Hows abouts Jaques Brel? I mean i can only go on Blau & Shuman's translations for Scott Walker seeing as i dont speak the lingo but...
in the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sings
Of the dreams that he brings
From the wide open sea
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sleeps
While the riverbank weeps
With the old willow tree
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who dies
Full of beer, full of cries
In a drunken down fight
And in the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who's born
On a muggy hot morn
By the dawn's early light
In the port of Amsterdam
Where the sailors all meet
There's a sailor who eats
Only fishheads and tails
He will show you his teeth
That have rotted too soon
That can swallow the moon
That can haul up the sails
And he yells to the cook
With his arms open wide
Bring me more fish
Put it down by my side
Then he wants so to belch
But he's too full to try
So he gets up and laughs
And he zips up his fly
In the port of Amsterdam
You can see sailors dance
Paunches bursting their pants
Grinding women to paunch
They've forgotten the tune
That their whiskey voice croaks
Splitting the night with the
Roar of their jokes
And they turn and they dance
And they laugh and they lust
Till the rancid sound of
The accordion bursts
Then out to the night
With their pride in their pants
With the slut that they tow
Underneath the street lamps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6rvMZnWKZc
Scotts not so bad himself either:
Doctorie
give me a
C
for this
babaloo
opiate me
with that key doctor
babaloo
Please
don't you laugh doc
Manos arriba bien
With springs tickling
less than two feet
from your chin
Lemon Bloody Cola
Lemon Bloody Cola
Lemon Bloody Cola
gonna sponge you down
gonna sponge you down
Save the crops and the bodies
from illness
from pestilence hunger and war
I journey each night like a Saint
to stand on this straw floor
our uniforms are loose
they look flimsy
night black shadows
under the peaks of our caps
shaved up to Augost
I still hear them singing
babaloo
babaloo
Lemon Bloody Cola
Lemon Bloody Cola
Lemon Bloody Cola
gonna sponge you down
gonna sponge you down
Hey you
Hey you
This isn't through
Opiate me
just for
me
with my
babaloo
please dont you laugh?
Manos arriba bien
again and again
again and again
Lemon Bloody Cola
Lemon Bloody Cola
Lemon Bloody Cola
gonna sponge you down
gonna sponge you down
I journey tonight I'm a saint
to stand on this straw floor
The tiles speckling
darker and darker
around my feet