A Day To Once Again Post One Of Our Favorite Songs: 'Mama' By Marta Kubišová
Three Versions
If you’ve been with me for a few years, you will have heard this song. One of my favorite songs in the world.
Dagmar Stansova once translated it for us. Let me see if I can find the lyrics in translation…
Lyrics translated here:
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/mama-mama.html-163
I still want Dagmar’s translation—
I also have the fluke-happy memory of hearing Marta Kubišová sing in a stadium in Prague in November 1989 during the peak euphoric days of the Velvet Revolution. I remember the pin-drop silence, looking around and seeing everybody’s faces soaked in tears, as they sang along— knew every word.
Later I learned she had been under house arrest for 19 years as a dissident against the Communist regime, and member of Charter 77. Now, on this night, she was allowed and able to sing again for the public who had not forgotten her, not forgotten one word of her songs. And I happened to be there, as a reporter, together with a close friend, Daisy Cockburn. I still have the cassette tape I recorded that night.
Somewhere.
Here is an earlier version, from 1969:
And I also love this duet version, with Aneta Langerová.
And here is her most famous performance, the balcony rendition of Modlitba pro Martu, in 1989. It will lift your spirit!
Oh my gosh, this song always cracks my heart open. The tears that come when I hear her sing, especially the 1989 Velvet Revolution version, are like an antidote that washes away any cynicism that might have crept in uninvited. Thank you so much Celia for this post. Here's my slightly more poetic translation of this song:
Mama when our dolls end up in heaven who’s there to play with them forever?
And Mama, when is that prince coming for me?
Time is running away here as questions are drawing near.
Mama! Love... I know what it’s about. Is it a sin when I let it out?
Underneath the tear that rolls down my face, a smile shines in its place
And then the wisdom of my sorrow takes a pause until tomorrow.
Mama when our dolls end up in heaven who’s there to play with them forever?
Mama, when is that prince coming for me?
Yes, once he came to our home, took everything and left me alone.
I burned bright, what he did was not right
He had somewhere important to go, his way back he didn’t know
Mama, if you had not been there for me, my life would have been cut short like a tree.
Mama, when our dolls end up in heaven who’s there to play with them forever?
Mama, when is that prince coming for me?
Angel of Death my mother from me took, now I must go on without her, write my own storybook.
I live with my husband now, he’s no prince I know but I took a vow.
Life’s blows will come, the strong amongst us will not run
Let’s hope the one’s who’s asking “why?” can see beyond the sky.
Mama when our dolls end up in heaven who’s there to play with them forever?
Happy Mother's Day Celia!