The Word Cloud

This is my favourite pop song; I’ve included the English translation for those that can barely speak Latin. Can you guess what it is yet…? :o)

Latin                                                     Engrish
O Fortuna                                           O Fortune,
velut luna                                            like the moon
statu variabilis,                                 you are changeable,
semper crescis                                  ever waxing
aut decrescis;                                    and waning;
vita detestabilis                                hateful life
nunc obdurate                                  first oppresses
et tunc curat                                      and then soothes
ludo mentis aciem,                         as fancy takes it;
egestatem,                                          Poverty
potestatem                                         and power
dissolvit ut glaciem.                       it melts them like ice.
Sors immanis                                    Fate – monstrous
et inanis,                                             and empty,
rota tu volubilis,                              you whirling wheel,
status malus,                                     you are malevolent,
vana salus                                           well-being is vain
semper dissolubilis,                       and always fades to nothing,
obumbrata                                         Shadowed
et velata                                               and veiled
michi quoque niteris;                    you plague me too;
nunc per ludum                                now through the game
dorsum nudum                                 I bring my bare back
fero tui sceleris.                               to your villainy.
Sors salutis                                        Fate is against me
et virtutis                                            in health
michi nunc contraria,                    and virtue,
est affectus                                         driven on
et defectus                                          and weighted down,
semper in angaria.                          always enslaved.
Hac in hora                                        So at this hour
sine mora                                            without delay
corde pulsum tangite;                   pluck the vibrating strings;
quod per sortem                              since Fate
sternit fortem,                                  strikes down the string man,
mecum omnes plangite!               everyone weep with me!

I love this piece so much, it is devilishly addictive and plays over and over and over again!

I have a “demon-rising” image in my mind when this plays. Lots of “head down, eyes to camera” as the female lead (mostly naked…) chants her way through it. I love the Latin, the staccato, the power and intensity; I love the rising tempo, the urgency and insanity.

This is music to have sex by. Shame it’s such a long piece… ;o) Oh, all right it’s too short. Well, you girls have Bolero, we blokes have Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Fortune, Empress of the World) commonly known as Carmena Burana for the uninitiated, though how anyone could not have heard this piece I’ll never know.

Ez