More Star-Spangled Translations

Will the outrages never cease? As if a Spanish version of the US national anthem weren't bad enough (not to mention Yiddish and Polish versions), it turns out the uppity Scotch have one too:

O am faic sibh gu moch an am bristeadh an tràth'
A ni dh'fhàg sinn fo uaill 'n am dol fodha na gréine,
Le chuid rionnagan soills' 'us na sgrìoban breac bàn
Thar an daighnich bho 'n àird troimh gach gàbhadh 'us éiginn?
'S gach ional-càtha 's gach fuaim bh' anns an iarmailt mu'n cuairt
Thug dhuinn dearbhadh troimh 'n oidhch' gu robh bhratach sin suas;
O! am bheil fathast a' bhratach air bheil breacadh nan reult
Os cionn dachaidh sluagh saor 'us àit' còmhnuidh nan treun?

And the kicker? The translation was composed by a Mrs. Catherine MacInnes, then resident in Boston, but a native of Framboise, Cape Breton. For those who aren't familiar with the place (and who weren't clued in by the French placename - "FRAM-boyz" pronunciation notwithstanding), that makes Mrs. MacInnes a CANADIAN. Someone tell Bill O'Reilly immediately.

Oh sure, there's a Gaelic O Canada (not to mention an Inuktitut one, and a Mi'kmaq one that you can listen to here), but that's Canada for you. The US is a much more delicate flower, unable to withstand the mighty divisive force of national anthem translations.

Is beag a ghearanas sinn, ge mòr a dh'fhuilingeas sinn, goes the Gaelic proverb: It's little we complain, though we suffer much. Which, I suppose, is neatly the reverse of the Republican credo.

•  The Anthem Ought Not to Be Translated...

  ...because a bellicose song like 'The Star Spangled Banner' is actually embarrassing as a national anthem. It's a horrible representation of the nation.   I would not want to be in the position of explaining it to foreigners and can't imagine why anyone who is not American would want to sing it.  

  by Grand Poobah on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 11:32:45 AM PDT

  •  First Verse is More Victimization Than Bellicose

    It's basically asking if the flag even survived a defensive battle.

    The French anthem is a whole lot more hostile. Class warfare too.

    by Gooserock on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 12:22:45 PM PDT

    •  Is it?

      Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
      What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
      Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
      O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
      And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
      Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
      Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
      O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

      On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
      Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
      What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
      As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
      Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
      In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
      'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
      O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

      And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
      That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
      A home and a country should leave us no more!
      Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
      No refuge could save the hireling and slave
      From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
      And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
      O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

      Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
      Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
      Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
      Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
      Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
      And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
      And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
      O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

      everything hinges on

      And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
      Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

      That's defiance.  No matter what happens, no matter how horrible, even the horror only serves to illuminate why you're there in the first place and what you're fighting for.

      That the 'flag was still there' is awesome.  Nothing could touch it.  Even as you lay dying, you could still look up and see that maybe everything will be alright after all, even though you're gone.  You aren't dying for no reason.

      That's what I take from it.

      Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
      O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

      This is just hope.  Like rechecking your numbers the second or third or fiftieth time because you can't really believe that you just won the lottery, but there it is and you want it to be so.. but you want it to be confirmed.

      To me.

      by just passing through on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 03:55:14 PM PDT

•  tha mi coma le mojo

  ach cuiribh thugam e, ma thogras sibh

  by Seonachan on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 11:36:49 AM PDT

  •  Have to Say This Was the Last Translation

    I expected to see! My Gaelic is limited to a few bits like sgian dubh and kilt (pardonnez-moi) but thanks for the read.

    by Gooserock on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 12:26:12 PM PDT

•  Enrico Pallazo(Leslie Nielsen),

  sang a stirring rendition, in Bushspeak, of our National anthem in "The Naked Gun".

  by irate on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 11:37:38 AM PDT

  •  Classic!!!! Thanks for reminding me!

    from IMDB:

    oh, say can you see, buy the dawn's early light,
    what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.
    who's bright strips and broad stars, in the parelious night,
    o'er the rampart's we watched, as the da da, da, da, da, da,
    and the rocket's red glare, lots of bombs in the air, gave proof to the night, that we still had a flag,
    oh say does that spangle banner wave,
    over all-l-l-l-l that's free,
    over the home,

    of the land,

    and the land of the free!

    by dougymi on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 11:41:49 AM PDT

    •  Without his lovely singing voice.,,,

      it really loses a lot of it's power.

      by irate on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 11:43:00 AM PDT

      •  sadly, true

        but I could see w singing it this way!  I just wouldn't want to hear it...

        by dougymi on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 11:45:13 AM PDT

•  Good to see Klingon on the list.

