"Ma Soovipuust Vist Nägin Und..."

Well, well, well! Plotnik received an email this morning from his copyright company in Nashville, asking him to approve a translation of "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe" into Estonian!

This is a blast. The original first four lines are:

"It must have been the mistletoe
The lazy fire, the falling snow
The magic in the frosty air
That feeling everywhere..."

Here's how they sound in Estonian:

"Ma soovipuust vist nägin und.
Täis valgust toad, ja õu täis lund…
On õhus jää ja maagia,
ja jõule ootab maa."

And here's the English translation of the Estonian translation. In Estonian, the song is called "A Tree of Wishes."

"I may have dreamt a tree of wishes
Rooms full of light, yard full of snow…
There’s ice and magic in the air
And the land is waiting for Christmas..."

(Plotnik hopes the word 'toad' in the second line sounds different than it does in English.)

How amazing. It was 1979, in the Plotniks' first Shmalifornia stop, in the added-on back room of a rented house in Glendale, when Plotnik's then-partner Justin Wilde called Plottie up and said "Why don't we write a Christmas song?" So Plot sat down at his rented upright piano and instantly the melody and the first lines of the song poured right down his fingers and out onto the keys, along with the words. And now, almost thirty years later, the song has reached an Estonian translator who wants to use it in a show he (or she?) is preparing.

By Plotnik's calculations, songs travel East at approximately 400 miles per year. But it may have gone West.

Is this cool or what? Music is truly the rhythm of the Universe.

The translator's name is in here somewhere: Tõlge: Leelo Tungal

Is it Leelo Tungal? Or is it Tõlge?

Jeezo, what a lot of fun Plotnik is having this morning.

Now, for all of you who wish to delve a bit deeper, here's the new English translation of "A Tree of Wishes" ("It Must Have Been the Mistletoe") by Douglas Konecky and Justin Wilde, translation by Tõlge or Leelo Tungal.


Tõlge: Leelo Tungal

I May Have Dreamt A Tree Of Wishes

I may have dreamt a tree of wishes
Rooms full of light, yard full of snow…
There’s ice and magic in the air
And the land is waiting for Christmas

The road is lit by stars like a necklace of light
That shines through the holy night
And the beaming star may be the thing
That brought you here

Our Christmas –
Who could have hoped them to be like this!
The Angel of Christmas had his fingers crossed
To join us together!

The Christmas brought us two to countryside -
The midnight road, the sleigh ride
All roads and trees are covered with snow
And a snowball is frolicking about…

Was that the sleigh bell
to sang that way, tendering one’s heart?
Why your lips were then touched by mine,
Blame it on the tree of wishes only!

Our Christmas –
Who could have hoped them to be like this!
The Angel of Christmas had guided the kiss
And so joined us together,
Because I dreamt a tree of wishes.

Rooms full of light, yard full of snow…
There’s ice and magic in the air
I fell in love that way

On Christmas Night your dreams can come true –
And, my love, so I found you.
Just one more kiss – no more I ask
Just you and the tree of wishes!
(Because) our tree of wishes will always be genereous,
Our tree of wishes will always be generous,
Our tree of wishes will always be generous.

Just one more kiss – no more I ask!
-----------

For all his friends, Plotnik wishes that their tree of wishes always be generous.