Università
di Roma Tre - Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia - Corso
di Laurea in Lingue e Comunicazione Internazionale |
Activity 6:
WINNERS!
first
prize (a 500 g. tin of Scottish Shortbread*):
Chiara Ferracioli,
second prize (a 300 g. tin of
Scottish Shortbread*): Simone
Giorgi
(*flown
in fresh from Glasgow!)
They
created the best "communicative-cultural" translation
of
the contemporary Scots ballad "The Green
Fields of France".
(Their
Italain versions will appear here soon...)
The Green Fields of France |
Dublin-born singer Karl Byrne performing The
Green Fields of France at O'Neill's Pub, Glasgow, on May 9,
2004. Click to hear the bootleg live recording of the song>
|
. While visiting the
Northeastern French border with Germany (scene of the bloodiest
battles during the First World War), Eric Bogle happened upon a
British military cemetery spread out over the green fields.
He noticed one cross in particular, bearing the name of a certain
William Mc Bride ("Willie" McBride), an Irish
lad killed at the age of 19. As the composer sat down and
began to reflect on the sense of war, the music of an old
Scottish dirge came to his mind.
|
Well
how do you do young Willie McBride,
|
.
Once
you have translated the lyrics, you can sing your version to a
karaoke
accompaniment: click here>
(The file is small so downloading is fast.)
Or play your own accompaniment
on the guitar, if you know how:
.
Alternate chords (thanks to Sven Henrich): G --> C Em --> Am C --> F Am --> Dm D --> G D7 --> G7 G Em C Am Verse 1: Well how do you do young Willie McBride, D D7 C G Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside, Em C Am And rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun ? D D7 C G I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done. Em C Am I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen D7 C G D When you joined the great fallen back in 1916. G Em C Am I hope you died well, and I hope you died clean, D D7 C G Or, young Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene ? D C G Chorus: Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly ? D C D Did they sound the Dead March as they lowered you down ? C G Em And did the the band play The Last Post and chorus ? C Am D G Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest ?
If you know German, you can compare your communicative-cultural translation with this one by the folk singer Hannes Wader. Eric Bogle apparently considers it an excessively auteur translation, since on his web site he calls it a 'translation', using quotation marks to distance himself, and complains: "Wader changed all the words!"
Weit in der Champagne im Mittsommergrün Ja, auch dich haben sie schon genauso belogen Hast du, toter Soldat, mal ein Mädchen
geliebt? Soldat, gingst du gläubig und gern in den
Tod? Es blieb nur das Kreuz als einzige Spur
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