  I just posted a comment on Digby's site that we should just translate the song into Klingon and be done with it.

  I also think it's time for a new national anthem.  I nominate "Blitzkreig Bop" by the Ramones.  It's much easier to sing than "The Star Spangled Banner" and it already gets played at most sporting events.

  by Roddy McCorley on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 11:58:39 AM PDT

•  Bushspeak anthem

  That made me laugh.

  Look.  Can't you see?
  Um, in the morning, uh, light.
  That thing we saluted
  Last night.

  It's got red and white things,
  And other white pointy things.
  And that doesn't, um,  scan,
  But scanning is hard work.

  But there's bombs.
  Nukular bombs.
  And that's good.

  Doesn't that banner with the stars still wave over us?
  Over the land of the free, where freedom is on the march.
  And the home of good folks like us.
  But no terrrists.

  by Emerson on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 12:01:01 PM PDT

  •  and the chorus goes in the background

    "Oh I'm the Great Deceiver,
    Bring 'em on, bring 'em on."

    by Lepanto on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 12:03:52 PM PDT

  •  Bush's second verse ...

    .....
    ..........
    ................
    .....................
    ........................
    ..............................

    (cough)

    [********************************]

    uh, is that microphone still on?

    by AmericanRiverCanyon on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 12:10:07 PM PDT

    •  Yeah.

      Remember the box on his suit last election? I wonder if someone has to whisper the words to him, like John Ashcroft. Or maybe he has to lip-sync like Milli Vanilli.

      by Eternal Hope on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 04:41:44 PM PDT

•  (I'm not joking.) I'd love to find a Chinese

  translation.

  I'm learning Mandarin and I already have an mp3 of a translation of 'Gingle Bells' which is quite a scream...

  by Lepanto on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 12:02:17 PM PDT

•  It's worth noting that

  "404 File Not Found" has also been translated into a few different languages.

  by BobzCat on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 12:20:17 PM PDT

•  How about Gizoogle?

  Star-Spangled Banna

  by woldoog on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 12:28:57 PM PDT

•  Here's the Finnish translation

  by A. Simojoki:

     Oi te koitossa huomenen näättekö sen,
     mikä illalla ylpeyttä nostaen liehui,
     lipun juovat ja loiston sen tähtösien?
     Nehän intoa toi, sota julma kun riehui.
     Valot taiston ne näyttivät: Viirimme on
     yhä vartiopaikalla voittamaton!
     Tähtilippumme vieläkö nähdä nyt saan
     yllä vapauden maan, yllä urhojen maan?

     Tuolta loitolta, usvista pimeyden,
     tuhon tuottaja, vihamies, uhkaapi, surmaa.
     Mikä lausuhan, kohoten korkeuteen
     sinun silmiisi säihkyy ja mieltäsi hurmaa?
     Tähtilippumme näät, valo voittanut on,
     se on hulmuten auennut aurinkohon!
     Yhä saakoon nyt loistaa se kunniassaan,
     yllä vapauden maan, yllä urhojen maan!

  (I have to say it sounds really silly and overdramatic in Finnish, but then, most national anthems do)

  by tzt on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 01:27:11 PM PDT

•  Damn those Scotts and Canadians...

  don't they know a sacred icon when they see one?

  <g>

  by kredwyn on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 01:37:35 PM PDT

•  The problem is who is behind this.

  This was not a Latino spearheaded effort... this was the brainchild of an Englishman, who is himself a legal resident -- but he apparently followed the rules to do so.

  There's also the issue that this isn't really a true translation, it's a brand new song with new lyrics and a new thrust.

  That's not the national anthem, and it's not a translation of it; it doesn't have anything to do with the War of 1812 or of an allegorical fight that seemed hopeless but one's 'flag was still there' in spite of the bombings, the tragedies, the bloodshed.

  I don't know what it is... then again, the entire english translation of the spanish lyrics haven't been put out yet.  But we'll see.

  Why is an Englishman behind this?

  by just passing through on Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 03:49:16 PM PDT