Part of Ascensus Casusque Sigii Sidorum et Aranearum Martis, a project to translate Ziggy Stardust into Latin
Back to Soul Love — Forward to Starman
Moonage Daydream
by David Bowie
I'm an alligator, I'm a mama-papa coming for you
I'm the space invader, I'll be a rock 'n' rolling bitch for you
Keep your mouth shut, you're squawking like a pink monkey bird
And I'm busting up my brains for the words
Keep your 'lectric eye on me, babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah!
Don't fake it baby, lay the real thing on me
The church of man, love, is such a holy place to be
Make me baby, make me know you really care
Make me jump into the air
Keep your 'lectric eye on me, babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah!
Keep your 'lectric eye on me, babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh!
Keep your 'lectric eye on me, babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah!
Diesomnium Aetas Lunaris
ab D. Bovio
Crocodilus sum, tibi mater-pater veniens ero
Invasor spatii sum, tibi musica femina ero
Tene os claudetum, ut avis simia rosa loquaris
Et mentem meum verbis dirumpo
Oculum electricum in me defige, amans,
Ad capitem radium-arcum pone
Vultum spatii tuum prope meum pelle, amans
In diesomnio aetas lunaris insane
Id non suppone, mihi vero loqua
Templum hominis, amans, sanctus locus inesse est
Me cre, amans, me coge scire ut vero cures
Me coge in aetherem transilire
Oculum electricum in me defige, amans,
Ad capitem radium-arcum pone
Vultum spatii tuum prope meum pelle, amans
In diesomnio aetas lunaris insane
Oculum electricum in me defige, amans,
Ad capitem radium-arcum pone
Vultum spatii tuum prope meum pelle, amans
In diesomnio aetas lunaris insane
Oculum electricum in me defige, amans,
Ad capitem radium-arcum pone
Vultum spatii tuum prope meum pelle, amans
In diesomnio aetas lunaris insane
Translation Notes
Obviously, with this song, there wasn't a huge effort to match the multiple levels of meaning, because frankly, I don't think that there are multiple levels of meaning. Unless, of course, this is some sort of Joycian discourse on deeper things. However, Bowie asserted that the song was supposed to be written by Ziggy Stardust himself (source), and is thus our introduction to the space alien-angel-rock star-messiah.
The first stanza was a lot of fun — the Latin is pretty much identical to the English, and the first two lines are just as bizarre and catchy. I did have to make the decision on how to translate "bitch," (line 2) and settled on femina: laying aside all advancements in gender relations in order to write what the Romans would have written, I think that a word meaning woman or wife, which could full well have the implication of an owned woman, is a good approximation of what Bowie meant by this line. Keep in mind that in addition to being our rock 'n roll savior, Ziggy Stardust is also a gender-bending alien and is trying to reach the youth with his message. Frankly, demeaning submission (and yes, offering to be somebody's bitch is demeaning and submissive) isn't too far off the mark of what Ziggy would mean.
I had to make a decision of how to translate "love" (as an address to the listener) and "babe." I settled on amans, which can mean lover. This seemed reasonable, especially since I could tuck it in all over the song without losing too many syllables.
Other than the title (a fairly straightforward neologism) The only approximation I had to make for words that didn't exist in Latin was translating "ray gun." For this, I decided to say ray-bow: radium-arcum. I'm not completely sure if Latin had the same meaning for "ray" as we do, but it seems like a reasonable assumption considering the list of words derived from radium.