this is about my translation of the Manu Chao song "Me Llaman Calle." [video below]
i'm reasonably close to a literal translation, with changes to fit the rhythm and number of syllables per line. "baldosa" is like ladrilla (a brick to build a house) except flat like a tile. based on context, i translate it as "cobblestones." Chao also uses "maquinita," literally "little machine," but this implies a small device in english (a machine that does something, but does not move itself - such as a laminating machine, a blood-glucose meter, or an ATM) - so i use "little engine" instead, to imply movement. the one line i'm not happy with is the translation of "no me rebajo"; if i wasn't worried about rhythm, i would translate it as "it doesn't dig ruts into me." the tricky part is that this word, rut, is almost never used as a present-tense transitive verb in english. we generally use it as a noun ("in a rut") or participial adjective ("a rutted road").
i'm not certain which meaning of "a la salida" too use. Chao has so many street metaphors, i'm tempted to say it means freeway exit, as in off-ramp. but of course since he's referring to a man, the man could simply be standing in the exit of a bar or hotel. either way, both versions would be symbolic exits, a way for the protagonist (street) to escape her life of prostitution.
one of the cool things here, he says "calle tristeza," as if Tristeza were the name of the street (i.e., turn left on Sadness Street). but in English, we switch the order, which breaks up the flow into the next line. i tried translating it as "street of sadness from loving so much," to put the object next to the gerund phrase. but with ih the preposition in the middle, my version loses the clever double grammar from the spanish version. i avoided the switch entirely in a different place, with the words "street wounded," because i can take advantage of wounded's dual status as a participial and as a conjugated verb. this cannot preserve the idea of a street name, but it does allow a smooth, singular connection to the next line.
another cool thing is Chao's line "calle más calle" (literally "street more street"), a common spanish way to artificially force a noun into an adjective. english does not do this; however, there are poetic forms that approximate it. i think of the Blade Runner (1982) quote and White Zombie song, "more human than human." logically this makes no sense, but we can understand the intent of this slogan: the replicants/androids are better at imitating humans than we are at being humans. so we can extend this concept to other things, especially when we turn nouns directly into slang adjectives. "christmas" (noun) becomes "christmasy" (adjective). i could claim "this christmas is more christmasy than last year." sounds odd, but you can understand. this is what Chao is doing with street. so i turn street into a fake adjective ("streeter"), then translate it as "streeter than street."
i inverted the refrain ("me llaman calle" becomes "street, they call me") to make the throchees fit. either way is grammatical, in either language. as a side effect, "street" is sometimes read as enjambment, part of the previous line. as in the 3rd and 4th line, "the revolting and the lost street." this works most of the time, especially in last full stanza, when the enjambed lines allow the refrain to appear split in the middle, across two lines with multiple subjects: "street, they call me/streeter than street/they call me always and/at any hour." do they always call her street? yes. do they always call her at any hour? yes.
my full translation:
street, they call me
street, they call me
walking cobblestones
the revolting and the lost
street, they call me
street of night
street of day
street, they call me
i go so tired
i go so empty
like a little engine through the great city
street, they call me
i climb in your car
street, they call me
i owe happiness
tired street, street wounded
from loving so much
i go to the bottom of the street
i go to the top of the street
it doesn't rut me [it doesn't dig ruts in me]
neither does life
street, they call me
and that's my pride
i know one day it will arrive
i know one day
my luck will come
one day come looking for me
at the exit[off-ramp], a good man
giving life without a fee
my heart's not for rent
street, they call me
street, they call me
suffering street, street of sadness
from loving so much
street, they call me
streeter than street
they call me the street with no future
they call me the street with no exit
street, they call me
streeter than street
the one of women, of life
i climb up to the bottom
i go down to the top
like a little engine
through the great city
street, they call me
street, they call me
suffering street, street of sadness
from loving much
street, they call me
streeter than street
they call me always and
at any hour
they call me handsome
always at a bad time
they call me whore
and also princess
street, they call me
that's my nobility
street, they call me
suffering street, street lost
from loving so much
street, they call me street, they call me
suffering street, street of sadness from loving so much (x5)
lyrics from internet:
Me Llaman Calle
Me llaman calle
pisando baldoza
la revoltosa y tan perdida
me llaman calle
calle de noche
calle de día
me llaman calle
voy tan cansada
voy tan vacia
como maquinita por la gran ciudad
me llaman calle
me subo a tu coche
me llaman calle
debo alegria
calle cansada, calle dolida
de tanto amar
voy calle abajo
voy calle arriba
no me rebajo
ni por la vida
me llaman calle
y ese es mi orgullo
yo se que un dia llegara
yo se que un dia
vendra mi suerte
un dia me vendrá a buscar
a la salida un hombre bueno
dando la vida y sin pagar
mi corazon no es de alquilar
me llaman calle (x2)
calle sufrida, calle tristeza
de tanto amar
me llaman calle
calle mas calle
me llaman calle la sin fututo
me llaman calle la sin salida
me llaman calle
calle más calle
la de mujeres de la vida
sube pa abajo
baja pa arriba
como maquinita
por la gran ciudad
me llaman calle (x2)
calle sufrida,
calle tristeza
de tanto amar
me llaman calle
calle más calle
me llaman siempre y
a cualquier hora
me llaman guapa
siempre a deshora
me llaman puta
tambien princesa
me llaman calle
es mi nobleza
me llaman calle
calle sufrida, calle perdida
de tanto amar
me llaman calle, me llaman calle
calle sufrida, calle tristeza de tanto amar (x5)
i'm reasonably close to a literal translation, with changes to fit the rhythm and number of syllables per line. "baldosa" is like ladrilla (a brick to build a house) except flat like a tile. based on context, i translate it as "cobblestones." Chao also uses "maquinita," literally "little machine," but this implies a small device in english (a machine that does something, but does not move itself - such as a laminating machine, a blood-glucose meter, or an ATM) - so i use "little engine" instead, to imply movement. the one line i'm not happy with is the translation of "no me rebajo"; if i wasn't worried about rhythm, i would translate it as "it doesn't dig ruts into me." the tricky part is that this word, rut, is almost never used as a present-tense transitive verb in english. we generally use it as a noun ("in a rut") or participial adjective ("a rutted road").
