
Nunquam Iterum (Never Again) - transcript/translation

This is the haunting choir piece that occupies the twelfth spot on Hatari’s Neyslutrans album, which Hatari have also used as an intro for concerts and was briefly heard in the opening of the “Klámstrákur” music video. The lyrics of “Niðurlút” consist mostly of lyrics from “Nunquam Iterum”.

This is a best quick effort to transcribe and translate the lyrics. If Hatari publishes official lyrics soon, they are right and I am wrong.
Icelandic transcript

Þú tæmdir allt þitt traust á mér

Þó tórir enn mín ást á þér

Sagan endar allt of skjótt

Þú bauðst mér aldrei góða nótt

 

Svikin voru silkimjúk,

sængin tóm og vænisjúk

Í þögn þú komst og þögul út

Þú þræddir veginn niðurlút

 

Grá ský eru gráti nær

Þig dreymi ég nú angurvær

Í minninganna vígðu borg

í mæðu feta hulin torg

 

Mig óraði ekki fyrir því

að aldrei sæjumst við á ný

Mig óraði ekki fyrir því

að aldrei sæjumst við á ný

Mig óraði ekki fyrir því

að aldrei sæjumst við á ný


Transcription notes

The most difficult verse to transcribe (largely because I couldn’t cross-reference it with the clearer “Niðurlút”) was the third one; I think I’ve got it, but it isn’t very clear, and there is technically a grammatical error in it as it stands (“Þig deymi ég” is incorrect and doesn’t really make sense, but I can’t imagine what else they could mean but “I dream of you” here; maybe they went with wonky syntax because the correct “Þig dreymir mig” is ambiguous and could mean either that I dream of you or that you dream of me).


English translation

You emptied all your trust in me

Yet my love for you remains

The story ends far too soon

You never bid me good night

 

The betrayal was smooth as silk,

the bed empty and paranoid

In silence you came and silent you left

You threaded the path, despondent

 

Gray clouds are close to weeping

I dream of you, sentimental

In the consecrated city of memories

I morosely walk the hidden squares

 

It never crossed my mind

that we would never see each other again

It never crossed my mind

that we would never see each other again

It never crossed my mind

that we would never see each other again


Translation notes

The “you” in the song is a woman; the adjectives “þögul” and “niðurlút” are both in the feminine form.

“Sængin tóm og vænisjúk” also sounds like it’s the bed that’s paranoid in Icelandic. The adjective is in the feminine singular, so assuming more liberal and poetic syntax it could also be imagined to refer to “you”, or to “me” (which would mean “I” is also a woman).
