Latin Rocks On
AUTHOR: Sarah Rowley
READ TIME: 6 MINS
Classics In Action
castaneae tostae in igne… Iacobus Pruinosus mordens nasum…“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose…”(with some poetic licence!)
est haec vita vera? est simpliciter somnium? I have always loved Latin and studied it at school and university. My fascination began when my secondary school teacher started declining bos, bovem, bovis, bobus, bobus – grammatically thorough and highly entertaining? I was hooked!
Of the Latin poets, Ovid and Virgil are amongst my favorites – the beauty and fluency of Ovid´s metaphors and his political and artistic commentary embedded in stories like the Minerva and Arachne weaving content in his epic Metamorphoses. For very different reasons I also loved The Aeneid and its insight into what it meant to be Roman. But I also love the mix of beautiful language and the rigorous structure of the hexameter verse, which I found very calming and among the most satisfying Latin poetry to read.
In my 20s, I realised that my Latin was getting rusty, so my sister and I decided to start a Twitter channel, LatinRocksON, translating song lyrics into Latin. I adored Latin, but I was aware that it had a longstanding PR problem, and that it was widely perceived – by friends,, colleagues and the public – as elitist, inaccessible and at worst – horror! – boring. We wanted to change that perception. And that was how LatinRocksON was born. Music, as I say in the preface of the book, is the great unifier. It is truly universal, it bonds and binds everyone, evoking joy and sadness. And it was the perfect vehicle to bring the beauty and brilliance of this ancient language to life.
The channel quickly gained traction, and as its popularity grew, so did its vibrant community. We received many musical requests – everything from Tina Turner to Britney, Queen, David Bowie to the Rolling Stones.
There were some songs that received more attention – lyrics such as vah! Sumus in medio itinere, vah! Vivimus in prece! (Bon Jovi, Livin´ On A Prayer) and quod lusores ludent -ent -ent ent, et aspernatores oderint, -int, -int, -int… (Taylor Swift, Shake It Off) or even the great Snap! With Rhythm is a Dancer – rhythmus saltator est… est comes animi.
We tried valiantly to stick as closely as possible to the original text and meaning in our translations. As noted in the foreword, I sometimes attempted to recreate the natural melody or hook of a well-known song, occasionally sacrificing strict grammatical soundness for this greater artistic endeavour!
It was also lovely to receive messages from teachers, as far away as America who were using our translated lyrics in their classroom quizzes. Our growing visibility also attracted interest from celebrities. I was thrilled by a follow from Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington, W1A) and positive feedback we received from Prof. Mary Beard.
After a year or two of regularly updating LatinRocksON, we had an idea: why not collate all the lyrics—spanning genres, decades, and artists, dead and alive—into a quirky coffee table book (or at least a fun stocking filler)? As I began trawling the channel and compiling every lyric we had ever written, I quickly realized that to genuinely interest a credible publisher, and subsequently a broader audience, the Latin quality had to be rigorously sound.
This is where some of the people from the wonderful Classics for All charity came in. I had volunteered at this excellent charity some years before, and one of their board members was kind enough to spend time with me, essentially ḿarking all of my lyrics and writing in red pen if there were any corrections to be had (reader, you may be surprised to hear that there were a lot of red pen). But after a lot of hours, coffees and back and forth, we had somehow got the Latin and the potential book into pretty good shape.
Next came the pitching phase. I approached a number of publishing houses of differing sizes; it was only after I approached a small, professional outfit, Unicorn Publishers, that I suddenly struck gold – they loved the idea and were keen to turn the collection of lyrics into a book. Which is how Latin Rocks On came into being, comprising a collection of pop lyrics spanning the last five decades, and covering the works of a range of different icons, from Bono to Britney, Madonna to Michael Jackson. The book has been used by friends, colleagues, teaching professionals and – I have been told – for that anticipated Christmas stocking filler.
Latin is often viewed as inaccessible, so the core ambition for LatinRocksON was always to make the language fresh and engaging for new audiences. By spanning five decades and multiple pop and rock icons, I wanted to ensure the collection offered something for everyone to translate. I love the idea that this seemingly crazy project can introduce readers—who once dismissed Latin as boring, dusty, or inaccessible—to its beauty and imaginative potential. But the true triumph isn’t just the book; it’s the proof that an ancient language can find its rhythm in the modern world. Through the universal language of music, we have shown that Latin is not a relic of the past, but a living, breathing, and above all, fun way to connect with culture, community, and creativity. Mirabile dictu!
©SarahRowley
