HN Latin and symbolism in lyrics

Neglecting my Statistics and American Lit studies tonight. Hey, I've studied them all day! I get a break some time. And that break is NOW.

Somehow, I started googling the Latin lyrics in Happy Nation. I found this info on a page:

"Laudate omnes gentes laudate, Magnificat in secula

This probably woun't be too much help, but I have heard these words in a song. I hope to find a translation...


Praise him, praise him, all peoples, make him great forever, even my soul, praise him.

Latin frequently omits direct object pronouns (though elementary textbooks only manage to fret about omitted *subject* pronouns) -- so if this is from a Christian context, we supply "him" (as my rendition presumes), if an Earth-Goddess context, "her", and if a polytheism context, "them". I presume a typo, translating MAGNIFICATE ("make great") rather than MAGNIFICAT ("she/he makes great"). ET functions adverbially, since all the imperatives are plural."

(from: http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:womZjjb37LcJ:www.proz.com/kudoz/1655+%22laudate+omnes+gentes%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=11)

It presents a slightly different translation than the ones we have when a few Acers took a crack at translating the lyrics. This one is obviously from someone who knows a decent bit about Latin. It doesn't look like the guy translated the whole text though.

Anyway, that leads me to some lyrical waxings on "Happy Nation" itself. I always wondered what "Nation" they meant in the song. When I was 12, I always assumed they were talking about Sweden but as I grew up, I realized the song wasn't meant to be about an actual nation, a named nation on Earth, it was more an idea. Kinda like the idea in Perfect World.

A few months ago I was thinking about it and thought it sounded much like the body of believers in Christianity. Yeah, you might say that the thought is influenced by what I believe. Maybe, but maybe not.

There's the beginning of the song in Latin, which is set up like a hymn of thanksgiving. The Latin lyrics are about praise, 'all people praise him'. Then, it is about a Happy Nation of people dreaming of perfect man. Afterwards, it mentions a situation, which leads to sweet salvation. This salvation being for the good, for mankind. We hear that a man will die but not his ideas. And afterwards, tell them we've gone too far.

Eh, I suppose it's like yesterday's post. Take it how you want.

I think a lot of AOB's lyrics have a basis in their beliefs and I never noticed it until a few years ago. I brought up the thought on THB quite a while back, but I didn't get much agreement. The general consensus was that I was interpreting the lyrics as I wanted them to be interpreted. Maybe that's true. But, it's hard to say there hasn't been any influence on AOB's lyrics.

Just thinking of some AOB song lyrics:

Angel shows up in AOL, AE, LFS, DrS, HD. Heaven in EOH, OD, KOTR. God in R, SW, TTR, E, and WTNOTG. The idea of eternity and immortality in WFM, YAI, IP, RTW. Pray in R, IP, WH, E. Other songs mention soul, mercy, disiciple, reedemer. And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head, not to mention lines like these:

*I'm a prisoner of hope
*God bless you for being by my side when I fell through
*Love is devoted to those who see that the last dance you dance with the truth.
*You better believe in angels. There's no other substitute.
*Will you pass through Heaven's gate?
*Keep the focus on the rising sun.
*Please God, let it be.
*I'm living for the light. Don't cry for me today.
*Situation leads to sweet salvation. For the people, for the good, for mankind, brotherhood.
*Oh, come down and guide us before it is too late.

You could debate some of those, such as the 'rising sun' one but you can see how they can have double meaning, especially in the context of the song.

I suppose that's it for tonight. Back to my studies!