by Never Get Used To People
“Life Letters” is a single by Never Get Used To People, first released in 2018. Despite its English title, it is sung in Russian. In our translation it opens with a confession: the singer is about to lie and say everything is fine, and the song claims that on average a person can lie up to 200,000 times a day. Then comes the fear of what follows: you will leave, I will stay, and I will be afraid of being alone with this room of colorful capes that you made. The chorus is a plea: kiss me, until the rays aim at us, while we still feel, while we are still here. The singer hates needing someone this much, and the words “we have an hour” appear twice. The last lines in our translation turn dark: your hands are warm, so the shot will be true.
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.
Here I will lie now.
...Will stroke its paws
I'll say,
I'm doing fine
On average, a person can lie daily up to 200,000 times
Here I will lie now.
Then you'll leave.
You'll leave, I'll stay
A strange heart becomes a senseless fatigue
And I'll fear being alone
With this room of colorful capes you made on me capes
Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me
Kiss me, until rays aim at us
While we still feel
While we're still here
Kiss me
(last 4 lines x2)
I hate it, when I need you so
Then everything could be worse
You exhale:
"We have an hour" An hour.
One hour
Kiss me...Me
(repeat the 5 lines from “I hate it, when I need you so”)
Your hands are warm, means the shot will be true, clear circles will form
| Word | Say it | Meaning | Type | In the song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| мочь | moch | can | verb | может: present, 3rd person, imperfective |
| остаться | ostatsya | to remain | verb | останусь: future, 1st person, singular, reflexive; here “will stay” |
| бестолковый | bestolkovy | stupid | adjective | бестолковою: instrumental, singular, feminine; here “confused” |
| усталость | ustalost | fatigue | noun | усталостью: instrumental, singular, feminine; here “weariness” |
| пелерина | pelerina | cape | noun | пелерин: genitive, plural, feminine; here “capes” |
| луч | luch | ray | noun | лучи: nominative, plural, masculine; here “rays” |
| пока | poka | while | adverb | пока |
| чувствовать | chuvstvovat | to feel | verb | чувствуем: present, 1st person, plural, imperfective; here “feel” |
| ненавидеть | nenavidet | to hate | verb | ненавижу: present, 1st person, singular, imperfective; here “hate” |
| нужный | nuzhny | necessary | adjective | нужен: singular, masculine; here “needed” |
| намного | namnogo | much | adverb | намного |
| час | chas | hour | noun | час: nominative, singular, masculine |
«солгу сейчас» (solgu seychas) “I will lie now”
Солгу is the future of the perfective солгать. A perfective verb has no present tense, so its present-looking form means one completed act in the future: “I will tell a lie now”. A few lines later the song uses the imperfective врать (to lie) for something repeated, a person lying many times a day. The imperfective partner of солгать is лгать; врать, perfective соврать, means the same but is more colloquial.
«Целуй меня» (Tseluy menya) “kiss me”
Целуй is the imperative of целовать (to kiss). Verbs in -овать swap -ова- for -у- in the present tense, я целую, они целуют, and the imperative takes that stem plus -й: целуй, or целуйте when speaking politely or to several people. The same pattern gives рисуй (draw!) from рисовать and танцуй (dance!) from танцевать, a variant spelled with -ева-.
«У нас есть» (U nas yest) “we have”
Russian rarely uses a verb “to have” for possession. It says “by us there is”: у (by, at) plus the genitive, нас, then есть (there is) and the thing owned in the nominative, here “an hour”. With я it becomes у меня есть, “I have”. In the past, есть changes to был, была or было to agree with the thing owned. Do not confuse this есть with the verb есть, to eat, which is spelled the same.
«руки теплы» (ruki teply) “hands are warm”
Теплы is the short form of тёплый (warm), plural to agree with руки (hands). Short adjectives stand after the subject as the predicate, with no “are”, and often describe a state rather than a lasting quality. The song has another one: нужен, the masculine short form of нужный (needed), so “you are needed” is ты нужен. Our translation renders that line “I need you so”.
Translation, word notes and commentary by Koinei. Rights holders: see Copyright and takedown requests.