Lyr Req: Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) (Bob Dylan)

Subject: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: GUEST,Robert M
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 03:23 PM

Hello!

I need help with translating correctly these Spanish lyrics below to English stanzas, that can be understood in some way.

Here is a short sound clip of just the Spanish vocals:
Audio clip


I saw that the DigiTrad had some lyrics by Bob Dylan so I hope I'm not entirely wrong in posting at MudCat.

The tune (song) is: Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) with additional Spanish verse sung by Salvador Duran
Performance: (Willie Nelson & Calexico) Soundtrack to the movie "I'm Not There"


This lyric I don't know if Dylan wrote himself or if Willie Nelson with Calexico (band) just made it up for the session.

Here is the spanish lyrics (with much help from a few helpful web sources (and a few contributed words that I heard were missing from the sources:

"Como el viento en la montaña lo encontré la última vez
tratando encontrar del alma o perdiendo los ver ti
con te medio del abismo el amor que no encontró
en la noche los tiempos con el oro se quedó"


Here is a Google Translate try of the above words:

"As the wind on the mountain I found the last time
trying to find the soul or losing you see
with you through the deep love that is not found
at night time with the gold was"


Here below is some alternative words used:

"Como el viento en la montaña lo encontré la última vez
tratando encontrar del alma o perdiendo los ver ti
como el medio del abismo el amor que no encontró
en la noche los tiempos con el oro se quedó"


The translator changed quite a bit this time:

"As the wind on the mountain I found the last time
trying to find the lost soul or see you
as the means of the deep love that is not found
at night time with the gold was"


The reason why I posted here is that I saw some Spanish speaking here that also spoke English, and they probably know what to make of these word (or maybe some English speaking that know Spanish)


Hope you can help with this small matter.

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: GUEST,Robert M
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 04:01 PM

But anyone are free to contribute if they know something about this, I should add...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Monique
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 05:10 PM

YouTube

Como el viento en la montaña lo encontré la última vez
tratando encontrar el alma o perdiendo *
como en medio del abismo el amor que no encontró
en la noche ** los tiempos con el oro se quedó

* something is missing here. I can't hear the end of the line but "Perdiendo los ver ti" has no meaning, it has to be something else.
** en la noche los tiempos... weird, I'd say it's either"en la noche de los tiempos" with "de" slurred with the end of noche, or "en la noche en los tiempos".

Like the wind in the mountain I met him last time,
(he was ) trying to find his soul or loosing ???
As in the middle of the abyss, the love that he didn't find
in the night of time he stayed with the gold.

Anyone else?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: GUEST,Robert M
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 05:43 PM

I have one other guess at the second line:

"Tratondo en-contrar el alma o 'perviento' (los ver ti)"

"Los ver ti", is what I heard it sounded like he was singing
when adjusting the volume.

Hope it helps rather than confuse.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Monique
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 06:15 PM

He does say "perdiendo". Besides "perviento" has no meaning and there's "tratando encontrar" (trying to find) or "perdiendo" (loosing) that sounds like a good opposition/balance.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Monique
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 06:30 PM

Maybe he can be asked on his facebook or myspace pages?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: GUEST,Robert M
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 07:50 AM

Hi again!
It's really strange that Google-Translate can get any meaning out of those words (perviento, los ver ti)
, possibly a bug in the Translator. "Los ver ti" means 'seeing you' in both Babelfish and Google.
And "perviento" meant in Google: "fervently" (eagerly)
One wonders if translators can be trusted at all...

Here is the sites:
https://www.facebook.com/calexico?sk=wall
http://www.myspace.com/casadecalexico
http://www.casadecalexico.com

-They didn't answer any email to the site and there appears to be no contact info on the
Myspace and Facebook sites
Generally it seems lyrics questions don't seem to interest anyone when emailing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: GUEST,Robert M
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 07:52 AM

One wonders if "Web-Translators" can be trusted at all, it should read.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Mr Happy
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 08:05 AM

Babelfish:

" As the wind in the sum ña encontr 쳌E úl tima time trying to find of the soul or losing to see you to them with I mediate of the abyss the love to you that not encontr 쳌E br> at night the times with gold qued 쳌E

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Monique
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 12:45 PM

I tried "perviento" into Google translation and it indeed gives "fervently". Did you try to put "fervently" to get the Spanish? it gives "fervorosamente" without any "perviento" as a synonym, then put "perviento" into the RAE dictionary and it says there's not such a word. Put it in Google window and sites come up with it spelled thus instead of "pervierto".
I also got that: "No se ha encontrado el término perviento en el diccionario pero quizá Ud. quiso decir alguna de las siguientes palabras: per, ferviente, pelviano, persiano, paramento, par, purulento, por, pez. " ~ the word perviento wasn't found in the dictionary but maybe you meant any of the following words: per, ferviente, pelviano, persiano, paramento, par, purulento, por, pez. (the bold are mine) so translators sometimes give the translation to a word with an approximate spelling.