i'm not certain which meaning of "a la salida" too use. Chao has so many street metaphors, i'm tempted to say it means freeway exit, as in off-ramp. but of course since he's referring to a man, the man could simply be standing in the exit of a bar or hotel. either way, both versions would be symbolic exits, a way for the protagonist (street) to escape her life of prostitution.
one of the cool things here, he says "calle tristeza," as if Tristeza were the name of the street (i.e., turn left on Sadness Street). but in English, we switch the order, which breaks up the flow into the next line. i tried translating it as "street of sadness from loving so much," to put the object next to the gerund phrase. but with ih the preposition in the middle, my version loses the clever double grammar from the spanish version. i avoided the switch entirely in a different place, with the words "street wounded," because i can take advantage of wounded's dual status as a participial and as a conjugated verb. this cannot preserve the idea of a street name, but it does allow a smooth, singular connection to the next line.
another cool thing is Chao's line "calle más calle" (literally "street more street"), a common spanish way to artificially force a noun into an adjective. english does not do this; however, there are poetic forms that approximate it. i think of the Blade Runner (1982) quote and White Zombie song, "more human than human." logically this makes no sense, but we can understand the intent of this slogan: the replicants/androids are better at imitating humans than we are at being humans. so we can extend this concept to other things, especially when we turn nouns directly into slang adjectives. "christmas" (noun) becomes "christmasy" (adjective). i could claim "this christmas is more christmasy than last year." sounds odd, but you can understand. this is what Chao is doing with street. so i turn street into a fake adjective ("streeter"), then translate it as "streeter than street."
i inverted the refrain ("me llaman calle" becomes "street, they call me") to make the throchees fit. either way is grammatical, in either language. as a side effect, "street" is sometimes read as enjambment, part of the previous line. as in the 3rd and 4th line, "the revolting and the lost street." this works most of the time, especially in last full stanza, when the enjambed lines allow the refrain to appear split in the middle, across two lines with multiple subjects: "street, they call me/streeter than street/they call me always and/at any hour." do they always call her street? yes. do they always call her at any hour? yes.
my full translation:
street, they call me
street, they call me
walking cobblestones
the revolting and the lost
street, they call me
street of night
street of day
street, they call me
i go so tired
i go so empty
like a little engine through the great city
street, they call me
i climb in your car
street, they call me
i owe happiness
tired street, street wounded
from loving so much
i go to the bottom of the street
i go to the top of the street
it doesn't rut me [it doesn't dig ruts in me]
neither does life
street, they call me
and that's my pride
i know one day it will arrive
i know one day
my luck will come
one day come looking for me
at the exit[off-ramp], a good man
giving life without a fee
my heart's not for rent
street, they call me
street, they call me
suffering street, street of sadness
from loving so much
street, they call me
streeter than street
they call me the street with no future
they call me the street with no exit
street, they call me
streeter than street
the one of women, of life
i climb up to the bottom
i go down to the top
like a little engine
through the great city
street, they call me
street, they call me
suffering street, street of sadness
from loving much
street, they call me
streeter than street
they call me always and
at any hour
they call me handsome
always at a bad time
they call me whore
and also princess
street, they call me
that's my nobility
street, they call me
suffering street, street lost
from loving so much
street, they call me street, they call me
suffering street, street of sadness from loving so much (x5)
lyrics from internet:
Me Llaman Calle
Me llaman calle
pisando baldoza
la revoltosa y tan perdida
me llaman calle
calle de noche
calle de día
me llaman calle
voy tan cansada
voy tan vacia
como maquinita por la gran ciudad
me llaman calle
me subo a tu coche
me llaman calle
debo alegria
calle cansada, calle dolida
de tanto amar
voy calle abajo
voy calle arriba
no me rebajo
ni por la vida
me llaman calle
y ese es mi orgullo
yo se que un dia llegara
yo se que un dia
vendra mi suerte
un dia me vendrá a buscar
a la salida un hombre bueno
dando la vida y sin pagar
mi corazon no es de alquilar
me llaman calle (x2)
calle sufrida, calle tristeza
de tanto amar
me llaman calle
calle mas calle
me llaman calle la sin fututo
me llaman calle la sin salida
me llaman calle
calle más calle
la de mujeres de la vida
sube pa abajo
baja pa arriba
como maquinita
por la gran ciudad
me llaman calle (x2)
calle sufrida,
calle tristeza
de tanto amar
me llaman calle
calle más calle
me llaman siempre y
a cualquier hora
me llaman guapa
siempre a deshora
me llaman puta
tambien princesa
me llaman calle
es mi nobleza
me llaman calle
calle sufrida, calle perdida
de tanto amar
me llaman calle, me llaman calle
calle sufrida, calle tristeza de tanto amar (x5)
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