[BRIEF NOTE] Back in Context
Feb. 29th, 2004 07:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldI've mentioned here how I've recently watched Strange Days on DVD. This encouraged me to dig the excellent original soundtrack from my book of CDs. There's a lot of good tracks: Skunk Anansie's "Selling Jesus" and "Feed," Tricky's "Overcome," Lords of Acid's "The Real Thing," Graeme Revell and Lori Carson's haunting "Fall in the Light." The French world-music sampling group Deep Forest has two tracks on it, in tune with the general cosmopolitan postmodernism prevalent in the film itself. The first is song "Coral Lounge." The second is possibly my favourite song, a collaboration with Peter Gabriel called "While the Earth Sleeps."
Until recently, I've never understood the lyrics to "While the Earth Sleeps," mainly because most of them aren't sung in English. I could hear one verse, in some language--probably from post-Communist Europe, given Deep Forest's recording proclivities, hence probably Slavic or possibly Magyar--be repeated over and over again, with a female singer beginning and then being joined by Gabriel. Interspersed between the repetitions of these verses is a three-line refrain sung by Peter Gabriel, the first line saying something about "letting go," followed by the two lines: "Oh the rest will never know/No, they'll never know."
Just yesterday, I googled the lyrics, and the song. To quote this source, "Deep Forest collaborated with Peter Gabriel on the fantastic song While the Earth Sleeps which was specially written for the film "Strange Days". Centred on a heart-wrenching vocal sample by Macedonian singer Kate Petrova, mixed with Mongolian chirps and the distant voices of the Tsinandali Choir (who hail from the European region of Georgia) all set to a driving dance beat and electronic basslines make this possibly the group's greatest track to date!"
Anyways, the Macedonian lyrics are simple enough:
And in English translation:
Before I understood the lyrics, I guess I understood them more as syllables which sounded nice, indistinguishable from the aforementioned Mongolian chirps and distanced voices of the Tsinandali choir. Now, I'm trying to fit them with the movie--the lyrics do fit with the restraints imposed on the protagonists, by society and by themselves, I suppose. I'm not sure how much the song has gained or lost in my appreciation, though.
Until recently, I've never understood the lyrics to "While the Earth Sleeps," mainly because most of them aren't sung in English. I could hear one verse, in some language--probably from post-Communist Europe, given Deep Forest's recording proclivities, hence probably Slavic or possibly Magyar--be repeated over and over again, with a female singer beginning and then being joined by Gabriel. Interspersed between the repetitions of these verses is a three-line refrain sung by Peter Gabriel, the first line saying something about "letting go," followed by the two lines: "Oh the rest will never know/No, they'll never know."
Just yesterday, I googled the lyrics, and the song. To quote this source, "Deep Forest collaborated with Peter Gabriel on the fantastic song While the Earth Sleeps which was specially written for the film "Strange Days". Centred on a heart-wrenching vocal sample by Macedonian singer Kate Petrova, mixed with Mongolian chirps and the distant voices of the Tsinandali Choir (who hail from the European region of Georgia) all set to a driving dance beat and electronic basslines make this possibly the group's greatest track to date!"
Anyways, the Macedonian lyrics are simple enough:
Dali znaesh mila majko
Shto sum ne srekjna?
Cel den doma sama sedam
Nadvor ne smejam
And in English translation:
Do you know dear mother
How unhappy I am?
All day I sit at home alone
I'm not allowed outside
Before I understood the lyrics, I guess I understood them more as syllables which sounded nice, indistinguishable from the aforementioned Mongolian chirps and distanced voices of the Tsinandali choir. Now, I'm trying to fit them with the movie--the lyrics do fit with the restraints imposed on the protagonists, by society and by themselves, I suppose. I'm not sure how much the song has gained or lost in my appreciation, though.
