7

Слава has this song Спелый мой, but I can't find any translation that makes any sense to me.

Here's the lyrics:

Спелый мой, нежно целуй подолгу,
Зрелый мой, плечи ласкай ладонью,
Вкусный мой, в сердце оставь наколку.
Дорогой, слезы — любви подспорье.

Спелый мой, я не живу — я плачу,
Зрелый мой, я не могу иначе.
Вкусный мой, чувства мои незрячи,
Мой родной.

I found this, but it does not make sense in the context of the song:

спелый
1. mature
спелый лес — mature forest
спелый шлак — matured slag
спелый ячмень — mature barley
спелое лесонасаждение — mature forest stand
2. mellow
спелый солод — mellow malt
спелое зерно — mellow grain
3. ripe
спелое яблоко — ripe apple
спелое зерно — ripe grain
спелая древесина — ripe wood

1
  • 3
    Eww, guy. You're trying to analyze something that probably came from lyrics-writing machine a-la 1984.
    – alamar
    Commented Mar 27, 2015 at 20:05

2 Answers 2

7

The meaning of the word is "ripe".

The narrator compares her beloved one to a ripe fruit and calls him спелый ("ripe"), зрелый ("mature", meaning both "adult" and "fully developed", just like the English term); and вкусный ("tasty").

The song is full of masochistic innuendos and the author hints at her being blind (probably because of being blindfolded), so apparently she wants to state the fact that sense of taste is the only way she could feel her partner.

6
  • 4
    "Hints at her being blind" — how? where? Sounds like extreme overanalysing to me. Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 15:19
  • @Nikolay Ershov "чувства мои незрячи"
    – Anixx
    Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 15:32
  • 5
    Maybe "Чувства мои незрячи" means just "любовь слепа"?
    – Artemix
    Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 16:02
  • I'm puzzled with "глаза мои безбрежны". Is it about endless crying? Or about blindness and limitless inner vision (a very popular metaphor since Ancient Greece)? Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 17:20
  • 1
    @EugeniaVlasova I think "безбрежные" is variation of "бездонные глаза".
    – Artemix
    Commented Feb 17, 2015 at 10:09
3

You are right in that the word спелый does not make a lot of sense here. It's pretty much dragged in by the heels in line with the lamentable pretentiousness and cheesiness of these lyrics.

Given the undoubted sexual whiff of the lyrics, one could argue that спелый here is borrowed from the colloquial expression спелая девушка or спелая женщина -- a very low-key term for a sexually attractive and presumably available young female. The lyrics is a good example of a cheap-night-club Russian.

2
  • Just after posting this I thought that somebody was going to tell me that it has to do with спел — singing of some sort?
    – Johan
    Commented Feb 17, 2015 at 16:59
  • 2
    @Johan: спел (singular masculine past form of the perfective verb спеть, "to have sung") and спел (short form of the adjective спелый, "ripe") are homonyms in Russian. The first meaning has absolutely nothing to do with the song, not even remotely.
    – Quassnoi
    Commented Feb 17, 2015 at 20:15

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.