Wednesday, May 30, 2007

An Annie Hall Moment

Remember (oh, yeah, I know you all do) one of the many still fresh and insightful scenes in Annie Hall, when this happens? How you wish you can be so lucky to have the expert, the author, the deed-doer right there to pull out from behind the stage?

Well, in a recent post, I'd raved about wax.on wax.off's November 2006 release, A Lecture on Geek Mythology. This German group has 14 songs on the album, 13 are in English, 1 in German. I searched for the lyrics to Meine Mitbewohnerin with no luck. Alcessa even volunteered her translation services if I were to come up with the German lyrics.

Well, shades of Marshall McLuhan, who should have left a comment on that entry than the composer and leader of wax.on wax.off, Mr.Thorsten Rott!

If you don't mind, so that you minimize your clicking, here's Mr. Rott's full comment. What a great guy! Here's Mr. Whisky Prajer's post on A Lecture on Geek Mythology. He proclaims it the Summer CD. I can attest that cranking this baby up does (seem) to increase your car's horsepower.

"Hi there everybody,

a friend of mine came across this blog asking me to help you guys with the lyrics of "meine mitbewöhnerin" (notice the rock dots over the o). Well, here is a very rough translation:

"my new roomate (female flatmate/suitemate) looks kind of hot
but unfortunately she´s only dating jocks
she´s bringing a new one home every week
and it is getting worse, it is getting worse – I can hear them in my room

yesterday I secretly watched her take a shower
and stole her favorite pink pair of panties from the hamper
and every now and then I ´m sniffing them and dream about getting in her underwear

I dream of her when I touch myself
.. of my flatmate
for her I even sit down when I pee
.. for my flatmate

we now have an exchange student from Belgium living with us
but unfortunately she´s only exchanging experiences with other girls
but as real kind of guy a still think that I can convert her and make her mine
and in the meantime I hope I can watch them sometime

and I hold her hair back when she again has to throw up drunk at night
I take her to bed and when she is firmly asleep I look at her and touch myself."

Reading this now I have to say it is way less creepy in German. I guess the irony and most of the puns are lost in translation.

Best wishes from Germany
thorsten
And check out our blog at wax.on wax.off.
"

Thanks Thorsten for dropping by and gracing me with my Triple M (Marshall McLuhan Moment).

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Comments:
"way less creepy in German" - there's a sentiment you don't hear too often!

Clever, catchy music from three guys who know how to rock. If and when you hold a back-yard barbecue bash with them headlining, you'll have to let me know. I'll make the drive.
 
WP, you'll be at the top of the list. Have you read any of their pseudo-blog entries @ nerd core.geek rock.underachiver punk. They keep the humour going.
 
Hi DarkoV,

it´s Thorsten again from Germany. Thanks for the post in our Guestbook. Say, could you mail me your e-mail address - the one you left doesn´t seem to work. I just have a quick question.

my mail is

gitarre@waxonwaxoff.de

Thanks and best whishes from Germany
thorsten
 
Hi Darko,

that´s weird - all mails to you keep coming back even though I am pretty sure I have the correct address.

Anyhow, guess I have to make my question public now (how embarrassing)!

This is the mail I tried to send:

"Hey Darko,

thanks for the reply - and thanks for plugging our band and the album in your blog. Also thanks for asking: we are all doing pretty fine and we are actually recording some demos for a new CD at the moment - while working on our diplomas (we are all still students). Hopefully we´ll be in the US in August for a couple of shows in the New York/New England area.

But what I wanted to ask: In your entry about the album you talk about infrequent (lucky me they are only "infrequent") mispronunciations of key words. Could you tell which they are? Back when we recorded the album we didn´t get the chance to get a native speaker to check everything (there are not too many over here anyways). Also, the whole thing wasn´t planned to be an American release we actually were pretty amazed when Eschatone wanted to release it abroad.

So - maybe you can point out the worst blunders so I won´t make a fool of myself when we are touring abroad."

Weel, after reading this you might want to delete the post.

Anyhow, take care and thanks again for the answer
best whishes from Germany
thorsten
 
Hey Thorsten!
I replied with my e-mail address yesterday, but it seems it didn;t get through. FYI, it's darkoze@excite.com. Sorry about the mix-up; I'll go back on your site and try to re-enter my comment and leave the e-mail address as well.

As regards the "infrequent" mis-pronunciations...Please!! do me one favor. Well, actually, two favors.
Favor # 1: For get what I wrote about "infrequent". This observation came up only after listening to your cd, oh maybe, 10-12 times. The "mispronunciations" are actually more of a choice on your part to say a word so that it fits better in the song. Say, for instance, the way Popular is pronounced in Popular Girl, the "ar" is pronounced as "AHHRRR" rather than "EHHR", but pronouncing it aas "AHHHHHR" is what makes the song stick to my brain, so...
Favor #2...please don't change anything in the way you sing any of the songs. When I wrote "infrequent pronunciations", I meant it in a good way, in a complimentary way. It's your signature. I'm serious; Don't change a damn thing!

It's great to hear that you'll be back Stateside; I'll be keeping an eye on your site and hope to catch you guys when you're in the NYC area. Can't wait for your next release. You've composed some great little songs and your lyrics are insightful, witty, and a joy to listen to. Over and over again, which, for me at least, points to the strength of your considerable skills.

And, again, please don't change any pronunciation of words. It's almost imperceptible, but enough to add that necessary magic to make you guys unique.

Take care, Darko
 
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