"Los ver ti" can mean "seeing you" in Babelfish and Google -I got "the view you"- but in real life it doesn't mean anything. First, Romance languages have a pretty complicated conjugation compared to English and the verb here is in the infinitive, second "los" can be article = "the" (masc. pl) or personal pronoun (mas. pl.)= "them", and before a verb it's a pronoun = them, third "to see you" would be "verte", it could eventually be "verte a ti" but it can't be "ver ti". I can't give you an equivalent in English, there's only one form for the object pronoun while there are two in Sp., weak "te" strong "ti".
Supposing it were "los vertí", it'd mean "I poured/spilled/shed them" what would these "los" be?...and btw Google gives "the poured" for "los vertí" and if you write it without the accute accent, it translates it as "the vertical" -no further comment!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 02:46 PM

Two problems, either of which may cause a problem.
We have not seen a written version of the verse, but only a possible transcription of what is heard.
The singer may have no real knowledge of Spanish, or poor memory, but improvises on what he thinks he remembers or saw.

In other words, it is a waste of time to try to decipher the lines as posted (although the general idea of the verse is reasonably clear).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Monique
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 02:56 PM

This guy was born in Sonora, Mexico, so let's hope it's just the way he sings that doesn't allow a good understanding.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 03:58 PM

Oh, well- the Dylan lyrics make no sense, so it don't make no nevermind, no how.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: GUEST,Robert M
Date: 07 Apr 11 - 08:29 AM

Monique, thanks for the help with the grammatical bit and with the lyrics.
Seems someone who did know some Spanish provided the web with most of the words above.
My guess would be that singers in almost any language take great liberties with words and grammatics.
It's quite funny when some websites offer you another language version and one finds out that every word
was translated with Google or Babelfish!


"Como el viento en la montaña lo encontré la última vez
Tratando encontrar del alma o perdiendo 'los ver ti'
Como el medio del abismo el amor que no encontró
En la noche 'de' los tiempos con el oro se quedó"

Even if those words have no meaning in real life
that is the closest I can get for now regarding sound.
I have only studied Spanish briefly long time ago so I can't get out no sense of these stanzas, either.

I will try and mail Calexico again, adding those words to
the message, possibly I have more luck this time,
when I have something more to say other than just a question.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Monique
Date: 07 Apr 11 - 09:02 AM

Robert, I know I can be pretty stubborn (even very pretty stubborn!) but in Sp. you don't find "of" something, you find something so it's "encontrar el alma" not "del" alma.
I'll tell you that for me these lines only suggest an image of a guy lost in the middle of nowhere, pretty despaired, with only gold in his hands -and gold has only value if you can exchange it for something else.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: GUEST,Robert M
Date: 07 Apr 11 - 09:23 AM

Ok, I will try and correct myself without an account. I mostly type what I hear, if I come across a pronunciation that I haven't heard most of the time I write the "wrong" word. It's some sort of trial & error, I think.

Is it something wrong with this site, btw, IE8 warns me of script-running over several websites? It's incredible hard for me to type anything!

Maybe the 'Admin' can help?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: GUEST,Robert M
Date: 08 Apr 11 - 10:25 AM

Ok, I just saw the message from the Admin regarding the problems with the site, so I leave that subject.


Anyway, I post the so far corrected lyrics so to correct my above post:

"Como el viento en la montaña lo encontré la última vez
tratando encontrar 'el alma' o perdiendo '(los ver ti)'
como en medio del abismo el amor que no encontró
en la noche '(de)' los tiempos con el oro se quedó".

These lyrics should be sung to the 'chorus parts' of the song written by Bob Dylan:

"There's a wicked wind still blowin' on that upper deck..."

"Well, the last thing I remembered before I stripped and kneeled..."

