Part of Ascensus Casusque Sigii Sidorum et Aranearum Martis, a project to translate Ziggy Stardust into Latin
Back to Moonage Daydream — Forward to It Ain't Easy
Starman
by David Bowie
Didn't know what time it was, the lights were low
I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was laying down some rock 'n' roll — lot of soul, he said
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren't no DJ, that was hazy cosmic jive
There's a Starman waiting in the sky,
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a Starman waiting in the sky,
He's told us not to blow it
’Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me:
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
I had to phone someone, so I picked on you
Hey, that's far out, so you heard him too
Switch on the TV — we may pick him up on Channel Two
Look out your window, I can see his light
If we can sparkle, he may land tonight
Don't tell your papa, or he'll get us locked up in fright
There's a Starman waiting in the sky,
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a Starman waiting in the sky,
He's told us not to blow it
’Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me:
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
There’s a Starman waiting in the sky,
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a Starman waiting in the sky,
He's told us not to blow it
’Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me:
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
Stellus
ab D. Bovio
Nescivi quota hora esset, lumina erant obscura
In fidicine me reclinabam
Aliquis musicam ponebat — quam anima, dixit
Deinde sonus magnus conavitur marcescere
Ritu vocis lenti in unda vicum reveniebat
Non ductor erat, sed musica nebulosa stellarum
In caelo Stellus est,
Vellet venire nosque convenire
Sed putat ut mentes nostras disploderet
In caelo Stellus est,
Dicebat ne cadeamus
Nam cogitat id dignum esse
Me dixit:
Puelli id perdeant
Puelli eo uteantur
Omnia puelli saltent
Aliquid egere vocante, ergo te optavi
Hem, mea refert, etiam eum audivit
Ovidium lege — eum in volumine inveniamus
Per fenestram vide, luminem eius possum videre
Si possumus lucere, hodie egrediatur
Patrem tuum non narra, inve timore nos in custodia poneat
In caelo Stellus est,
Vellet venire nosque convenire
Sed putat ut mentes nostras disploderet
In caelo Stellus est,
Dicebat ne cadeamus
Nam cogitat id dignum esse
Me dixit:
Puelli id perdeant
Puelli eo uteantur
Omnia puelli saltent
In caelo Stellus,
Vellet venire nosque convenire
Sed putat ut mentes nostras disploderet
In caelo Stellus est,
Dicebat ne cadeamus
Nam cogitat id dignum esse
Me dixit:
Puelli id perdeant
Puelli eo uteantur
Omnia puelli saltent
Translation Notes
This song was pretty tricky in the translation. In addition to being highly rhythmic, the song's message and the intention of the word choice is important to establishing story and tone. Briefly, it tells about some unnamed youth who, after hearing Moonage Daydream played on the radio, calls a friend and sets out to follow a new star in the sky — Ziggy Stardust's spaceship. It's unclear whether this is the same youth who becomes one of Ziggy's followers and denies him in Lady Stardust. I like to think that it is.
I found it next to impossible to maintain the original rhythm of the song. This is evident if you look at the refrain: some lines have about half the number of syllables as the English, some twice as many. I quickly reached the conclusion that I'd be better off capturing meaning and the style of speaking than matching rhythm. The style of speaking was difficult, but working from my nonexistent knowledge of everyday spoken Latin, I tried to slip in the occasional hem or the like.
There were a number of references to objects and concepts that wouldn't have been around in the time of the Romans. For example, instead of the speaker leaning back on a radio (line 2), he now leans back on a court musician. "That weren't no DJ, that was hazy cosmic jive" (line 6) becomes "That wasn't a conductor, that was the hazy music of the stars." I went with a literal translation of "blow our minds" (line 9) — Ziggy is now afraid that he will explode our minds.
I toyed with coming up with a new word — bugio, bugire (to boogie) — but decided simply to let all the children dance (line 16).
A particularly fun change was the line "Turn on your TV — we may pick him up on Channel Two," (line 19) which I changed to "Read your Ovid — we may find him in Volume Two." A completely nonsensical change, for Ovid would have had no mention of Ziggy Stardust, unless his coming had already been a myth, in which case it may well have made it into Ovid's Metamorphoses. But that's neither here nor there.