by MATRANG
“Meduza” (“Jellyfish”) is a song by MATRANG, the stage name of Alan Khadzaragov, a singer born in 1995 in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia. It became one of the biggest Russian-language hits of 2018 and earned him a nomination for best hip-hop artist at that year's Russian National Music Award. In our translation two lovers are like a meteor shower: they hold two tickets for a ferry, dance until morning under neon rain and keep changing cities. Yesterday she was open with him, today she is a stranger, and time slips away like quiet water. The chorus repeats the word jellyfish and says they are friends, while a later verse says they are not just friends. She came for an hour, he sings, but she will stay, and true love cannot be suppressed. Fingerprints, a spinning cassette player and an octopus inside the jellyfish drift through the verses.
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.
We were like a meteor shower
Two tickets for the ferry
We danced until morning
Under the neon rain
We change cities
Trading circumstances for sleep
Yesterday you were open with me
Today you're a stranger
Fingerprints on my hands
The cassette player spins
Time is like quiet water
Slipping away
Those who don't see the sign
Will lose their way
Once again, the world feels empty
But the octopus is in the jellyfish
Jellyfish, jellyfish, jellyfish we're friends, jellyfish, jellyfish (x2)
Laughing without kindness
I pull the trigger
Killing your filth
She falls to the floor
Leaving behind purity
Your white soul
And bottomless eyes
You're the actress of my dreams
We're not just friends
Pretending to be silence
You came for an hour
But you'll stay with me
Read to me until morning
Set me on fire all night
You can't suppress
True love
Jellyfish, jellyfish (x2)
Jellyfish, jellyfish, jellyfish we're friends, jellyfish, jellyfish (x4)
| Word | Say it | Meaning | Type | In the song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| звездопад | zvezdopad | meteor | noun | звездопад: nominative, singular, masculine; here “meteor shower” |
| танцевать | tantsevat | to dance | verb | танцевали: past, plural, imperfective; here “danced” |
| утро | utro | morning | noun | утра: genitive, singular, neuter |
| сон | son | dream | noun | сон: accusative, singular, masculine; here “sleep” |
| откровенный | otkrovenny | frank | adjective | откровенная: nominative, singular, feminine |
| медуза | meduza | jellyfish | noun | медузе: prepositional, singular, feminine |
| осьминог | osminog | octopus | noun | осьминог: nominative, singular, masculine |
| друг | drug | friend | noun | друзья: nominative, plural, masculine; here “friends” |
| по-доброму | po-dobromu | kindly | adverb | по-доброму |
| оставаться | ostavatsya | to remain | verb | остаётся: present, 3rd person, singular, reflexive; here “remains” |
| притвориться | pritvoritsya | to pretend | verb | притворившись: past, reflexive; here “pretending” |
| получиться | poluchitsya | to turn out | verb | получится: future, 3rd person, singular, reflexive; here “will succeed” |
«Мы с тобою» (My s toboyu) “you and I”
Мы с тобою reads literally “we with you”, but it means “you and I”: Russian names a pair with мы plus с and the instrumental of the other person. Тобою is a longer, slightly poetic form of тобой, the instrumental of ты. The same preposition appears later as со, the form с takes before the consonant cluster in мной (me).
«Два билета» (Dva bileta) “two tickets”
After два, три and четыре (two, three, four) a noun takes the genitive singular, so билет (ticket) becomes билета. From пять (five) upward it takes the genitive plural: after восемь (eight), нога (leg) becomes ног, just before the octopus appears in the song. Many feminine nouns ending in -а simply drop the ending in the genitive plural.
«Почитай мне» (Pochitay mne) “read to me”
Почитай is the imperative of почитать, “to read for a while”: the prefix по- adds the sense of “a little, for some time”. When the present stem ends in a vowel, the imperative adds -й: почитают gives почитай, and обжигают gives обжигай (burn), the very next request. Мне is the dative of я, the person the reading is for.
«Притворившись тишиной» (Pritvorivshis tishinoy) “pretending to be silence”
Притворившись is a perfective adverbial participle, or gerund, from притвориться (to pretend to be); the -вшись ending marks an action completed before the main verb. Verbs of seeming and becoming take the instrumental, so тишина (silence) becomes тишиной. The song also has an imperfective gerund, смеясь (laughing), for an action happening at the same time as the main verb.
Translation, word notes and commentary by Koinei. Rights holders: see Copyright and takedown requests.