Cultural Artifact #1 - Bir Derdim Var - mor ve ötesi (2004)
One of the best methods I have found to enhance my listening abilities when practicing Turkish has been song. My girlfriend recommended Bir Derdim Var (I have a trouble) by mor ve ötesi (purple and beyond) as an optimal song for beginners due to its strongly enunciated words and slower pace. However, I found it difficult at first to comprehend due to my lack of experience with Turkish songs. Yet, through daily listening, I believe that it greatly accelerated my conversational growth, especially regarding my capacity to understand longer and more complex questions and statements. I will thus provide a lyrical translation and a subsequent analysis of how I interpreted them.
The song opens with a slowly sung phrase, "Bir derdim var [;] artık tutamam içimde" (Bir Derdim Var' şarkı sözleri mor ve ötesi Lyrics). Roughly, this translates to "I have a problem; I do not hold inside anymore." The lead singer follows this with "Gitsem nereye kadar [;] kalsam neye yarar" (Ibid), which means "If I go, until where? If I stay, where is good?" This song thus indicates a brewing conflict with subject of the song, as they are suffering from simultaneous internal conflict and a lack of direction in life. This is further exemplified through the next lines, "Hiç anlatamadım, hiç anlamadılar [;] Herkes neden düşman [;] Herkes neden düşman" (Ibid). In English, these lines state that "I explained nothing; they (implied through conjugation) understood nothing; Why is everyone enemies?; why is everyone enemies?" I perceived that to the distraught character of the song, they were unable to explain how they felt, people were not able to understand how they felt, which resulted in them viewing the outside world as hostile. The singer's lamentations about the world are further expounded through the last two lines of the first verse, "Unuttuk hepsini, [Nuh'un] nefesini [;] Gelme yanıma sen başkasın ben başka" (Ibid). Here, the protagonist reminisces on how 'we' forgot all of it, Noah's breath; arriving flame, you are different apart from me." This section took a substantial amount of reading in dictionaries concerning the potential idiomatic usage here, but I believe that I successfully translated it. I understood this line to signify a potential lost love or passion in life that escaped the singer. Particularly, the 'we' conjugation in unutmak suggested this to me. The song then repeats the first four lines of the verse and then moves to the second verse.
In this section, the lyrics become more direct. The leading character of the song then instructs for the target, presumably a previous love, "Bak bu son perde [;] oyun yok bundan sonra [;] Işık yok hiçbir şey yok, yok, yok, yok" (Ibid). This, which translates to "look at this last blind [;] after this there is no game [;] there is no light, there is not anything." I believe that this section is the singer's acceptance of the bleakness of their future and an descent into utter despair. When cross-referencing the song and music video, the final repetition of "Bir derdim var artık, tutamam içimde" pairs with the lead singer apparently either losing his mind or dying from the pain that he could no longer contain (Ibid; "mor ve ötesi - Bir Derdim Var (Official Video)").
I found this song particularly profound in the manner that nostalgia for a better past in life and the difficulties of modern society. I believe that this sentiment is held widely by post-Gen X generations due to the increasing difficulties of modern society, which include persistent wars, raising prices, rampant corruption, and the loss of the human soul to corporatism and consumerism. As such, I think this song is a strong allegory for a Turkish commentary on modern strife and emotional hardship.
Sources:
AZLyrics.com. "'Bir Derdim Var' şarkı sözleri mor ve ötesi Lyrics." AZ Lyrics. Last modified 2024. https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/morveotesi/birderdimvar.html.
"mor ve ötesi - Bir Derdim Var (Official Video)." Video. YouTube. Posted by Mor ve ötesi - official channel, March 4, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RW8n4iXZbA.
One of the best methods I have found to enhance my listening abilities when practicing Turkish has been song. My girlfriend recommended Bir Derdim Var (I have a trouble) by mor ve ötesi (purple and beyond) as an optimal song for beginners due to its strongly enunciated words and slower pace. However, I found it difficult at first to comprehend due to my lack of experience with Turkish songs. Yet, through daily listening, I believe that it greatly accelerated my conversational growth, especially regarding my capacity to understand longer and more complex questions and statements. I will thus provide a lyrical translation and a subsequent analysis of how I interpreted them.
The song opens with a slowly sung phrase, "Bir derdim var [;] artık tutamam içimde" (Bir Derdim Var' şarkı sözleri mor ve ötesi Lyrics). Roughly, this translates to "I have a problem; I do not hold inside anymore." The lead singer follows this with "Gitsem nereye kadar [;] kalsam neye yarar" (Ibid), which means "If I go, until where? If I stay, where is good?" This song thus indicates a brewing conflict with subject of the song, as they are suffering from simultaneous internal conflict and a lack of direction in life. This is further exemplified through the next lines, "Hiç anlatamadım, hiç anlamadılar [;] Herkes neden düşman [;] Herkes neden düşman" (Ibid). In English, these lines state that "I explained nothing; they (implied through conjugation) understood nothing; Why is everyone enemies?; why is everyone enemies?" I perceived that to the distraught character of the song, they were unable to explain how they felt, people were not able to understand how they felt, which resulted in them viewing the outside world as hostile. The singer's lamentations about the world are further expounded through the last two lines of the first verse, "Unuttuk hepsini, [Nuh'un] nefesini [;] Gelme yanıma sen başkasın ben başka" (Ibid). Here, the protagonist reminisces on how 'we' forgot all of it, Noah's breath; arriving flame, you are different apart from me." This section took a substantial amount of reading in dictionaries concerning the potential idiomatic usage here, but I believe that I successfully translated it. I understood this line to signify a potential lost love or passion in life that escaped the singer. Particularly, the 'we' conjugation in unutmak suggested this to me. The song then repeats the first four lines of the verse and then moves to the second verse.
In this section, the lyrics become more direct. The leading character of the song then instructs for the target, presumably a previous love, "Bak bu son perde [;] oyun yok bundan sonra [;] Işık yok hiçbir şey yok, yok, yok, yok" (Ibid). This, which translates to "look at this last blind [;] after this there is no game [;] there is no light, there is not anything." I believe that this section is the singer's acceptance of the bleakness of their future and an descent into utter despair. When cross-referencing the song and music video, the final repetition of "Bir derdim var artık, tutamam içimde" pairs with the lead singer apparently either losing his mind or dying from the pain that he could no longer contain (Ibid; "mor ve ötesi - Bir Derdim Var (Official Video)").
I found this song particularly profound in the manner that nostalgia for a better past in life and the difficulties of modern society. I believe that this sentiment is held widely by post-Gen X generations due to the increasing difficulties of modern society, which include persistent wars, raising prices, rampant corruption, and the loss of the human soul to corporatism and consumerism. As such, I think this song is a strong allegory for a Turkish commentary on modern strife and emotional hardship.
Sources:
AZLyrics.com. "'Bir Derdim Var' şarkı sözleri mor ve ötesi Lyrics." AZ Lyrics. Last modified 2024. https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/morveotesi/birderdimvar.html.
"mor ve ötesi - Bir Derdim Var (Official Video)." Video. YouTube. Posted by Mor ve ötesi - official channel, March 4, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RW8n4iXZbA.
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