Liube - Ty Nesi Menya Reka

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

I tried to translate the lyrics to this great song by Liube, "Ty Nesi Menya Reka." I'm including my translation below, please give me your corrections of the translation. I'm sure it is flawed. I also have a few specific questions about the lyrics below. Thanks!

1. In the first verse, is he asking "Where are the fields, my fields?" or is it a statement "Where the fields are, my fields."

2. The last line of the chorus, "How lonely is the moon, she awaits me in the sky"-- Does "she" refer to the moon, or is he speaking about a person?

3. What does the title literally mean? "Bring me to the river (imperative)"? If so, why is it "reka" and not "v reku" in the accusative as is usually the case with destinations?

Ты неси меня река за крутые берега
Где поля мои поля где леса мои леса
Ты неси меня река да в родные мне места
Где живет моя краса голубы у нее глаза

Как ночка темная как речка быстрая
Как одинокая луна на небе ждет меня она

За туманом огонек как же он еще далек
Ты мне ветер помоги милой весточку шепни
Знаю ждет меня краса проглядела в ночь глаза

Take me to the river, behind the steep bank
Where are the fields, my fields
Where are the forests, my forests
Take me to the river, yes to my native places
Where my beauty leaves, with blue eyes

How the night is dark, how the river is swift
How lonely is the moon, she awaits me in the sky

Behind the fog there is a light, naturally it is still far away
Help me wind, whisper a sweet message to me
I know my beauty is waiting for me, she overlooked my eyes in the night

Comments

[kostez.livejournal.com]

1. it's a statement
2. he speaking about a person, about his beauty
3. no, it means that he floats on the river, so the river bears him

[dyvo.livejournal.com]

1) It means - take me river where there are fields and forests...
2) actually it says - as lonely moon in the sky, as she awaits for me
3) He addresses to the river - take me, river, to....

In the line - "Behind the fog there is a light, naturally it is still far away" - better (and more emotionally) to translate - "oh, how far it still is"
Instead of - "Help me wind, whisper a sweet message to me" - "help me wind, whisper a message to my sweet love"
Instead of "she overlooked my eyes in the night" - "She looks forward to seeing me in the night"

[crimeanelf.livejournal.com]

1. It's a statement.

2. It has double-meanings, but as the native speaker I feel that the correct one is:
"Like the lonely moon in the sky, she awaits me". Meaning, the moon is in the sky and is lonely, and she [the girl?] awaits me just like the moon. BTW, it should be "like", not "how" in this case: "[she awaits me] like the night is dark". Or can you say same thing using "how"?"

3. IMHO you're missing a coma: "Ты неси меня, река", which is an equivalent of saying "Река, неси меня". So it means "River, carry me". Whenever I'm in the need of this construction in English, I say "carry me, you river", I'm wondering whether it makes any sense in English at all. :)

P.S.

1. In the end of the first couplet I believe you have a typo: "where my beauty lives".

2. In the third couplet, "whisper a sweet message to me" would be "мне ... милую весточку шепни". But the song says different thing: "мне помоги, милой весточку шепни". The fact of the dative case in such a strange place should make you suspicious, that they played with the word order. And indeed, the 'englified' order is: "ты мне помоги, шепни весточку милой" - "help me, whisper a message to my sweetheart".

3. In the last line, she "проглядела в ночь [свои] глаза". It does not mean she did anything to his eyes!!! It is an (idiomatic?) expression, that means, she was using her eyes sooooo much that the resource of her eyes is used up. I know it sounds funny. :) It is same construction as "все уши прожужжала [мне]" ("used the resource of my ears by meaningless chat"), "все ноги исходила [себе]" ("used the resourse of her legs by walking too much"). In the song, she cannot overlook HIS eyes, because she doesn't see with his eyes, she see with hers. :)

The rest is so good! Good job!

