This post is also available in: polski (Polish)

–Sybille Baier from Stuttgart was 20 years old, had a difficult life, and was prone to depression when she recorded 14 songs for herself, which she claims saved her life. She packed up those tapes and moved on to the family life, forgetting about them – Daria Danuta Lisiecka says in her program “Wyczytane do Białości” on Radio z Qltura.

Daria sent me six of Sybille Baier’s songs, asking me to translate them poetically for her broadcast. A few years ago, I translated several poems by Irish poet Michelle O’Sullivan and Aoife Mannix from English into Polish. I did this with pleasure and to engage more deeply with the poetry of my favorite authors. After all, I am a poet myself. But I am not a professional translator.

The name Sybille immediately caught my attention, because when I was a teenager, I dreamed of being called Sybilla. For You, English readers, I can’t share Polish translation, but I would like to describe my translation process which was fascinate to me.

Monday, 5:45 a.m. In the early morning darkness, I put on the album “Colour Green” and listened to it on the bus for a few days. And at lunchtime, I tried translating the lyrics in the busy cantine.

I actually wanted to give up pretty quickly. Because the title song, “Colour Green” which I first figured out, was giving me the most trouble. Plus, I knew very little about this singier. I’d only found bits and pieces of information online. However, I didn’t want to disappoint my friend Dari.

And suddenly something clicked. After listening to the songs repeatedly, I felt what Sybille was singing about. And the songs began to blend into my everyday life. I talked about my struggles mixed with passion with friends at work. They told me that an incredible enthusiasm was shining through me. Finally, I understood the meaning of the mysterious song “Colour Green.”

Colour Green

I’d been a girl and one dream
frequented my late afternoon
Saw me in New York City, 
wearing a sweater colour green
So one night I sat down on a chair and knitted there 

Years after trying to live a woman’s life
I met a friend who had a red haired wife
She said to me “woman I like your clothes”
“Come on and let us try both and take tender care

But when you need help I will be there”

Memories and seasons achieve their affairs
Sometime in April the sweater I wear…
Sometime in April a letter I wrote…
Dear friend I think of you on the top of Empire State

Dear friend I’m lonesome
Dear friend I’ve been well
How do you spell your name?
The city has changed me
I’m no longer the same


Wrote to me, “woman, I’d like to stay
Liberty statue has got so many stairs

But when you need help, I will be there”

I’d been a girl and one dream
frequented my late afternoon
Saw me in New York City, 
wearing a sweater colour green
So one night I sat down on a chair and knitted there 

Translating other songs came more easily. Although I still struggled with words and phrases, which I checked with journalistic vigilance. I wanted these songs to resonate beautifully in Polish. I wanted them to move the reader with the simplicity of their poetry, their naturalness, their subtlety, and the flickering light of analog film. The song that sounded most in me was “Remember the Day.”

“Remeber The Day”

Remember the day
When I left home to buy some food
Myself in that painful February mood
I did what I could

Remember that day
When I left home to just buy some food
Considering if one shouldn’t I or if one should
Sun was high, and I
Found me on the road to Genoa

Did you ever drive in a moonstruck constitution
And find to reach a seaport at dawn is a solution
You should If you could
There slowly, slowly, I no longer thought of what is good or what is not
There simply was the water’s smell and remoteness
I only stood and watched that old cold ocean
in tender and bright, full, unspeakable emotion
I did what I could
All was good

Why am I even writing about this? Because the translation process, though difficult, fascinated me. A bit like excavations. Or journalism. I tried to uncover the essence of Sybille’s songs and discover from them who their author was. “Colour Green” feels like an intimate portrait of her. Line by line, Baier’s honesty was disarming. The kind of honesty in feelings, in relationships with others, or even with oneself, that’s not easy to admit.

What most captivated me was Sybille’s attentiveness to the everyday details of life. Her songs are like photographs of ordinary days. They reveal memories saturated with feelings, gestures, insecurities, and needs. The most beautiful song on this album, in my opinion, is “Tonight”.

“Tonight”

Tonight, when I came home from work
Hurt
Tonight, when I came home from work

There he, unforeseen, sat in my kitchen
Buttering himself a bread
And the cat was on his knee
And smiled at me

Tonight, when I came home from work
Tonight, when I came home from work

There he, unforeseen, passed the guitar
And said “I battered my car
Right now, won’t you please give me your tune”

We had change of the moon
We had change of the moon

Tonight, when I came home from work
Tonight, when I came home from work
Tonight, when I came home from work

There he, unforeseen, changed in an easy chair
And said “What’s that sorrow you bear?”
And I could tell him he understood

He gently took my arm
He listened to my tears ’til dawn
I dedicate this song to you

Tonight, we had change of the moon
We had change of the moon
Tonight, when I came home from work
Tonight, when I came home from work

Tonight,
Tonight,
Tonight.

Thanks to Sybille Baier’s songs, though somewhat painful but the same way shimmering with a delicate light, I too overcame the week-long rush, the fatigue of work, the grayness of November, and the thoughts in my head: how could I possibly translate such beautiful, poetic lyrics seriously?

Thank you, Daria, for knowing this before I did and for motivating me. Thank you, Sybille Baier, for the lyrics and melodies, incredible in their simplicity. And thank you to musician Robbie Baier (Sybille’s son), who brought these songs to the public. I present the album “Colour Green” and various information about this talented artist on her official WEBSITE.

P.S. I’m just finishing this post and discovered a great interview with 81-year-old Sybille Baier on YouTube. You can listen to it here.

The cover photo was taken by Liana S.