Petr Novák's life story strikes as one of the rather tragic ones in the history of pop music. In his late teens, he was a big fan of the Beatles, and he and his two friends founded a band. They called themselves simply - "Beatles". Of course, before they made their first recording, they changed their name. In 1965, as "George and Beatovens", they recorded a few songs on a tape recorder and sent them to Jiří Černý, at the time director of the radio hit parade Houpačka. He picked two songs - "Já budu chodit po špičkách" and "Povídej" (Tell Me). The songs became an immediate success. Novák's two friends were drafted, but after their return two years later, the band resumed its track. This was the time of the greatest artistic success for Novák.
Unfortunately, again, the political circumstances came to play. Novák got in trouble right in 1969 when, at the music festival Bratislava Lyre, he declared a minute of silence for Jan Palach. Due to his popularity, he did not get an official ban to perform, but the regime that frowned upon western-influenced music and his notorious hard-partying and drinking (combined with not eating; at one point, he would have a beer instead of breakfast, and then another instead of lunch) encouraged organizers not to hire him any more. After his lyricist Ivo Plicka emigrated in 1975, Novák was never able to fully resume his once-promising career. After '89, there was a renewed interest in his music, but due to his anorexia, he was getting ill, and he died in 1997 (aged 51) of heart failure and total exhaustion of his organism.
His friends recall him as being incredibly sensitive and kind. This reflects in both his songs and his vocal performance - a high, tender voice with a melancholic, romantic quality. His songs cover a large variety of subjects - from a tender lover putting his girlfriend to sleep, to the confession of a dying clown, but what connects all of them is profound sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and contemplation.
Já budu chodit po špičkách
Zavři
close, shut
pusu
mouth
a
and
jdi
go
spát,*
sleep
Close your mouth and go to bed,
Já budu chodit po špičkách,
Já budu chodit po špičkách,
Já budu chodit po špičkách...
vždyť
after all
už
already, yet
bude
will be, is going to be
brzo
soon, shortly
den,
day, daylight
After all, it will be daylight soon
nech
let, have
si
reflexive pronoun; "to yourself"
o mně
about me
něco
something
zdát,**
to be dreamt
Dream something about me,
ať
let, may (wish)
je
is
krásný
beautiful
ten
that
tvůj
your, of yours
sen.
dream
Let that dream of yours be beautiful.
Já
I
budu
will, am going to
chodit
walk
po špičkách,
on tiptoes
I'll walk on tiptoes,
snad
perhaps, hopefully
tě
you (acc.)
tím
[by] that (instr.)
nevzbudím,
[I] won't wake you up
Hopefully I won't wake you by that,
až
when, after (future)
slunce
sun
vyjde
[will] come out, rise
v
in
tmách,
darknesses (loc.pl.)
When the sun rises in the darkness
polibkem
[by, whith] a kiss (instr.)
tě
you (acc.)
probudím.
wake [sb.] up
I'll wake you with a kiss.
Jdi
go
si
[reflexive pronoun] yourself
lehnout
lie down
ať
see, mind (that)
už
already, yet
spíš,
[you] sleep, are sleeping
Go to bed, mind that you're sleeping already,
ať
so that, so as
z
from
toho
that (dat.)
snu
dream (dat.)
něco
something
máš,***
[you] have
So as you can enjoy the dream,
ráno
[in the] morning
až
when, after
se probudíš,
[you] wake [yourself] up
In the morning, when you wake up,
polibek
[a] kiss
mi
[to] me (dat.)
taky
too, also
dáš.
[you] will give
You'll kiss me too.
Já budu chodit po špičkách,
I'll walk on tiptoes,
snad tě tím nevzbudím,
Hopefully I won't wake you by that,
až slunce vyjde v tmách,
When the sun rises in the darkness
polibkem tě probudím.
I'll wake you by a kiss.
Já budu chodit po špičkách,
I'll walk on tiptoes,
snad tě tím nevzbudím,
Hopefully I won't wake you by that,
až slunce vyjde v tmách,
When the sun rises in the darkness
polibkem tě probudím.
I'll wake you by a kiss.
Rozhoď****
spread, cast
vlasy
hair
na
on, upon
polštář
pillow
Spread you hair on the pillow
a
and
sni
dream (imper.)
o mně
about me
krásnej
beautiful
sen,
dream
And dream a beautiful dream of me,
nebo
or, otherwise
ráno
[in the] morning
nepoznáš,
[you] won't be able to tell
Or, in the morning, you won't [be able to] tell
že
that
je
is
tady
here
nový
new
den.
day
That a new day has come.
Já budu chodit po špičkách...
Já budu chodit po špičkách...
Notes:
*) In Czech, you say "jít spát" - literally, to go to sleep - in the sense of "to go to bed".
In the second stanza, the lyrics go "jdi si lehnout", which literally means "go lie down", but again, it's used in the meaning of "go to bed".
**) In this case, the sentence structure in Czech and English is quite different. This is because the English word, "to dream", is active: "I am dreaming about...", whereas in Czech, it is passive (used with a reflexive pronoun): "Zdál se mi sen." = "I had a dream". The subject of the sentence is "sen", so literally it is "A dream was had by me." Therefore, literal transposition of this line into Czech would be something like: "Have something nice about me be dreamt [by you]."
Czech language also has an active word for "to dream" - "snít". It's usually used in the context of "to daydream": "Sním o tom, že se stanu astronautem." = "I dream of becoming an astronaut." This word is used in the last stanza of this song: "Sni o mně krásnej sen."
Czech language also has an active word for "to dream" - "snít". It's usually used in the context of "to daydream": "Sním o tom, že se stanu astronautem." = "I dream of becoming an astronaut." This word is used in the last stanza of this song: "Sni o mně krásnej sen."
***) "Mít z toho něco", literally to have something out of it, basically means to enjoy it or to profit from it.
****) This word shows a typical way how Czech works with prefixes. "Hodit" means "to throw", the prefix "roz-" indicates a motion away from each other, a spreading or scattering motion. You can combine the prefix with plenty of verbs: rozhodit, rozejít se (scatter, split up [company or couple]), rozhlédnout se (to look around).
No comments:
Post a Comment