3 Little Birds in Ukrenglish

 So this blog post is simply something I’ve been tinkering with, a revision of a song that I was hoping to get some help with from my students, maybe even to get them to sing it, but they are too shy. Anyway, I have this growing urge to be creative, not sure why. This blog itself, which nobody is reading, is really just another attempt at working on my creative writing skills as I prepare to write my first ethnographic-style research paper, something I explained in my first post. I never intended this to become popular reading, it’s more of a personal journal where I’m working through my thoughts, which are becoming increasingly random now, I realize, which tells me I’m about done with this blog and will probably abandon it altogether since I no longer need it so much for personal ruminations. The last post or two will be similarly random…

 To finish my thought on this urge to be creative since I’ve been here: Since I have no musical or artistic talent to speak of, I had to rely on my creative writing abilities to express myself creatively, so while listening to Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds in the shower one morning, I started inventing new lyrics for this place, and then I tried to re-write all the lyrics in Ukrainian, and then I ended up writing one verse in “Ukrenglish” and another verse in full Ukrainian:

Wrote a song about it, wanna hear it here it go! 

Click on the link “Three Little Birds” first if you don’t know the song by heart like I do!...and you’ll see what I was trying to do with the lyrics 😊

Three Little Birds

by Bob Marley

(in Ukrenglish)

 

Don’t worry, about Ukraine

‘Cause every little thing, gonna be all right

Singin’ don’t worry, about Kyiv

‘Cause every little thing, gonna be all right

 

Rise up this mornin’

Smile at the shining streets

Three ba-boosh-kaz (ba-bush-kas)

Sit by their baskets

Sellin’ sweet fruits

Peaches and koo-koo-roo-shahs (ku-ku-rudzas)

Singing,   (mo[ vitannya  do vas)

 

Singin’ don’t worry, about a thing

‘Cause every apricot, gonna sell by night

Singin’  bez stra-ho (bez strakhu), ne-ah pro shto (ni pro shcho)

‘Cause tomo-shto-zay (tomu shcho vse), say boo-da doe-bre (tse bude dobre)

(full Ukrainian now, second verse)

Prokey noov-sya  vrantsit (prokynuvsya vrantsi) (“rise in morning”)

Pose-meeshka ho-do sointz-ya (posmishka skhodu sontsya) (“smile to sun”)

tree malenki tush-kee (try malenʹkykh ptashky) (“three little birds”)

billya-moho porohu (bilya moho porohu) (“by my doorstep”)

spee-viachu peez-nu(spivayuchu pisnyu) (“singing song”)

chased-a melodia (chysta melodiya) (“a pure melody”)

spee-vu, moya pose lannya doy vaz (spivu, moye poslannya do vas) (“singing, this is my message to you”)

spee-vu bez stra-ho (Spivu  bez strakhu), ne-ah pro shto (ni pro shcho) (“singin’ don’t worry, about a thing”…or something similar?)

ze tomo-shto-zay (ze tomu shcho vse), say boo-da do-bre (tse bude dobre) (“’cause every little thing, gonna be alright”…or something similar?)