Rotankolo by Maustetytöt - English lyrics translation
Rathole
Finnish lyricsVia album liner notes. |
English lyricsTranslated by AI with human checking and research. Thank you lilli m for numerous important corrections. |
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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 |
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viimeiset kahvit jään
SEO:lle juomaan hiljaista ollut no sen kyllä huomaa painavat aiheet taas 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 the same heavy topics make people talk |
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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 like the magic of a backwater town even killing time wouldn’t make it die |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 like the magic of a backwater town even killing time wouldn’t make it die |
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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.
“heavy topics make people talk”
Literally, “heavy topics play the mouth,” a manifestation of the versatility with which Finns employ their verb for “to play,” “soittaa.” One plays a phone (calls) and one plays a piano, as lilli m points out.
“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.”
“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!
Differences from liner notes
Numerous line breaks were added to match pauses in the vocals. Punctuation was added for clarity when there did not seem to be ambiguity in the meaning of the words. Quote marks were added for the same reason.
Transcription/translation credits
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.
Corrections
Corrections or other notes welcomed at ryantate@ryantate.com!