When I was working during my uni days, a really young girl got hired at my part-time job for the summer rush. My new co-worker was 15 and really quite adorable. She hung out with the other young 'uns and her "thing" in the group was to irritate the hell out of them. She did this by taking the lyrics of whatever song was playing, and kind of reading it over the song. You know. In the style of those old crooners "talking" during their songs (think Elvis in Are You Lonesome Tonight, Gregory Abbott in Shake You Down) --slightly off rhythm, totally monotonous/cheesy and 100% hilarious. And every time she pulled that, the other girls would groan, yell out vulgarities, or screech out threats of death.
I was so tickled by her antics that I semi-adopted it. One of the activities my brother and I came up with one day in a fit of boredom that summer was translating songs into Malay. There is an art to this. The key is to do a very shabby, literal translation, and then say the lyrics over the English version ala my co-worker. Try it. It's atrocious. (Note: the challenge is to do a translation in real time, while the song is playing.)
Here's my personal favourite--see if you can tell which song it is:
(Hint: Radio Hit in 2006)
Kita akan buatkan semua
Semuanya
Sendiri
Kita tidak perlu
Apa-apa
Atau siapa-siapa
Kalau saya baring di sini
Kalau saya baring di sini saja
Adakah awak baring dengan saya
Dan lupakan dunia
Saya tidak berapa tahu
Macam mana cakap
Macam mana saya rasa
Tiga kata itu
Disebut terlalu banyak
Mereka tidak cukup
Kalau saya baring di sini
Kalau saya baring di sini saja
Adakah awak baring dengan saya
Dan lupakan dunia
Lupakan apa kita diberitahu
Sebelum kita terlalu tua
Tunjuk kepada saya
Taman yang meletup dengan nyawa
Mari buang masa
Mengejar kereta
Sekeliling kepala kita
_________________________
Okay, I think I totally gave it away so I'll end it here.
