I’ve noticed the many different ways that a lot you are learning about Australian culture (apart from real life) – ie from TV, books, forums, websites, literature, news…).but I wonder if any of you have considered another very good source: a particular kind of Oz song lyrics which can tell about life in Australia, or even just provide a good source of new or interesting words.
For many years with French, I’ve made a hobby of discovering nice stories from translating song lyrics, so I’ve decided to do some in English for a change. I hope they might be interesting. I’ll give foot-notes to make them easier to read.
So, I’ve thought of songs which fit the following categories (if anybody else has some they’d like to share, you’re welcome to join in.
• Musique populaire et bon son, bon voix de chanteurs/chanteuses
• son typique d’oz (Oz Rock), normalement beaucoup de guitare.
• mots ou phrases typique d’Oz (also metaphors often used in everyday speech or slang)
• groupes tres connu
• chansons celebre presque partout en Australie (mais pas connu dehors d’Australie peut etre)
• disponible pour essayer un peu sur Kazaa (pour la plupart)
For now, though they do fit into these categories easily, I’ll leave out Oz Super Groups like AC/DC, INXS and Midnight Oil, because it’s easy to find the CDs and song lyrics of them for yourself.
Holy Grail – Hunters & Collectors (annees: early 1990’s)
(K: ok, so it’s not an Oz story, but more King Arthur, but some words are typical of Oz).
Woke up this morning
From the strangest dream
I was in the greatest army
The world had ever seen
We were marching as one
On the road for the Holy Grail.
Started out, seeking fortune and glory
It’s a short song
But it’s a hell of a story
When you spend your lifetime
Trying to get your hands on the Holy Grail
But have you heard about the great Crusaders?
We ran into millions (*1)
And nobody got paid
Yeah we razed (*2) 4 corners of the globe
For the Holy Grail
All the locals scattered
They were hiding in the snow
We were so far from home
So how were we to know?
There’d be nothing left to plunder (*3)
When we stumbled on the Holy Grail
We were full of beans (*4)
But we were dying like flies (*5)
And those big black birds
They were circling the skies
And you know what they say –
Nobody deserves to die
Oh, I’ve been searching for an easy way
To escape the cold light of day
I’ve been high and I’ve been low
But I’ve got nowhere else to go
There’s nowhere else to go.
I followed orders,
God knows where I’ve been (*6)
When I woke up alone,
All my wounds were clean
I’m still here
I’m still full of the Holy Grail.
*1 = in millions of $ debt.
*2 = j’adore ce mot! ‘Razed’ = un peu comme ‘to mow down’ – to go over the top of et detuire tout, mais trop fort – it’s like flattening the entire earth while searching for qqc
*3 = voler
*4 = tres fort, plein d’energie’
*5 = dying very fast (ie comme les mouches d’Oz when sprayed with Mortein bug killer)
* 6 = il a aucune idée ou il etait
This one is one of my very favourites
Kate