Last night Lisa and I watched INXS Rock Star through the static of our little, practically zero reception-TV. One of the commercials was for the upcoming Johnny Cash bioflick. Did anyone catch this? They showed Leaf Phoenix, as Johnny Cash singing an absolutely terrible rendition of I Walk the Line. It couldn’t possibly be Johnny Cash’s voice. It sounded like they found some drunk hobo and had him record the track. Wait– imdb says that Leaf did the singing himself. Goodness, he’s no Sissy Spacek.
And mark my words, Jordis will be the next Michael Hutchence. And let’s hope she’s not into autoerotic asphyxiation.
All together!
Am allerschönsten war es doch zu Haus
Und doch zog’s mich einst in die Welt hinaus
Und in der Ferne suchte ich mein Glück
Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zurück
Sie schenkte mir die Liebe und ihr Herz
Doch ich bracht’ ihr nur Tränen, Leid und Schmerz
Denn ich verließ sie und damit mein Glück
Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zurück
Wer kennt den Weg zurück in jene Zeit
Den Weg zurück in die Vergangenheit
Den Weg nach Hause und zum ersten Glück
Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zurück
Am allerschönsten war es doch zu Haus…
I hesitate to post anything in German (whether I come up with it or I find it somewhere on the Net) because I always get inundated with corrections by well meaning Germans.
Sehr schoenes Gedicht. Alles richtig!
Very nice poem, all o.k. Who wrote it? Some Germans would consider it as “kitschig”.
Sehr schoenes Gedicht. Alles richtig!
Very nice poem, all o.k. Who wrote it? Some Germans would consider it as “kitschig”.
Jordis is probably the most talented person on that show (not just among the contestants). I’m just not sure though, if she’s right for the band INXS.
Hi Martin–
You didn’t listen to the mp3 that is linked to this entry! The poem is actually the lyrics to the German translation of Johnny Cash’s I Walk the Line.
IMO, it’s real difficult to render a song into another language. Usually a good translation of the lyrics won’t fit the rhythm and rhyme scheme of the original and as in this case finding words in the second language that fit the original rhythm and rhyme scheme usually loses some of the feeling that the original version conveys. I always thought the English translation of “Mackie Messer Moritat” (“Mack the Knife”)was pretty good at preserving the general feeling of the original even if the lyrics weren’t an exact translation. Somehow I don’t think the German version of “I Walk the Line” does as good a job of preserving the feeling of the original, although I think standing on their own the German lyrics aren’t bad.
I suppose translating songs whose lyrics don’t have any real meaning to anyone but the songwriter is probably pretty easy-for example, lots of REM’s songs would probably make just as much sense to everyone but Michael Stipe translated into German as they do in English.
What’s the frequency, Kenneth?
I also kinda like Mig. He might be a better fit since he’s Aussie like the rest of the INXS bunch. But Jordis is my pick since she is the only one I can listen to without cringing.
Sorry, I overlooked the link. Johnnny singing in German sounds a bit funny to me.
Translations are really difficult, in gerneral. They can only help a bit of understanding but never can replace the original. Exeption maybe technical/scientific translations. I find that the translation of poems is the most difficult, if not impossible task.