I have also contacted Salvador Duran (the singer and possible writer of the above lyrics) if these words are indeed the correct ones and for a possible meaning of the words.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Mik2
Date: 06 Aug 14 - 06:28 PM

Ok, I will shamelessly steal some info from the comments to the audio-video of the recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiShjSrGsPk


In spanish: Como el viento en la montaña (like the wind in the mountain)
lo encontré la última vez (i found him for the last time)
tratando de encontrar el alba (trying to find the morning)
o perdiendo la fé (or losing his faith)
En el medio del abismo (in the middle of the abyss)
el amor que no encontró (the love he didn't found)
en la noche de los tiempos (in the night of the times)
con el oro se quedó (he kept the gold)

The part in spanish is: "Como el viento en la montaña lo encontré la última vez
tratando de encontrar el alma o perdiendo como el medio del abismo el amor que no encontró en la noche los tiempos con el oro se quedó"

The parts you couldn't understand he's saying, I think

"perdiendo, lo perdi"
which means "losing, I lost him."
Then at the very end he says
"con el oro se quedo" which means "he kept the gold".

Here is a nice article on the mexican singer Salvador Duran :

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/salvador/Content?oid=2080714

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spanish to English translation for lyric
From: Monique
Date: 07 Aug 14 - 02:03 AM

I listened to the rendition at the YouTube link you provided and indeed he says "o perdiendo la fe" (which rhymes with "última vez", at least with the way he pronounces "vez") which means "or losing faith". The two links at the top of the thread are dead.

Subject: Lyr Add: SEÑOR (TALES OF YANKEE POWER) (Bob Dylan)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Aug 14 - 05:58 PM

This thread made me curious about the original, so I listened to it on Spotify. I also compared the lyrics I heard there to those I saw at Dylan's official website, and guess what? They don't exactly agree, so I made a few corrections:


SEÑOR (TALES OF YANKEE POWER)
Written by Bob Dylan
As sung by Bob Dylan on "Street Legal" (1978)

Señor, señor, can you tell me where we're headin'?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?
Seem like I been down this way before.
Is there any truth in that, señor?

Señor, señor, do you know where she's hidin'?
How long are we gonna be ridin'?
How long must I keep my eyes glued to the door?
Will there be any comfort there, señor?

There's a wicked wind still blowing on that upper deck.
There's an iron cross still hanging down from around her neck.
There's a marching band still playing in that vacant lot
Where she held me in her arms one time and said, "Forget me not."

Señor, señor, I can see that painted wagon,
Smell the tail of the dragon.
Can't stand the suspense anymore.
Can you tell me who to contact here, señor?

Well, the last thing I remember before I stripped and kneeled
Was that trainload of fools bogged down in a magnetic field.
A gypsy with a broken flag and a flashing ring
Said, "Son, this ain't a dream no more; it's the real thing."

Señor, señor, you know their hearts are as hard as leather.
Well, give me a minute; let me get it together.
Just gotta pick myself up off the floor.
I'm ready when you are, señor.

Señor, señor, let's overturn these tables,
Disconnect these cables.
This place don't make sense to me no more.
Can you tell me what we're waiting for, señor?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) (Bob Dylan)
From: Mik2
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 04:40 PM

Thanks Jim Dixon! Then it is just for me to add the few differences in the Willie Nelson/Calexico version:

Verse nr 2: How long 'am I' gonna be...

nr 4 : 'I' can smell 'that' tail... 'I can't stand...

nr 6 : ... you know their hearts 'here is' hard as leather, 'just' give me a minute let me get it together...

the Spanish 'bridge' (so far... most places where I look people aren't able to distinguish the words that are drowned out,
and they are unfortunately not bilingual poets either :

"Como el viento en la montaña, lo encontré la última vez,

Tratando encontrar el alma, o perdiendo 'la fé' (I also now hear 'lo perdi' or 'los perdi' here...

'Con el' medio del abismo, el amor que no encontró,

En la noche los tiempos, con el oro se quedó".

I got the suggestion by my vocal teacher to first translate each single word, then translate the stanzas and lastly the whole verse.

I try to get my own understanding of this verse so my audience doesn't get the feeling I'm shouting something I don't get myself :)

In a late reply to 'Q' above,
One gets the feel many 'modern' songs are like this (not just Dylan's writings) - creating images and not being as
straight to the point as many Trad songs out there...this 'Senor' is not very unique in being cryptic.

To get the real meaning, Dylan & now Salvador Duran would have to explain what they meant which doesn't seem to have
any point other than ruining good lyrics. My '2 cents'.