Η μπαλάντα του κυρ Μέντιου [I mpalanta tou kyr-Mentiou] [English translation]

Those that are dry, don't bend

and the ruins hurt.

crutch by crutch (as in an old man walking with a crutch),

in life's catastrophe (ruin)

A days work, it's been dry work (it's a saying)

They've beaten all the workers, the bosses

All the workers are bosses

yet they've left me hungry

and they've left me hungry

Up the village, down the village

Uphill and downhill

and in heat exhaustion and in rain (like the saying "rain or sunshine" he worked)

until my soul was coming out (similar too "I worked my *** of")

20 year old Jack-*** (γομάρι is pretty much a γαϊδαρο or a donkey in slang, like a Jack-***)

I lifted the whole pit (kind of actually like an archaeological dig or a mining operation. It's a metaphoric sentence in a way.)

And I built in the entrance?(εμπασιά is a hard word, but basically that's the meaning)

The church of the village.

the village's church

Come on victim! come on (egotistical idiot/wiseguy)!

Come on symbol of an eternity!

If you wake up all at once (rushing like you're late)

The earth will be upside-down.

θα 'ρθει ανάποδα ο ντουνιάς

and pair of oxen

each of a different height and different feet

(plowing) on the by the stream

τα φεδό????? your φεδό acres. φεδό is some sort of adjective, maybe a place name. I honestly have no idea what it is.

And in the war, i had everything for everything ( he was prepared)

I carried machine guns

to kill the population

so the bosses can eat well.

(literally) for the bosses food

Look, they others have started to move

all my surroundings have turned red (his πλάση is like his environment, also he could be talking about the red horizon)

another sun has come out

in another ocean, another earth

• Artist:Nikos Xilouris