I've recently begun to listen to Markos Vamvakaris and would like help translating some of his lyrics to English. If there is a native Greek speaker who can help me I would really appreciate this. Dictionaries and google translate can only go so far, especially considering all the slang and antiquated expressions.
Κάποτε ήμουνα κι εγώ παιδάκι από τα φίνα
I think this line means something along the lines of:
And I once was a good-natured/good boy.
και η καρδιά μου επόνεσε για μια γλυκιά τσαχπίνα:
And my heart hurts for a sweet, smart, pretty girl.
I can't make heads or tails of the rest.
Όταν την έπαιρνα μαζί ο κόσμος με κοιτούσε.
μ' αυτή μου την αμόλησε και μ' άλλονε γυρνούσε.
Κι από το ντέρτι το πολύ, θολώνει το μυαλό μου.
και η ψυχή μου η δύστυχη σπαράζει απ' τον καημό μου.
Και από τότε πια κι εγώ, καμιά πια δεν γουστάρω
την τσίκα μου πάντα τραβώ, τον αργιλέ φουμάρω
Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ.
I know it's been more that a week that you posted it but I would like to have a try and translate it :)
Once I was a kid too from the good ones
and my heart was hurted for a sweet flirty girl
When I had her with me, people were watching me
But she dumped me and with someone else was wandering
And from all this sadness, my mind is muddy
and my poor soul is tearing to pieces from my longing.
And since then, I don't want anyone else
I always take my weed and smoke my hookah.
The composers/singers of that era, called "rebetes" they were known for smoking weed and τσίκα was something like this that they used in in hookah! :P
Ευχαριστώ πολύ. Both of your translations were very helpful and informative.
than*
I was once a guy who kept his cool
and my heart hurt for a sweet flirty girl
When I took her with me, the world was watching
But she shook me off, and with someone else went
And from the sadness, the more my mind gets stained
And the unhappiness tears my soul from my poor self
And from that moment on I'm no longer myself, nothing pleases me anymore
I always drag my girl with me, smoking my hookah