Dummodo Me Ames (The Backstreet Boys' "As Long as You Love Me" in Latin)

Which Begs the Question — How Do You Say “Boy Band” in Latin?

[Editor’s note: Jon Meyer received the appellation “Ioannes Rex” in Rome in 2016 for (among other things) his bring-down-the-house performances of 1990s karaoke songs no one else could sing. This is one of the easier ones: like most Backstreet Boys songs, the chorus is easy and simple to sing, and the verses, with some practice, can be mastered. As with all Meyer translations, the Latin is ingenious, and for practicing indirect questions you can hardly do better. It’s a true Boy Band classic. As for how to say “boy band” in Latin, we’re open to suggestions, but the version we use is caterva puerina.]

DUMMODO ME AMES / AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME (Backstreet Boys) (Martin) (tr. Meyer)[1997]

(dummodo me ames)

quamquam solitudo semper fuit sodalis,

relinquo apud te vitam

dicor ess(e) insanus, sine oculis,

periclitans te visa

Qui me excaecaris, est mysterium

ex mente tu non expulsa (e)s

non refert quid scriptum sit annalium

dummodo sis hic mecum

[chorus]

non refert quisnam sis,

unde sis,

quidve feceris,

dummodo me ames

quisnam sis,

unde sis,

quidve feceris,

dummodo me ames

Cuncta quae dixisti necnon fecisti

penetrarunt s(e) intra me

non omnino refert si effugisti

videmur una fore

[chorus]

non refert quisnam sis,

unde sis,

quidve feceris,

dummodo me ames

quisnam sis,

unde sis,

quidve feceris,

dummodo me ames

[pons]

conor celare ne quis id sciat

tamen pateat

cum spectes in oculos

quid sit factum, unde veneris

non refert,

dummodo me ames.