by Dan Balan
“Lish do utra” (“Only Until Morning”) is a song by Dan Balan, the Moldovan singer who founded the Eurodance group O-Zone and wrote its international hit “Dragostea din tei”. He wrote and produced this Russian-language song himself and released it as a single in September 2011. It reached number one on the Russian digital sales chart, and its video was filmed on Corsica. In our translation November rain looks like the sky in tears, and the singer lives as if in a dream, seeing his love again. Her name has frozen on his lips. He says goodbye to her, but only until morning. He asks if she remembers how they flew over mountains, drank rosé and laughed, in a world of joy, sun, roses and tenderness, until the first ray of light woke them and she spoke of their last summer. Her name still drives him crazy.
Koinei's own English translation. The original Russian lyrics are not shown on this page: open the reader to follow them word by word with the audio.
Rain in November
Like the sky in tears
I live, as if in a dream
Again, I see you
Your name froze on my lips
Far away. I say goodbye to you
Just till morning, I'll touch you
Just till morning, again you and I
Just till morning
You remember
How we flew over mountains
You remember
How we ate love with our hands
How we drank rosé and laughed
Seemed that we were in a world
Where there was only joy
And eternity, and the sun
And roses, and tenderness
And all for love
But when woke us up.
The first ray of light
You said: our last summer
Heart in hands
It trembled so much then
I wanted to give everything
You wanted to dream
Your name drives me crazy again
Far away, I float into the clouds
Just till morning, I'll touch you
Just till morning, again you and I
(last 2 lines x2)
Just till morning (x2)
| Word | Say it | Meaning | Type | In the song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| имя | imya | name | noun | имя: nominative, singular, neuter |
| замереть | zameret | to freeze | verb | замерло: past, neuter, perfective; here “froze” |
| далеко | daleko | far | adverb | далеко |
| утро | utro | morning | noun | утра: genitive, singular, neuter |
| коснуться | kosnutsya | to touch | verb | коснусь: 1st person, singular, reflexive, perfective; here “touch” |
| помнить | pomnit | to remember | verb | помнишь: 2nd person, singular, imperfective; here “remember” |
| любовь | lyubov | love | noun | любовь: accusative, singular, feminine |
| рука | ruka | hand | noun | руками: instrumental, plural, feminine; here “hands” |
| вечность | vechnost | eternity | noun | вечность: nominative, singular, feminine |
| нежность | nezhnost | tenderness | noun | нежность: nominative, singular, feminine |
| последний | posledniy | last | adjective | последнее: nominative, singular, neuter |
| хотеть | khotet | to want | verb | хотел: past, masculine, imperfective; here “wanted” |
«лишь до утра» (lish do utra) “only until morning”
До (until, up to) takes the genitive, so утро (morning) becomes утра. Лишь is a slightly bookish word for “only”, the same as только in everyday speech. Compare с утра (since the morning) and к утру (by morning, with the dative): Russian often marks a time limit with a preposition and a case where English uses a separate word.
«прощаюсь с тобой» (proshchayus s toboy) “I say goodbye to you”
Прощаться (to say goodbye) is a reflexive verb, and the person you part from goes after с in the instrumental: тобой, from ты. English says goodbye “to” someone, Russian says it “with” them. The same pattern covers встречаться с (to meet with) and знакомиться с (to get to know). In прощаюсь, -сь is the form -ся takes after a vowel.
«коснусь тебя» (kosnus tebya) “I'll touch you”
Коснуться (to touch) belongs to a small group of verbs that take the genitive instead of the accusative, so тебя here is genitive, even though it looks the same as the accusative. With a noun the difference shows: коснуться руки (to touch a hand). Коснусь is perfective, so its present-looking form refers to the future: “I will touch”.
«нам казалось» (nam kazalos) “it seemed to us”
Казаться (to seem) is used impersonally: the person who has the impression goes in the dative, нам from мы, and the verb takes the neuter past ending -ло because there is no grammatical subject. A clause introduced by “that” then says what seemed true. In the present it gives мне кажется, “it seems to me”, one of the most common phrases in spoken Russian.
Translation, word notes and commentary by Koinei. Rights holders: see Copyright and takedown requests.