[tigerunge.livejournal.com]

Hi! I'll try to sum up the previous comments by translating the whole thing anew:

Carry me oh river, beyond the steep banks
Where the fields are, my fields, where the woods are, my woods
Carry me oh river, to my native lands (or maybe "home lands" would be better)
Where my beauty lives, blue are her eyes

As a dark night, as a swift river,
As a lonely moon in the sky, awaiting me she is

There's a light beyond the fog, oh how far it still is
Help me oh wind, whisper a word of me to her
I know, [she] waits for me[,] my Beauty, wore her eyes out in the night

***

"Да" has some other meanings besides being "yes" and in the third line it is used as an auxiliary word to make the phrase "да в родные мне места" more expressive, but when translaring to English, it's better to omit it. Or to replace it with "oh".

"Проглядела в ночь глаза" - though the dictionary says "she wore her eyes out", I don't know if this english idiom has exactly the same meaning.

Hope this helps! :)

[zhp.livejournal.com]

I would also say that "как ночка темная, как речка быстрая" refers to the girl's blue eyes, "her eyes are blue just like the dark night or the swift river"

[towarysc.livejournal.com]

+
If it was 'How the night is dark, how the river is swift', it would be 'как ночка темна, как речка быстра' or 'какая ночка темная, какая речка быстрая'.

[oryx_and_crake]

Ты неси меня река да в родные мне места

Note that the "да" here has nothing to do with "yes", it is rather something like an interjection enhancing the meaning of the surrounding words.

1. is a statement
2. in "Как одинокая луна на небе ждет меня она" you got "на небе" attributed incorrectly - it modifies "the moon" and not "her" which refers to the author's beloved. You don't have punctuation marks in the original text which is misleading, and it should be "как одинокая луна на небе, ждет меня она" (like a lonely moon in the sky, she awaits me). Otherwise it does not make sense because presumably the author's beloved is alive and therefore cannot be in the sky or heavens.
3. "Ты неси меня, река" means "carry me, river"

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

Thanks ya'll for the great feedback

[spiritrc.livejournal.com]

1. It's a statement. It must be clear from the intonation. It's also a part of a common "туда, где" expression. Here there is "за крутые берега" used instead of "туда". Your confusion comes from the lack of punctuation in the lyrics that you've posted. It actually should be like this:

Ты неси меня, река, за крутые берега,
Где поля мои поля, где леса мои леса.
Ты неси меня, река, да в родные мне места,
Где живет моя краса, голубы у нее глаза.

Как ночка темная, как речка быстрая,
Как одинокая луна на небе, ждет меня она.

За туманом огонек - как же он еще далек.
Ты мне ветер помоги, милой весточку шепни.
Знаю, ждет меня краса, проглядела в ночь глаза.

(if I made any mistakes in the punctuation here, there are people who will definitely correct me :) )

2. It's about a person, his beloved woman. However due to wrong intonation in the song you get confused.
It should sound as "как одинокая луна на небе (pause) ждёт меня она". I haven't heard this song (as I don't like Любэ), but I think that in order not to break the rhythm, they sing it as "как одинокая луна(pause) на небе ждет меня она".
That reminds me of a classic mistake done by children when they recite the famous part of Евгений Онегин. Many kids read it as "его лошадка, снег почуя (pause)несется в гору во весь дух на утренней заре пастух(pause) не гонит уж коров из хлева", so it sounds like it's a shepard who rushes to the hilltop in the morning, while actually it's a horse who rushes, and the shepard is the one who doesn't take his cows out of the cow-house.

3. It's "river, bring me to..." or "river, get me to..."

4. The translation

Take me,to the river, behind the steep bank
Where are the fields are, my fields
Where are the forests are, my forests
Take me,to the river,, yes to my native places
Where my beauty leaves, with blue eyes whose eyes are blue.

(You should not translate that "да" in "да в родные мне места" because in this case it's has nothing to do with "yes". It's either "and" or has no translation at all and is there to keep the rhythm only. It's an old-style way to keep the rhythm as I understand it. For instance, you may say "по морюшку синему" or "по морюшку по синему" or "по морюшку, да по синему" - it's all the same, but the latter sounds more like a bylina style).

How the night is dark, how the river is swift
How lonely is the moon in the sky, she awaits me in the sky

Behind the fog there is a light, naturally it is still far away
(I would say "behind the fog there is a light, though it's still too far away")
Help me wind, whisper a sweet message to me
I know my beauty is waiting for me, she overlooked my eyes in the night her eyes are tired looking for me in the night.