ni una lágrima vales de amor!

Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)

(Tainted Love)

Ahora sé que tengo

que huir
que tengo

que salir
porque nunca has hecho nada bueno 

Por mí sabrás 

que el amor no es aguantar
si es tu forma de pensar
de esta forma no quiero jugar.

Una vez fui hacia tí (Ahhhhh)
ahora me voy de tí.
Este amor envenenado
es todo lo que tú me has dado
¡ni una lágrima vales de amor!

(Tainted Love)

Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)

(Tainted Love)
(Tainted Love)
(Tainted Love)
(Love)

Una vez fui hacia tí (Ahhhhh)
ahora me voy de tí.
Este amor envenenado
es todo lo que tú me has dado
¡ni una lágrima vales de amor!

Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)
No quiero tu Falso Amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)

Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)
Falso amor
(Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh)

No quiero verte de repente
no quiero tu falso amor
lo siento pero es mejor
voy a hacer maletas y decirte adiós.

Sometimes I feel
I've got to 

run away
I've got to

 get away
From the pain you drive
Into the heart of me

The love we share
Seems to go nowhere
And I've lost my light
For I toss and turn
I can't sleep at night

Once I ran to you (I ran)
Now I'll run from you
This tainted love you've given
I give you all a boy could give you

Take my tears
And that's not nearly 

all
Oh, tainted love
Oh, tainted love

Now I know
I've got to 

run away
I've got to 

get away
You don't really want any more from me

To make things right
You need someone to hold you tight
And you think love is to pray
But, I'm sorry, I don't pray that way

Once I ran to you (I ran)
Now I'll run from you
This tainted love you've given
I give you all a boy could give you

Take my tears
And that's not nearly all
Oh, tainted love
Oh, tainted love

Don't touch me, please
I cannot stand the way you tease
I love you, though you hurt me so
Now I'm going to pack my things and go

Tainted love, oh
Tainted love, oh
Tainted love, oh
Tainted love, oh

Touch me, baby
Tainted love (tainted love)
Touch me, baby
Tainted love (tainted love)

Tainted love, oh
Tainted love, oh
Tainted love
Tainted love

Tenez-vous bien, Salvatore Adamo:

Pour une fois je m'étais décidé
à semer mes principes
Pour une fois je m'étais écrié
ce soir je m'émancipe
Très sûr de moi j'avais mes beaux souliers
j'suis entré dans la danse
Y avait pas d'quoi être maître de ballet
pour garder la cadence

Tenez-vous bien
les poupées car ce soir
je suis plein d'idées folles
Tenez-vous bien
les poupées car ce soir
je prends la parole

Là devant moi y avait une de ces filles
comme on colle aux affiches
Au fond de moi y avait comme un génie
qui me criait : chiche !
Et c'est ainsi que bravant la fumée
je lui lance une œillade
Je suis verni car la belle subjuguée
tombe dans l'embuscade

Crénom de nom ! fallait-il que je l'aime
pour suer de la sorte
Sacré démon qui faisait rimer je t'aime
avec va vers la porte

Tenez-vous bien les poupées car ce soir
je suis plein d'idées folles
Tenez-vous bien les poupées car ce soir
je prends la parole

Il est trois heures je suis seul dans mon coin
garçon encore un, vite !
Ayez bon cœur ce n'est si bien
je veux vivre la suite
Remontez donc cette fichue machine
à fabriquer les rêves
J'ai d'quoi payer, je travaille à l'usine
encore un et j'me lève

Tenez-vous bien les poupées car ce soir
je suis plein d'idées folles
Tenez-vous bien les poupées car ce soir
je prends la parole
Tenez-vous bien les poupées car ce soir
je suis plein d'idées folles
Tenez-vous bien
les poupées car ce soir
je prends la parole.....


Mi gran noche, Raphael (Tenez-vous bien):

Hoy para mí, es un día especial:
hoy saldré por la noche...
Podré vivir lo que el mundo nos da
cuando el sol ya se esconde...
Podré cantar una dulce canción
a la luz de la luna
y acariciar y besar a mi amor,
como no lo hice nunca.

¿Qué pasará, qué misterio habrá?,
Puede ser mi gran noche
Y al despertar, ya mi vida sabrá
algo que no conoce.
Yay, yay, yay, yay,
Yaylalalaralalay, yalalalaralayla.
Yay, yay, yay, yay,
Yaylalalaralalay, yalalalaralayla.

Caminaré, abrazado a mí amor,
por las calles sin rumbo...
Descubriré, que el amor es mejor,
cuando todo está oscuro...
Y sin hablar, nuestros pasos se irán,
a buscar otra puerta,
Que se abrirá, como mi corazón
cuando ella se acerca.

¿Qué pasará, qué misterio habrá?,
Puede ser mi gran noche
Y al despertar ya mi vida sabrá
algo que no conoce.
Yay, yay, yay, yay,
Yaylalalaralalay, yalalalaralayla.
Yay, yay, yay, yay,
Yaylalalaralalay, yalalalaralayla.

Será, será, esta noche ideal
que ya nunca se olvida...
Podré reír y soñar y bailar,
disfrutando la vida...
Olvidaré la tristeza y el mal
y las penas del mundo
y escucharé, los violines cantar,
en la noche sin rumbo.

¿Qué pasará, qué misterio habrá?,
Puede ser mi gran noche
Y al despertar ya mi vida sabrá
algo que no conoce.
¿Qué pasará, qué misterio habrá?,
Puede ser mi gran noche.
¿Qué pasará, qué misterio habrá?,

Puede ser mi gran noche.

Tu limón es Schweppes (Every Breath You Take):

Tu vida cambió

No eres como ayer

Hoy todo es mejor

Sabes escoger

Tu limón es Schweppes

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take

I'll be watching you

Elige el camino difícil (Neverending Story):

Nieve, 
curvas imposibles y una obra sin razón...
Jabones, 
una vaca sorda y carteles sin comprensión...

Un superhéroe herido,
rocas en reproducción,

ciclistas que distraigan,
y Richard Clayderman en su piano sin control...

Y una maratón...

Turn around
Look at what you see
In her face
The mirror of your dreams

Make believe I'm everywhere
Given in the light
Written on the pages
Is the answer to a neverending story, ah