Kuolema Tekee Taitelijan (Song)

[Nightquest]

I always was interested in this song. Since there isn't any accurate translation, it's always a mess trying to understand the lyrics.
The composer from this band (Nightwish) is known for being poetic and very sensible. So, I'll give you hints in order to help you translating the song.

The man is always trying to return to that "state" of pure innocence, he wants it back to him, and remember how he was able to be innocent when he was a child.

So the main theme in the song is that: the wish to "return to innocen", and you may find words such as "child", "innocence", "wish", "beauty", "heaven", etc. Here are the lyrics:
Kerran vain haaveeni nähdä sain
En pienuutta alla tähtien tuntenut
Kerran sain kehtooni kalterit
Vankina sieltä kirjettä kirjoitan

Luojani, luoksesi anna minun tulla siksi miksi lapseni minua luulee

Sinussa maailman kauneus
Josta kuolema teki minusta taiteilijan

Luojani, luoksesi anna minun tulla siksi miksi lapseni minua luulee

Oman taivaan tänne loin
Anna minun päästä pois

There is a "closer" translation, but still, it has a few mistakes we can discuss.


(ENGLISH TRANSLATION) - from sing365.com

Death Makes An Artist

Only once I could see my dream
Didn't feel the smallness under the stars
Once I got bars in my cradle
As a prisoner I write a letter from there

My Lord, let me come to you, let me become what my child thinks I am *
In you is the beauty of the world, of which death made me an artist
My Lord, let me come to you, let me become what my child thinks I am

My own heaven I created here
Let me get away

---
Translator Notes (from Sing365.com):

* This sentence contains a wordplay ("become" and "come" are the same word in Finnish, "tulla".) Literally translated it would go like this:

My Lord, to you let me (be)come what my child thinks I am

"luoksesi anna minun tulla" means "let me come to you" and "anna minun tulla siksi miksi lapseni minua luulee" means "let me become what my child thinks I am."
____________


I would like to get an accurate translation because it's a great song, and you can see in all of the band's songs how beautiful are the lyrics. He's a great composer.

 

[Gavril]

I always was interested in this song. Since there isn't any accurate translation, it's always a mess trying to understand the lyrics.
The composer from this band (Nightwish) is known for being poetic and very sensible. So, I'll give you hints in order to help you translating the song.

The man is always trying to return to that "state" of pure innocence, he wants it back to him, and remember how he was able to be innocent when he was a child.

So the main theme in the song is that: the wish to "return to innocen", and you may find words such as "child", "innocence", "wish", "beauty", "heaven", etc. Here are the lyrics:
Kerran vain haaveeni nähdä sain
En pienuutta alla tähtien tuntenut
Kerran sain kehtooni kalterit
Vankina sieltä kirjettä kirjoitan

Luojani, luoksesi anna minun tulla siksi miksi lapseni minua luulee

Sinussa maailman kauneus
Josta kuolema teki minusta taiteilijan

Luojani, luoksesi anna minun tulla siksi miksi lapseni minua luulee

Oman taivaan tänne loin
Anna minun päästä pois

There is a "closer" translation, but still, it has a few mistakes we can discuss.


(ENGLISH TRANSLATION) - from sing365.com

Death Makes An Artist

Only once I could see my dream

Question for the native Finnish speakers: is nähdä haaveen similar in meaning to nähdä unta? If so, then Kerran vain haaveeni nähdä sain could be translated "I only got to dream my dream once."

Didn't feel the smallness under the stars
Once I got bars in my cradle
As a prisoner I write a letter from there

My Lord, let me come to you, let me become what my child thinks I am *
In you is the beauty of the world, of which death made me an artist

I'm not sure about this translation of Josta kuolema teki minusta taiteilijan. Two more questions for the native Finnish speakers:

- What does josta refer to -- sinussa, maailman kauneus or something else?
- What does the whole phrase (josta kuolema teki minusta)mean? "Because of which death made me ...", "through which death made me ..."?

Apart from these two lines, the translation seems basically accurate to me.

 

[Nightquest]

Apart from these two lines, the translation seems basically accurate to me.

