#hvaddagera

[hatari-translations]

Svarti Laxness - Hvaddagera? - transcript/translation

This song by Hatari collaborator Svarti Laxness has a neat video, some boasting, and general vibes of all work and no play make Svarti a dull boy. Transcript and translation below.

Icelandic transcript

Skuggar taka að lengjast, Svarti hvaddagera?

Sumir tala bara meðan aðrir gera

Sumir vilja vita, "Svarti hvarafrétta?"

Sundurliðun reiknings segir, "Allt það besta"

Skuggar taka að lengjast, Svarti hvaddagera?

Póst'etta upp á klúbbnum eins og á að vera

Sumir vilja vita, "Svarti hvarafrétta?"

Sundurliðun reiknings segir, "Allt það besta"

Gert þetta í fimmtán ár, alltaf verið Svarti

Gert þetta af hjarta og sál, ekki fyrir skartið

Bakka, bakka, [?]vandamál, bara, bara blanda smá

Tuttugu, tuttugu skítaár, nornaveiðar, írafár

Tími til að slaka á, liggja bara [?] smá

Fiskarnir þeir bíta á, enda er það vitað mál

Tittlingur í símaskrá, kettir þurfa að fara frá

Ekki stíga á skóna og það verður ekkert vandamál

Get ekki hlustað, ég missi þetta kúl

Tek þetta á mig, hendi ruslinu út

Eitt lítið barn tekur pela af stút

Fokk þetta shit og fokk þetta krú

Fokk þessi frami, fokk þetta fame

Fokk þetta drama, elska þennan leik

Hættu að stara, gefðu mér breik

Get ekki farið með öllum heim

Skuggar taka að lengjast, Svarti hvaddagera?

Sumir tala bara meðan aðrir gera

Sumir vilja vita, "Svarti hvarafrétta?"

Sundurliðun reiknings segir, "Allt það besta"

Skuggar taka að lengjast, Svarti hvaddagera?

Póst'etta upp á klúbbnum eins og á að vera

Sumir vilja vita, "Svarti hvarafrétta?"

Sundurliðun reiknings segir, "Allt það besta"

Vek þig upp úr yfirliði, forstjóri og fyrirliði

Svarti, frekar yfirdrifið flowið sem þú lifir fyrir

Ekki reyna að flýta fyrir, þetta hér er okkar tími

Svarti Lax, Svarti Lax, fókus eins og Módafínil

Vek þig upp úr yfirliði, forstjóri og fyrirliði

Svarti, frekar yfirdrifið flowið sem þú lifir fyrir

Ekki reyna að flýta fyrir, þetta hér er okkar tími

Svarti Lax, Svarti Lax, fókus eins og Módafínil

Skuggar taka að lengjast, Svarti hvaddagera?

Sumir tala--

[demonic whispering, a lot of "Svarti hvaddagera?"]

Skuggar taka að lengjast, Svarti hvaddagera?

Póst'etta upp á klúbbnum eins og á að vera

Sumir vilja vita, "Svarti hvarafrétta?"

Sundurliðun reiknings segir, "Allt það besta"

Þú vilt ekki styggja mig, kominn til að sigra, bitch

Vantar þetta vítamín, viltu mig? Það virkar fínt

Sestu niður, sittu kyrr, kærastan þín diggar mig

Í augum hennar er ég líka yfirburðan-----i

Tek þetta yfir, er með þetta lag

Og [?] rás

Yfir[?] er fljúgandi hátt

Hættur að smóka svo mamma er sátt

Ég veit þetta allt og þú veist þetta fátt

Ég fer áfram, ekki í öfuga átt

Borða þetta kjöt og ég borða það hrátt

Er hérna niðri, er með æðri mátt

Ekkert að heita, vertu ekki sár

Tuttugu og eitt er með fokking ár

Ég er svo með þetta, kanntu ekki að gera þetta?

Slakaðu á, ég skal gefa þér smá

Allt þetta lið að kaupa sér frið

Svarti í málið, þoli ekki bið

Vertu ekki með þetta, gefðu mér peninga

Gefðu mér millu og ég hendi í gigg

Skuggar taka að lengjast, Svarti hvaddagera?

Sumir tala bara meðan aðrir gera

Sumir vilja vita, "Svarti hvarafrétta?"

Sundurliðun reiknings segir, "Allt það besta"

Skuggar taka að lengjast, Svarti hvaddagera?

Póst'etta upp á klúbbnum eins og á að vera

Sumir vilja vita, "Svarti hvarafrétta?"

Sundurliðun reiknings segir, "Allt það besta"

Skuggar taka að lengjast, Svarti hvaddagera?

Póst'etta upp á klúbbnum eins og á að vera

Sumir vilja vita, "Svarti hvarafrétta?"

Sundurliðun reiknings segir, "Allt það besta"

English translation

Shadows start to lengthen, Svarti, whatcha doin'?

Some just talk while others do

Some want to know, "Svarti, what's new?"

The line items on the invoice say, "All the best"

Shadows start to lengthen, Svarti, whatcha doin'?

Posting it at the club like it's meant to be

Some want to know, "Svarti, what's new?"

