Ryan Tate

Journalist in Brooklyn, New York

Rotankolo by Maustetytöt - English lyrics translation

Rathole

Video: Maustetytöt: Rotankolo

Finnish lyrics

Via album liner notes.

English lyrics

Translated by AI (Transcribe.com, Google Translate, ChatGPT) with a lot of (non-Finnish-speaking) human second guessing and research.

Thank you lilli m for corrections on "running at the mouth" line, important missing word in opening line of second verse, understanding of weather saying, "you can say that again," phrase ordering, and two stanzas that belonged together but were broken up.

Tänään oon ottanut
koulusta lomaa,
apteekin hyllyltä
lääkettä omaa.
Pysähdyn torilla, siellä ei ketään.
Taidanpa itsekin
lähteä vetään.

Today I’ve taken
a break from school,
from the pharmacy shelf,
my own medicine.
I stop at the square, there’s no one there.
I think I might
just take off too.

Viimeiset kahvit jään
SEO:lle juomaan.
Hiljaista ollut, no
sen kyllä huomaa.
Painavat aihetta, soittavat suuta.
"Pidellyt ilmoja"
"Sanopa muuta"

My last coffee I'll stay
to drink at SEO.
It’s been quiet, well,
you can certainly tell.
They keep grinding the same topic, running at the mouth.
"We've had some weather"
"You can say that again"

Helvetin ahdistava rotankolo.
Sääliksi käy nämä ihmispolot.
Päivät toisiaan
täällä vain toistaa.
Selittämättä jää tää poissaolo.
Oon kuusitoista ja niin paha olo.
Nyt poissaololla
mä aion loistaa
Kuin tuppukylän taika,
tappamallakaan
ei kuollut aika.

A hellishly oppressive rathole.
I feel sorry for these pitiful people.
The days here
just repeat themselves.
This absence remains unexplained.
I’m sixteen and I feel so bad.
Now by my absence
I’m going to shine
Like the magic of a backwater town,
even killing time
wouldn’t make it die.

Sateisiin hukkuivat
taas enon pellot.
Sunnuntaikirkolla
soi juorukellot.
Taskusta varastin taas röökiaskin.
Aseman portailla
vaunuja laskin.

In the rains drowned
again uncle's fields.
At the Sunday church
The gossip bells are ringing.
From a pocket, I stole another pack of smokes
On the station steps
I counted the train cars.

Hyvästi äiti ja
muut kylähullut.
Ei meistä kuitenkaan
mitään ois tullut.
Erehdyit jos satuit sellaista luuleen.
Tapoin vain aikaa, nyt
katoan tuuleen.

Goodbye mother and
the rest of the village idiots.
We wouldn't have
amounted to anything anyway.
You were mistaken if you happened to think so.
I was just killing time, now
I vanish into the wind.

Helvetin ahdistava rotankolo.
Sääliksi käy nämä ihmispolot.
Päivät toisiaan
täällä vain toistaa.
Selittämättä jää tää poissaolo.
Oon kuusitoista ja niin paha olo.
Nyt poissaololla
mä aion loistaa
Kuin tuppukylän taika,
tappamallakaan
ei kuollut aika.

A hellishly oppressive rathole.
I feel sorry for these pitiful people.
The days here
just repeat themselves.
This absence remains unexplained.
I’m sixteen and I feel so bad.
Now by my absence
I’m going to shine
Like the magic of a backwater town,
even killing time
wouldn’t make it die.

Helvetin ahdistava rotankolo.
Sääliksi käy nämä ihmispolot.
Päivät toisiaan
täällä vain toistaa.
Jossain on oltava minulle paikka.
Kävelen, liftaan tai lennän vaikka.
Nyt poissaololla
mä aion loistaa
Kuin tuppukylän taika,
tappamallakaan
ei kuollut aika.

A hellishly oppressive rathole.
I feel sorry for these pitiful people.
The days here
just repeat themselves.
Somewhere there must be a place for me.
I'll walk, hitchhike — let's just go.
Now by my absence
I'm going to shine
Like the magic of a backwater town,
even killing time
wouldn’t make it die.

Notes

"SEO"

Finnish gas station chain.

"We've had some weather"

Literally, "held the airs," more broadly, "the weather has kept." Understood and used as translated or, more narrowly, "weather conditions have held." Typically used as conversational filler. Thanks lilli m for help with this.

"You can say that again"

Literally, "say something else," but used to mean, "I agree." The lyrics may be playing with the opposing meanings ("Say something else" / "You can say that again"), as lilli m observes.

"Now by my absence / I'm going to shine"

Variation on the idea of being conspicuous by one's absence ("loistaa poissaolollaan").

"smokes"

From a colloquial, young person's term for cigarette, "rööki," itself from the Swedish word for smoke, rök. Thanks lilli m!

Corrections

Corrections or other notes welcomed at ryantate@ryantate.com!

More Maustetytöt English lyrics