OK! It’s time for a bit of fun again.
Today we look closer at a cassette tape compilation featuring Black Sabbath. This tape was originally sold in Singapore, very likely being an Indonesian (i.e. government approved) bootleg from the 1980s.
The tracks are not untypical of what you might put on a collection of Black Sabbath’s earlier Ozzy Osbourne-fronted years, but it’s questionable whether the collection represents the band best by starting off with the quiet piano ballad Changes!
What makes this set unique is the promise of “Extra Song Book” on the cassette cover. And indeed, a gift booklet has been added to the package – somewhat cheapened by being crudely stapled to the cassette inlay sheet, but still.
Endearingly (but likely unnecessarily), its first page has room for dedications if you would want to give this as gift to someone.
Most of the booklet contains lyrics to all the songs. It goes without saying that they are not quality proofed – possibly transcribed by an eager intern with at best passable knowledge in English.
There is also a band bio in the local (non-English) language, and I have to admit that I am more than mildly curious as to its accuracy. From what I can see, the early version of the band called Earth is mentioned alongside the names of the band members, as well as references to Marianne Faithful, Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, and “Lucifer (Satan)”. Hmm.
The real kicker is that several areas have been added where people can “PRACTICE YOUR ENGLISH” and “Please Translate Yourself”. I guess this is for people to make their own personal translations of the lyrics – just in case they don’t trust the translations given, I guess, or maybe some would want to make their own version? Who knows.
As far as the quality of the translations… as I alluded to earlier, they are not very accurate. I don’t like to make fun of people’s language levels, but given that this is a product put out on the market place, sometimes you have to wonder how much effort was put into it. If something is done on the cheap, with no quality control, it deserves some calling out. The fact that this is a pirated, unofficial product is the clincher – no pardons given!
Just to make a few examples:
Tomorrow’s Dream sees the original lines “Well I’m leaving tomorrow at daybreak / Catch the fastest train that I find” turned into “Well listen to my word day break / Care about this train rock by”.
Every possible hope for redemption for the people in the song is lost when “Send me love and I may let you see me” is changed into “Send me your lover to make it to see me.”
Paranoid, one of their best known songs, also reveals signs of stark unfamiliarity. “Finished with my woman / ‘Cause she couldn’t help me with my mind” has become “Pretty swim, my woman thought / She wouldn’t help me with my mind.” In spite of what the translation is saying, this is going anything but swimmingly.
I can understand that the faster sung lyrics can be harder to translate. A song like Changes, which is a slow piano ballad with no loud guitars getting in the way, has no noteworthy mistakes at all and is managed quite well. This gave me hope that another slowly sung song like Iron Man would also work out. Alas, no.
The original: “I am Iron Man / Has he lost his mind? / Can he see or is he blind? / Can he walk at all / Or if he moves, will he fall?”
The translation: “Lay down Iron Man / I see lost is mine / Tell easy or he’s blind / Can’t he walk at all / or he can’t move where he walk?”
It gets worse later in the song when “Has he thoughts within his head?” is changed into “I see those with A B Z”. We are now down to pure phonetics – no words offered, just letters that generally sound like what’s sung. I am beginning to see why they added the “Please Translate Yourself” section.
By the time Evil Woman rolls around, the translator has given up. It looks like they are no longer listening carefully and multiple times – this has got to be the first impression, with creative licence filling in the blanks.
The original: “I’ve seen a look of evil in your eyes / You’ve been filling me all full of lies / Sorrow will not change your shameful deeds / Do well best, someone else has better seen.”
The pitiful attempt: “I see a love call people in your eyes edge / Your head turn on me all for love like / Sorrow will not change cause shamefull this / You will felt someone else fast fill of tears.”
At this point, finding mistakes is like shooting fish in a barrel. There’s no challenge, and it’s starting to get more tedious than fun. In other words, the time has come for me to stop blathering, but feel free to “enjoy” the rest of the images and do your own trainspotting.
…and do remember to “PRACTICE YOUR ENGLISH” and “Please Translate Yourself”!
Many thanks to Johan Edlundh for the images!
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