The line items on the invoice say, "All the best"

Been doing this for fifteen years, always been Svarti

Been pouring my heart and soul into it, not for the bling

Back up, back up, [?] problems, just mix it up a bit

Twenty, twenty shitty years, witch hunts, uproar

Time to relax, just lie [?] a bit

The fish are biting, after all that's a given

A bird in the phone book, cats better get away

Don't step on my shoes and we won't have a problem

Can't listen, I'll lose this cool

Take this on, I'll throw out the garbage

One tiny baby drinking from a baby bottle

Fuck this shit and fuck this crew

Fuck this glory, fuck this fame

Fuck this drama, love this game

Stop staring, give me a break

Can't go home with everybody

Shadows start to lengthen, Svarti, whatcha doin'?

Some just talk while others do

Some want to know, "Svarti, what's new?"

The line items on the invoice say, "All the best"

Shadows start to lengthen, Svarti, whatcha doin'?

Posting it at the club like it's meant to be

Some want to know, "Svarti, what's new?"

The line items on the invoice say, "All the best"

Wake you from unconsciousness, CEO and captain

Svarti, the flow you live for is a bit too much

Don't try to hurry it up, this is our time

Svarti Lax, Svarti Lax, focus like Modafinil

Wake you from unconsciousness, CEO and captain

Svarti, the flow you live for is a bit too much

Don't try to hurry it up, this is our time

Svarti Lax, Svarti Lax, focus like Modafinil

Shadows start to lengthen, Svarti, whatcha doin'?

Some just talk--

[demonic whispering, a lot of "Svarti hvaddagera?"]

Shadows start to lengthen, Svarti, whatcha doin'?

Posting it at the club like it's meant to be

Some want to know, "Svarti, what's new?"

The line items on the invoice say, "All the best"

You don't want to make me mad, I'm here to win, bitch

Need this vitamin, you want me? That works too

Sit down, sit still, your girlfriend digs me

In her eyes, after all, I'm an exceptional n-----

Taking it over, got this song

And [?] channel(?)

Over[?] is sky-high

Stopped smoking so my mom's placated

I know it all and you know it few

I move forward, not the opposite way

Eating this meat and eating it raw

I'm down here, got the higher power

No hating, don't be sore

Got twenty-one fucking years

I've got this, don't you know how to do this?

Cool down, I'll give you some

All these people buying some peace

Svarti on the case, can't stand the wait

Don't be like that, give me some money

Give me a million and I'll throw up a gig

Shadows start to lengthen, Svarti, whatcha doin'?

Some just talk while others do

Some want to know, "Svarti, what's new?"

The line items on the invoice say, "All the best"

Shadows start to lengthen, Svarti, whatcha doin'?

Posting it at the club like it's meant to be

Some want to know, "Svarti, what's new?"

The line items on the invoice say, "All the best"

Shadows start to lengthen, Svarti, whatcha doin'?

Posting it at the club like it's meant to be

Some want to know, "Svarti, what's new?"

The line items on the invoice say, "All the best"

Translation notes

Svarti Laxness's name means "The Black Laxness", the Laxness being presumably a reference to Nobel Prize-winning author Halldór Laxness. Just "Svarti" used as a name, as in the song, effectively means "The Black One".

"Hvaddagera?" is a phonetic shortening of "Hvað ertu að gera?" ("What are you doing?"), hence my translation of it as "Whatcha doin'?" (It's not a 'standard' such shortening or something you'd ever see in edited writing, just Svarti mashing the words together the way they sound when said quickly.) Similarly, "Hvarafrétta?" is an analogous phonetic shortening of "Hvað er að frétta?" or "What's new?" Usually I don't do those sorts of shortenings when I transcribe and just type out the full words even if they're said in fewer syllables, but since the title of the song and the typewriter page in the video both prominently use the shortening, I kept it and did the same with the parallel "Hvarafrétta?" even though technically that one's not written anywhere.

"Tittlingur" means a small bird, but is also slang for a penis. This might be some kind of pun or double entendre, but I have no idea how the cats and the phone book are supposed to come into it if so, so I'm just going to translate that line literally and invite you to work out what kind of naughty meaning he might be getting at behind that.

The "CEO and captain" line is "forstjóri og fyrirliði". Forstjóri is a company president, fyrirliði is the word you'd use for a team captain in a sport.

Not exactly an Iceland-specific thing, but in case it's not well known in your country, Modafinil is an alertness drug, hence the "focus like Modafinil".

"Ég veit þetta allt og þú veist þetta fátt" is grammatically weird in the same way as "I know it all and you know it few"; I'm not just translating it weirdly. Of course, Svarti is doing it for a rhyme, which is lost anyway in the translation.

"Er hérna niðri, er með æðri mátt", assuming I'm even hearing that correctly, is using the same "higher power" that's generally used to refer to a god or the like. Technically he could mean he is with the higher power, rather than having it; grammatically that ought to be "með æðri mætti", but people make that error reasonably often so I can't say for sure that's not what he meant.

In general, as with Helvíti, Svarti is doing a lot of cool internal rhyming and assonance that doesn't translate at all, which unfortunately really diminishes the lyrics.