Texas Girl at the funeral of her father - by Randy Newman

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aikidave
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Texas Girl at the funeral of her father - by Randy Newman

Post by aikidave »

mi li kama lukin ala lon kon. (or mi li weka lon kon)
mi tawa sike e tomo tawa telo kon.
mi pilin ni: tenpo ali la tomo tawa telo li weka.
mi awen sinpin wan.

o kalama musi uta e kalama musi pi pilin ike tawa jan pona.
o kalama musi uta e kalama musi pi pilin ike tawa mi.
o kalama musi uta e kalama musi pi pilin ike tawa jan pi tomo tawa telo.
jan li nasin mute tan telo suli.

mi awen sinpin wan lon ma supa.
suno li kama anpa.
telo li anpa.
mama mije o, tenpo kama la mi mute li tawa tomo tawa telo kon.

My attempt at translating lyrics of a Randy Newman song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzXODq41j6A
Comments / corrections please.

"Texas Girl at the funeral of her father" - Randy Newman

Here I am lost in the wind
'Round in circles sailing
Like a ship that never comes in
Standing by myself

Sing a sad song for a good man
Sing a sad song for me
Sing a sad song for the sailor
A thousand miles from the sea

Here I am alone on the plain
Sun's going down
It's starting to rain
Papa we'll go sailing
janKipo
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Re: Texas Girl at the funeral of her father - by Randy Newman

Post by janKipo »

jan li nasin mute tan telo suli.
A man isn't a path or many paths; I suppose 'jan li lon nasin mute' but 'nasin mute' doesn't amount to "many miles." Maybe, 'weka mute'.
mi awen sinpin wan lon ma supa.
Not sure what 'sinpin' does here -- not even "stand" in the original.
mama mije o, tenpo kama la mi mute li tawa tomo tawa telo kon.
'mama mije o mi tu li tawa kepeken tomo tawa telo kon'. I more literal -- I don't do poetic rules well.
janMato
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Re: Texas Girl at the funeral of her father - by Randy Newman

Post by janMato »

I'm not correcting anything here, I'm just adding another version.

Establish paralinguistic evidence. (If I can assume you know the general topic, I can start dropping modifers.)
jan li moli. pini la jan li mama meji. meli ni li jo e mama meji ni.
tenpo moli la meli li kalama musi tawa mama meli moli.

Lyrics:
mi sona ala e ni : ma seme li mi? mi li lon kon tawa.
mi li tawa sama sike. mi li tawa lon telo kepeken kon,
mi li sama e tomo tawa pi telo. tempo ala la tomo tawa li kama ala e tomo sama.
mi li weka e jan ale. mi li wan kin.

o kalama e pilin tawa mama mi
o kalama e pilin tawa mi
o kalama e pilin tawa jan pali pi telo suli e ni:
mama li lon telo suli poka ala ma mi

mi li weke e jan ale. mi li wan kin. mi li lon ma selo,
suno li weka,
telo li anpa,
tempo kama la mi en mama mi li tawa lon tomo suli lon ma moli

Shucks man, can we pick a sadder song?
janKipo
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Re: Texas Girl at the funeral of her father - by Randy Newman

Post by janKipo »

tomo tawa telo ('pi' needs two words after)
'kama tawa tomo' ('e' is for the thing you bring)
'o kalama e pilin ike tawa jan pona' (yeah, I know, but it has to be literal some times)
What's the 'e ni' (parallelling 'e pilin') doing?
'lon poka ala' I suppose. But this is "Parent is on the sea not near my land" and the original has him far from the sea. 'mama li weka tan telo suli' or so.
'ma supa' ("skin country" raises all sorts of inappropriate images).
'tenpo kama la papa o mi tu li tawa lon telo suli'

Well, there is "Mother's in the Baggage Car Ahead" and "There'll be one empty chair" but this is a contender.
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jan Josan
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Re: Texas Girl at the funeral of her father - by Randy Newman

Post by jan Josan »

janKipo wrote: 'tenpo kama la papa o mi tu li tawa lon telo suli'

Once again, good editing. But don't mix up your mamas and your papas.
janKipo
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Re: Texas Girl at the funeral of her father - by Randy Newman

Post by janKipo »

a a a a ! and Ooooops! (the mind, as the perfesser said, is a dark forest).
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