The Modern Things

Here's the rough translation of the Icelandic bits from alwaysontherun.net :)

(Enginn fylgist alveg) Nobody really follows (Sólin sekkur) The sun sets (Enginn sér við mér) Nobody gets the better of me

(Það er sól þegar hann) There's a sun when he (Andar inn í mig) Breathes into me (Hann bítur mig) He bites me (Hann bítur mig) He bites me (Já, hann kemur með) Yes, he comes along (Fylgir eftir mér) Follows me (Telur mig) Counts me?? (Siglir eftir mér) Sails behind me

(Enginn sér þegar hann...) Nobody sees when he...

(Kemur með...) Comes along...

this is such a great song and i think bjork said it was about how all the modern conviejnces and things we have today are not that terrible,that they have always been their waiting to be invented.she has alot of the same to say bout new technology. i realy that idea that all the morden things have just been waiting in somebodys head and that they have their humaness and purpose.

i agree, and it is only comon knowledge, that once produced, technology will not go away. a lot of people are afraid of it, but i think every life form evolves in similar ways, as we have for some purpose unknown to us. but it was unavoidable to become so technilogical...

There are a lot of lines of Icelandic in this song but I haven't seen any of them transcribed...

thank you so much for the translation i adore this song!

it's very eerie when you think of what happened to the dinosaurs and of global warming :-s

But this is a lovely full of life song.

I love the elemental sound to it as well. Like all the cars and technologies are breaking out of the mountain.

I like the dinosaur sounds :)

But yeah, technology evolves in the same way life evolves. And of course, life evolves in the same way the original elements evolved. That is, simple -> complex. DNA is really marvelous and it connects us all on this blue earth.

The speaker comically proposes that all modern technology has been hiding out in the mountains waiting to take us over the world (as some people paranoiacally believe).

I would like to add up to the translation of the Icelandic parts of Björk's song "All the modern things" (icelandic in brackets), English, and [the interpretation approach in sharp brackets]

(Enginn fylgist alveg) Nobody really follows [no one sees what's going on here]

(Sólin sekkur) The sun sets

(Enginn sér við mér) Nobody gets the better of me [I take / stay in control]

(Það er sól þegar hann) There's a sun when he (Andar inn í mig) Breathes into me [this means actually "when we do french kissing"]

(Hann bítur mig) He bites me (Hann bítur mig) He bites me [this is not literally - it is meant metaphorical in the sense that the fish has bitten the bait (is on the hook now)]

(Já, hann kemur með) Yes, he comes along

(Fylgir eftir mér) Follows me

(Telur mig) Counts me?? [Nope - it means "tallying me" - calculates his chances with me]

(Siglir eftir mér) Sails behind me [Follows behind me (in safe distance)]

(Enginn sér þegar hann...) Nobody sees when he... (Kemur með...) Comes along... [closing the lyrical loop to the beginning (Enginn fylgist alveg)]

So, here we have the inner thoughts of a girl that lures a boy out of the current environment (club?) to be alone with him and do-this-and-that with him... She picks him for her pleasure, teases him with a hot kiss and gets him out...

Very Björk.