Yes, it does. But I'm looking for a perfect translation xD

For example, there's a sentence I'm not sure if it's 100% right:

My Lord, let me come to you, let me become what my child thinks I am

It doesn't make any sense to me "let me come...". "Let me go to you" would have more sense.
With google translator (sorry xD), I got a "to you". And according to the lyrics, he's "writing a letter"

As a prisoner I write a letter from there

Perhaps it could be: My Lord, let me go to you, let me become...

And it has more sense if we pay attention to the vocalist. She's interpreting the song (search on youtube). When she's singing "luojani...", she raises her hands, in a way of pointing to heaven, and she close her hands so tightly as if she was asking/begging something desperately. What would she ask for? Going to heaven, with God (Luojani), I guess...

My own heaven I created here
Let me get away

He wants to get away from his own heaven (fame/success/becoming an idol or "fake god") and in the chorus he wants to go to God's heaven, so he wants THAT heaven, not his own one.

- What does the whole phrase (josta kuolema teki minusta)mean? "Because of which death made me ...", "through which death made me ..."?

Interesting! The death of that beauty/innocence/dream made him write these kind of songs. It would have more sense now.

Thank you for helping me, Gavril
I hope a native finnish speaker could help us with our doubts.

 

[Gavril]

Yes, it does. But I'm looking for a perfect translation xD

For example, there's a sentence I'm not sure if it's 100% right:

My Lord, let me come to you, let me become what my child thinks I am

It doesn't make any sense to me "let me come...". "Let me go to you" would have more sense.

Often, one language will use a word meaning "go" in a context where another language will use a word meaning "come". As an English speaker, I don't see a problem with the translation "Let me come" in this case.

 

[Nightquest]

Often, one language will use a word meaning "go" in a context where another language will use a word meaning "come". As an English speaker, I don't see a problem with the translation "Let me come" in this case.

I didn't know about it.
Perhaps, because in spanish "come" implies the "here". How could you want to "come" to a place where you already are? But it's ok if it can be used as "go".

Oh, and talking with a finnish friend, he told me that he'd already tried to translate the song, but it's impossible. I'm going to quote him:

The real pain in the butt in this song is the line that even this translator is unsure of. "Luojani, luoksesi anna minun tulla siksi miksi lapseni minua luulee" is terribly ambiguous. It combines two different meanings into one sentence and does not imply which interpretation is the correct one. The problem here is that "tulla" can mean 'come' or 'become' depending on the context. The beginning of the sentence makes only sense if it was meant to be "come" since the destination ("My God, to you") is stated. However, the rest of the sentence serves as an object of sorts because "siksi" requires the entire subclause to be defined. And with that in mind, the only reasonable translation is "become". I guess it's meant to be that complicated and deal with it yourself. That's about as much as I can do.

I think my doubts are already cleared, but if you want to share another translation, I'd love to see it and check it.

 

[JoaoBatista]

I created an account 13 years later after you made this (btw, I'm from Mar del Plata! haha)
Just to add my 2 cents, thanks a lot for the explanation. I was re reading it again after a long time, and like all nightwish songs, every once in a while I find new meanings, and in this case, wanted to share it since it could not be right because of the language barrier.

In you is the beauty of the world, of which death made me an artist

This is the part of the song that I like the most, and I always tried to figure it out.
Now, after listening to Endless forms most beautiful years after.. I think that
"the beaute of the world" for Tuomas always means the world we live in, even as humanity as a whole, and god and nature tends to be the same / very closely related to him.

And if the lyrics translation is right, this phrase could mean, that watching the world die, watching the beauty die, made him (Tuomas) an artist. The reason he wanted to become a songwriter.

So basically, we humans, are born without feeling less than what's around us, we don't feel small under the stars. But as we grow, we don't realize we live in a paradise, we destroy it, hence the creation of our own heaven here, and the death of nature.. that makes him an artist, and also makes him want to go back to god/nature.

I think Tuomas always struggles with nature/god creation vs humanity as a whole and we accomplished.
You can see this a lot in Endless Forms most beautiful.

Just wanted to share this ,cause I always thought the act of dying made someone an artist, instead of the world around us dying.
Cheers! and thanks again for the translation even 13 years later