Elite

http://www.jango.com/ml?artist=Kent&title=Elite

Elite

By J.Berg

Min släkt är full av hjältar 


Decennier av slit 


Brustna hjärtan, trötta leder 


Deras stolthet bar mig hit 


Nu är dom gömda bakom stjärnor 


Vid vintergatans kant 


Dom är glömda men dom talar 


Genom pennan i min hand 


Och dom bar mig ända hit 



Jag ska besvara elden 


Om jag kan ta dig dit 


Jag ska bevara elden 


i en sång för vår elit 



Genom 57 kanaler 


Satelliter i en ring 


Ett hundra överklass poeter 


Kan inte ge mig någonting 


Jag har sprungit i ett liv nu 


Jag sprang för att stå still 


I jakt på ett mirakel 


när det fanns precis intill 


Nu är jag vaken jag är fri

Elite

My family is made of heroes

Decades of hard work

Broken hearts, joint pain

Their pride carried me here

They are hiding beyond the stars now

At the edge of the Milky Way

They are forgotten but speaking

Through the pen in my hand

And they carried me right here

I will respond to the internal fire

If I can take you there

I will preserve the fire

In a song for our elite

Through 57 channels

Satellites in a ring

One hundred upper class poets

Can’t give me anything

I have been running through a life now

I ran too stand still

I was hunting for a miracle

When it was right next to me

Now I am awake and free

The English translation is many times direct, but it was sometimes hard to find the same spirit as in the Swedish version. Many of the verbs worked in the translation, but some of them were hard to find. The expression joint pain, is not the exact translation, it should be tired joint, but that wouldn’t give the right feeling. I also made the expression about fire more clearly, by putting internal in front off. The language in the text is not common used in Sweden, and due to that fact, in my ears it sounds odd in English.

The music group, Kent, is one of the most successful rock groups in Sweden through the times. The song text is slightly politically, and it’s about their parents who built the Swedish welfare state in the 1950’s. The working class people who wanted welfare for everybody, and the writer think that they are the ones who built the Swedish welfare. Due to that fact, he calls them the elite. The common view of the word elite is, highly educated, and upper class people. But he doesn’t see them as the ones who built the society; instead we should be thankful to the working class.