Hey Jude

Here's a version of The Beatles' Hey Jude in Jèrriais. But it's not really a translation of the original English lyrics: it's more a version roughly based on the Czech lyrics by ZdeněkRytíř made famous in the performance by Marta Kubišová

Marta Kubišová's cover version is associated with the aftermath of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 to put down the reformist Prague Spring. Hey Jude, the original, was released in 1968 and Marta Kubišová's version was released in 1969 before the hardline clampdown had been put into full effect - and Marta Kubišová's singing career was prevented until the Velvet Revolution of 1989. (More about Marta and her life and politics here)

Although the film version of Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Beingused Marta Kubišová's Hey Jude as backing of images of the 1968invasion, it was in fact a different Marta Kubišová song that had been an anthem of resistance at that time. Nevertheless, the Czech lyrics for Hey Jude written against the background of repression can be read as veiled commentary on contemporary events.

The Czech text is more developed than the English original, with less repetition, and seems to tell a story of the power of song. Although the meaning of the Czech version diverges from the English, the sound of the Czech is anchored in the sound of words and phrases in the original. It seems almost as though the song had been heard by Czechs who, not understanding the English, had imagined a meaning based on the similarity of certain words of Czech and English. But Zdeněk Rytíř as an accomplished lyricist may have simply and skilfully taken the sounds as a starting point for his version.

For example:

Repeated better at the end of the song > bídu

Also:

For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool

By making his world a little colder

became

A do těch ran ti sype sůl a láme hůl,

tak vládne nám svět, tak s námi koulí.

where

fool > sůl

cool > hůl

colder > koulí

But that verse is quite a complex use of Czech idiom as explained here: The world is rubbing salt in our wounds.

Where in the English the d of Jude is echoed in words bad, sad, afraid etc., the Czech version has for example rád - but the best passage is the transposition of

it's just you,

hey Jude, you'll do

into

skrývám stud,

hej Jude, bůh suď

So why base a Jèrriais version on a Czech version? Well, the Marta Kubišová version has been in my head with the coverage of the 50th anniversary of the 1968 invasion. I remember the return of Marta Kubišová to public performance at the Velvet Revolution (and I'd actually been in Prague in 1988 at the 20th anniversary of the invasion and witnessed a demonstration in Wenceslas Square).

That's one reason. Another is to avoid the difficulties of the McCartney lyric (including the notorious movement you need is on your shoulder).

In the end my version is a bit of a mix and match. I've done a straight translation of the quotable

Svět je krásnej, svět je zlej,

hej Jude, věř v něj

which becomes

Lé monde est laid, lé monde est bé:

Hé Jude, crai-lé!

The better / bídu riff is echoed by using bieauté where the English has better, which then imposes a system of rhymes which then changes the content, while keeping the mood. And then there are other solutions variously inspired by the Czech or the English. And having set out to avoid the notorious shoulder, I actually got the shoulder in!

Hé Jude, pouortchi plieuther?

Asseûthe-té qu'tu n'es pon dêpaûté;

en chantant tréjous acanté tan tchoeu,

té tu s'sas seux d'èrgraie la bieauté.

Hé Jude, es-tu aimé

quand nou-s'est ensembl'ye à chantoter!

En ouïyant les rînmes à la fîn des lîngnes,

v'là tch'est l'assinne dé jeu d'la bieauté.

Lé monde est laid, lé monde est bé:

Hé Jude, crai-lé!

I' nos a fait dro, i' nos a fait ma.

Dévrai châque fais qu'nou s'dêhoule, nou sait qu'nou boule;

véthe-dgia, ch'est un bieau boulais qu'en ava.

Va, va, va, va, va, va, va!

Hé Jude, j'connais tan chant

tchi fait tréjous man tchoeu subrésauter

et chanter tréjous acanté tan tchoeu;

à tan tout seu tu r'graie la bieauté.

Et don vé-t-en, j'veindrai là-bas;

Hé Jude, té v'là.

Lé monde en topinne et c'menche à craûler.

Mais j'fais man d'vé et t'sié tréjous.

Hé Jude, mouôn Doue,

chein qu'i' t'faudra est eune bouonne êpaûlée.

Lé, lé, lé, lé, lé, lé, lé, lé!

Hé Jude, pouortchi plieuther?

Asseûthe-té qu'tu n's'sas pon dêpaûté;

en chantant acouo acanté t'n esprit

et tu s'sas fyi d'èrgraie la bieauté

(bieauté, bieauté, bieauté, bieauté.....)