Armata [Am să mă-ntorc bărbat] [English translation]

The train was leaving, and his mother was crying

"Don't cry mother, I will return a man"

He was saying that.

"Don't be a fool, don't argue with them

I want you to return home in one piece."

He wasn't listening. "Where could she be?"

She's in the session1 now, probably that's why she didn't come

I miss her!" But she was out for a coffee

And another boy was holding her hand.

Chorus:

For me, one year isn't long

For me, one year isn't long

I will return a man

I will return a man

I will return a man

In the first day a bastard sergeant

Disfigured him with a punch

"I'm your mother2, I'm your father3

Down soldier, down

May I never catch you jacking off"

He was saying that.

That night, after lights out

The sergeant came again

He hit him in the mouth with his head

"I heard you spoke ill of me

Down soldier, down!

From tomorrow on, to jail!"

When he came back from jail

Guess who greeted him?

"Your mother wrote

But the letter is shitty, soldier!

To the toilets, there's a lot to scrub there"

In that sad evening his colleagues didn't beat him anymore

"Come on here

And drink mulberry brandy

What the hell, boy, be a man!"

But he was crying

Chorus

Days would go by harder and harder

He started drinking

And when he was on guard he would whistle in fear

He would cry in secret more and more often

He would be searching through the snow

For the cartridges with his frozen hands

He would already not feel his legs anymore

And a warmth surrounds the body4

"I feel I'm going crazy

And this mask won't let go of me

I'm sick of slaps and punches to the back of my head

Mother why won't you come help me?"

"Crawl, soldier"

"Lord, oh Lord,

Be by my side in the guard house

Don't let me pull the trigger or fall asleep

And tell me Lord, what's the A.M.R.?5

Chorus

On that day, his colleagues would be telling him:

"What's with you? You seem pale today!"

"I'm really fine"

But his eyes were shining

Knowing that he'll be on guard

The second day, when they saw him

They were saying that nobody would have believed it

And the sergeant was inspecting him, saying:

"somebody call his mother6"

From behind the fence, looking at him

Wept a whore that once loved him.

Chorus

At 28th January 1996, at the Military Unit

01283, the renowned disciplinary battalion from Nord-West

Romania, a tragic accident occurred, or, state unofficial sources, a new case of suicide. Soldier Andrei Gavrilă was found shot in the head at the end of the night shift. The bullet penetrated the larynx and exited through the encephalon, with death occurring instantly. It seems that the guilty parties for this state of affairs are not only the medical staff of the recruitment center, but also the military staff in leading positions of military units of the National Defense Ministry. Soldier Andrei Gavrilă died two days before the end of the military duty.

Chrous

1. exam session, college2. "mă-ta" is an extremely rude way of saying "your mother", used mainly in curses3. same as with "mă-ta", but a bit less rude4. acute hypothermia can cause feelings of warmth5. AMR is short for "Au mai rămas", i.e. "There remain", representing the number of days left until compulsory military service is over6. here he uses the acceptable form "maică-sa" instead of the extremely rude form "mă-sa", as he did before