George Dalaras - Krimmena Kleidiia-- English translation requested

Can someone translate this song in English, and, if possible, also write the original text in Latin translit, please? Here's the original text in Greek:


Κρυμμένα κλειδιά


Κρυμμένα κλειδιά ζωές περνούν
φωνές ακούς μα δε μιλάς

Κρυμμένα κλειδιά ζωές περνούν
υπάρχεις και συ
φωνές ακούς μα δε μιλάς
κραυγές ακούς μα δε μιλάς

Κι αν έχεις φωνή πόρτες κλειστές
κρυμμένα κλειδιά χωρίς φωνή
πόρτες κλειστές πόρτες κλειστές

Κρυμμένα κλειδιά ζωές περνούν
υπάρχεις και συ
φωνές ακούς μα δε μιλάς
φωνές ακούς μα δε μιλάς

krimmena kleidia zoes pernoun
fones akous ma de milas

krimmena kleidia zoes pernoun
iparheis kai si
fones akous ma de milas
kravges akous ma de milas

ki an eheis foni portes kleistes
krimmena kleidia horis foni
portes kleistes portes kleistes




hidden keys, lives go on
you hear voices but you don't speak

hidden keys, lives go on
you also exist
you hear voices but you don't speak
you hear shouting but you don't speak

and if you have a voice the doors are locked
hidden keys without voice
closed doors closed doors

.... this is beyond my understanding hahah

kmmy, thanks a lot! I firstly tried google translate, but it didn't make sense to me, too.
I hope you or someone else try a little harder, it should be a meaning to this beautiful song (I suppose you've heard it). And thank you for the transliteration, as well.
I you have time, maybe you'll have a look at the other song I've listed.

Any other interpretations in English of this song? I know its lyrics is difficult, but any contribution, by anyone, would be welcomed. It needs not be a final, exhausting version, but different interpretations would help a lot.
If it helps, here's a the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZjR6sCrAGo.

erg613

kmmy's english translation was accurate.

I can assure you (as the song is in my language) that there is no more sense to make out of those lyrics...
It's something like abstract poetry.

I appreciate your assessment, safe1, as I do appreciate kmmy's work. When I said the lyrics is difficult, I meant the form I put them in here. Looking at the text again, after the translation, it would make much more sense if the lyrics were like this:

Κρυμμένα κλειδιά, ζωές περνούν;
φωνές ακούς, μα δε μιλάς.

Κρυμμένα κλειδιά, ζωές περνούν,
υπάρχεις και συ.
Φωνές ακούς, μα δε μιλάς;
κραυγές ακούς, μα δε μιλάς.

Κι αν έχεις φωνή, πόρτες κλειστές.
Κρυμμένα κλειδιά, χωρίς φωνή.
Πόρτες κλειστές, πόρτες κλειστές.

Κρυμμένα κλειδιά, ζωές περνούν,
υπάρχεις και συ.
Φωνές ακούς, μα δε μιλάς,
φωνές ακούς, μα δε μιλάς.

I mean, if the lyrics had the right punctuation. But I don't know the language and I have enough "trouble" simply finding the lyrics of the songs I like, let alone then guessing the punctuation of the found texts.
Listening to the song, and looking at the translation, I think the English lyrics would conclude like this:

Hidden keys, lives go on,
you hear voices, but you don't speak.

Hidden keys, lives go on,
you also exist.
You hear voices, but you don't speak,
you hear shouting (or cries), but you don't speak.

And if you have a voice, the doors are locked.
Hidden keys, without voice.
Closed doors, closed doors.

Hidden keys, lives go on,
you also exist.
You hear voices, but you don't speak,
you hear voices, but you don't speak.

This way, it all would make sense. But I'm still guessing the punctuation of the original, thus of the translated text as well - and this means I could be right, or I could be long way wrong in my interpretation. That's the reason I asked for other translations. It seems there's a problem nowadays with the way people write (I mean the original text I brought here, but I didn't write it, I just pasted it here). Maybe it doesn't mean much when the text or the lyrics are simple and fluent, but in this case it could mean a lot. Because you're somehow right: there's a little bit of abstraction in these verses. But it's not the poetry itself that it's abstract - that's purely clear and meaningful. It's the lyrics that is presented in an abstract form, thus deserving a little more attention. It's not a text, it's poetry - which, together with a good melody, comes out a great song. Maybe this is one of the reasons I like Dalaras.
Anyway, thank you for your opinion, and many thanks to kmmy again.

erg613,

i don't think the punctuation plays an important role in the above song by means of understanding what is "tried" to be said there....
But anyway, if any commas should be there, then they should be exactly where you put it...

I don't think that this song should have question marks anywhere though...
I'd put only the commas as you did.

For me though it's not necessary as i already know where the sentence should be separated with a comma by the time i read the lyrics...

Yes the lyrics are difficult to understand but, at least for me, it's not the punctuation the problem.
It's that the one who wrote this requires some amount of "imagination" from the listener.

Some lines make sense to me but again in an abstract "way". The subject of the song is not given anywhere in the lyrics...
I can imagine whatever i want if you understand what i mean...

I just made a translation, word by word, of this song and as we all concluded this is more than a song, is poetry, which by its nature is created to give you a hard time understanding it because of the abstract content, metaphors and all means that can make your imagination work. All this being said, you can't have a meaning just by replacing words from a language to another (as hard as you might try), you also need to use your imagination and try to go beyond the actual words to discover the story behind them. Now the meaning can be seen in many ways, depending on each person, as we tend to see things differently.

Now thinking at "Hidden keys" as "keys of the soul" and "closed doors" as "closed souls" the story would be like this: there are so many people out there, but she doesn't want to see any but her loved one, people that might have the key of her soul, but she doesn't want to talk to them. When she finally decides to talk, no one interests her...

So basically it's about a woman (but it can also be a man as there's no specific genre) who suffers from love and doesn't seem to care about no one but her loved one. Or I might've gone too far away with my interpretation, but that's how I see all this after reading it several times. ))

Jeeeeezzzz this felt like my literature classes and I think this is my longest post ever =))

safe1, there are no question marks in the text. I once used some semicolons, then replaced them with commas, because I saw them transforming in question marks when copy-pasting in other pages - maybe it's a problem of page encoding and text transferring between English and Greek. If there's any left there, it's merely a semicolon. And kmmy, yes, it reminds me of literature classes as well, but this one I was enjoying.

This is a very interesting song, and if I was to describe its text, it would end up like this: "I live, you do as well. But the doors are closed. And (or but) life goes by. Though you hear voices, you don't speak - and you don't even when you hear cries. And if it happens that you speak (or have a voice), the doors are closed the same. That's because of the voiceless, hidden keys. Or even lost keys." (When I asked first one of my friends for an interpretation, she used "lost keys" instead of "hidden keys", but she's not a native Greek, so it may be not quite correct literally.) And the subject is about finding these lost or hidden, voiceless keys.

True, it's kind of a poetry, but it is not abstract. It's an abstraction. It's not a building, it's a framework. And, using that framework, you can build whatever you like within its limits. You can put it in a philosophical context, or in a social one, or in a personal and interpersonal, even amorous one - as kmmy did lately. There are no limits of interpretation, that's true, and that's up to imagination and personal background. Psychology and literature have gone far enough in their theories about different individual interpreting of even simple things and texts. It's an open text, even though literally complaining about closed doors and apparently blaming lost or hidden keys. That's what makes it beautiful and that's why I was enjoying this thread and didn't want it to go dead. Better dealing with these small, but beautiful things, than huge, but trash ones.
Thank you both for your time. It's a beautiful song worth listening.