That translation meme

[neadods]

I've seen it crop up in several LJs. Basically, the idea is to take song lyrics and use google's language tools to translate in this order - English - German - French - English. Then you post the results and let people guess.

To give the rennies & pirates on my f-list a fighting chance, I've picked all sea shantys, and each one has a huge hint that survived the translations.

The first lyrics:
It was of Freitagmorn, as us veils adjusted and us not the country was broad!
As a our captain it MERMAID ausspionierte so honestly,
let us roll with a comb and glass in its hand

(ch)
and the waves of ocean you,
and stormy the crane to burn to the bottom to the bottom
' us who ' are ' by the marine poor skippin ' on the upper surface,
while Landtolpatsche are to the bottom to the bottom,
while Landtolpatsche are to the bottom downwards!

Then, the ray was the captain of our gallant ship and an old man fine him
"that this MERMAID fischartige informed to me our destiny,
kills us to the lower part from the sea!"


The second lyrics:
a durable verfluchtes a life
full von with Toil and polemic,
that us to undergo whalermen
and to give us not one to swear, if the storm to make,
like fort it it crane to become to us
heimwaerts to jump vom Arctic of clay with a good ship to roast, which tended and free
and us one to swear, if us our rum with the girl Mauirollens old man

CH
to the bottom old man Maui drinking,
I it boy to the bottom giving you,
who not old Maui to roll to us heimwaerts Arctic role to the bottom Maui old man to jump


The third lyrics, and far too easy:
OH -, the year seventeen seventy,
like I to wish it, that I in the Sherbrooke
letter maintaining A von mark to come vom from the king
zum scummiest container, who I to see

CHORUS:
Gottfluch it all,
I, would cross us the seas for American gold
was declared that we do not ruin any rifles of them, of tears abfeuern would become,
but I am a defective man on an Halifax-unloading dock the last of Deprived-teers

OH -, Elcid Barrett Barretts cried the city,
as I wish it that I would be now in Sherbrooke
of twenty courageous men, all the fishermen
who would train for him the crew of the Antelope

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Oh, damn. I can hear the tune of the first one, but I can't dredge up enough lyrics to identify it by name.

The second one is "Rolling Down to Old Maui", and the third (you're right, too easy!) is "Barrett's Privateers".

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

The first one is "The Mermaid's Song" ... the chorus goes "And the landlubbers lie down below, below, below ... and the landlubber lie down below."

<-- Former faire geek

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to figure out how they got "old man" out of the "the Girls of Old Maui."

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

I was equally puzzled about how this:

The directions fix their defense calmly.

Could be derived from "Silently the senses abandon their defenses" in "Music of the Night." :-/

Unfortunately, that was about the only really peculiar thing that came from the multiple translations. Some songs come out completely unrecognizable.

[ambitious-wench.livejournal.com]

First one is The Mermaid song.

It was Friday morn, when we set sail
When the captain he spied a mermaid so fair,
with a comb and brush in her hand

And the ocean waves do roll
and the stormy winds blow
while we poor sailers are skipping at the top
and the land lubber lie down below below below, while the land lubbers lie down below.

[(Anonymous)]

I think you're missing a second line in the first quatrain. Here's the version I heard when I was young:


'Twas one Sunday morn when we set sail
And we were not far from the land
When the captain spied a lovely mermaid
With a comb and a glass in her hand...