The Best Songs In the World #25 - Jacques Brel - "Mon Enfance"

1967 - Jacques Brel and a story about childhood - his?
I prefer songs that develop - not the ones that keep repeating the same chorus/ verse scheme. Or, at best, songs that develop emotionally - and this is the case with "Mon Enfance". Brel becomes more and more strong as time passes - as if his first childhood memories were fuzzy and distant, but as times passes and he reaches adolescence he becomes more adventurous and his blood runs faster. And it ends with an time elipse - "and then war came / and here we are tarde". As if nothing else mattered in the meantime and all we could remember now was the flame of youth. Superb.

After the french lyrics you can find a portuguese version, transalted by Eduardo Maia (Assírio e Alvim, 1987). It is not a particularly apt translation, but allows non french speakers to understand the lyrics.



Mon enfance passa
De grisailles en silences
De fausses révérences
En manque de batailles
L´hiver j´étais au ventre
De la grande maison
Qui avait jeté l´ancre
Au nord parmi les joncs
L´été à moitié nu
Mais tout à fait modeste
Je devenais indien
Pourtant déjà certain
Que mes oncles repus
M´avaient volé le Far West

Mon enfance passa
Les femmes aux cuisines
Où je rêvais de Chine
Vieillissaient en repas
Les hommes au fromage
S´enveloppaient de tabac
Flamands taiseux et sages
Et ne me savaient pas
Moi qui toutes les nuits
Agenouillé pour rien
Arpégeais mon chagrin
Au pied du trop grand lit
Je voulais prendre un train
Que je n´ai jamais pris

Mon enfance passa
De servante en servante
Je m´étonnais déjà
Qu´elles ne fussent point plantes
Je m´étonnais encore
De ces ronds de famille
Flânant de mort en mort
Et que le deuil habille
Je m´étonnais surtout
D´être de ce troupeau
Qui m´apprenait à pleurer
Que je connaissais trop
J´avais L´œil du berger
Mais le cœur de l´agneau

Mon enfance éclata
Ce fut l´adolescence
Et le mur du silence
Un matin se brisa
Ce fut la première fleur
Et la première fille
La première gentille
Et la première peur
Je volais je le jure
Je jure que je volais
Mon cœur ouvrait les bras
Je n´étais plus barbare

Et la guerre arriva

Et nous voilà ce soir.


A MINHA INFÂNCIA

A minha infância passou
Entre tédios e silêncios
Entre falsas mesuras
E batalhas que não houve
De Inverno no ventre
Daquela grande casa
Que tinha ancorado
A Norte por entre os juncos
De Verão meio nu
Mas modesto por inteiro
Tornava-me indio
Embora ja convico
De que os meus tios cevados
Me tinham roubado o Far West

A minha infância passou
As mulheres nas cozinhas
Onde eu sonhava com a China
Envelheciam em cozinhados
Os homens ao queijo
Envolviam-se em tabaco
Flamengos calados e ponderados
E não me conheciam
Eu que todas as noites
Ajoelhado para nada
Arpejava o meu desgosto
Aos pés da cama imensa
Queria apanhar um comboio
Que nunca apanhei*

A minha infância passou
De criada em criada
Admirava-me já
Não serem elas plantas
Admiravam-me ainda
Essas rodas de família
Flanando de defunto em defunto
E que o luto cobre
Admirava-me sobretudo
Vir eu de tal rebanho
Que me ensinava a chorar
Que eu conhecia demais
O meu olhar era de pastor
Mas o coração de cordeiro

A minha infância estourou
Chegou a adolescência
E o muro do silêncio
Uma manhã ruiu
Foi a primeira flor
E a primeira namorada
A primeira gentil
E o primeiro medo
Eu até voei eu juro
Eu juro que até voei
O meu coração abria os braços
Era o fim da bárbarie

E a guerra chegou

E eis nos agora aqui
* este verso falta na tradução, certamente por lapso

The Best Songs In the World #24 - Roxy Music - "A Song for Europe"

From their 1973 album "Stranded", this declaration of love for Europe with a bitter taste is a must have in every home. The dettached style of Bryan Ferry is perfect for the recitiative style of the first part of the song, but he gains full control in the last part, specially when he beguns reciting and latin and (hallucinated) french...


Songwriters: MACKAY, ANDREW EDWIN / FERRY, BRYAN

Here as I sit
At this empty café
Thinking of you
I remember
All those moments
Lost in wonder
That we'll never
Find again
Though the world
Is my oyster
It's only a shell
Full of memories
And here by the Seine
Notre-Dame casts
A long lonely shadow

Now, only sorrow
No tomorrow
There's no today for us
Nothing is there
For us to share
But yesterday
These cities may change
But there always remains
My obsession
Through silken waters
My gondola glides
And the bridge, it sighs

I remember
All those moments
Lost in wonder
That we'll never
Find again
There's no more time for us
Nothing is there
For us to share
But yesterdays

Ecce momenta
Illa mirabilia
Quae captabit
In aeternum
Memor
Modo dolores
Sunt in dies
Non est reliquum
Vero tantum
Comminicamus
Perdita
Tous ces moments
Perdus dans l`enchantement
Qui ne reviendront
Jamais
Pas d´aujourd´hui pour nous
Pour nous il n´y a rien
A partager
Sauf le passé

Ezhevika Fields

Quando encontro um blog de música dos anos 70 e 80 em que não conheço nada, eu digo: Respect! Portanto, aqui fica ele, para quem tem o gosto do desconhecido.
http://ezhevika.blogspot.pt/

The Best Songs in the World #23 - dEUS - "Instant Street"

The Best thing to come out of Belgium  - and I am considering the beer and Leonidas chocolates - dEUS make awesome music - Their "Ideal Crash" album is a classic and this song that slowly evolves towards the climax is a must.



You're probably right, seen from your side, that I've been lucky
but I've been meaning to crack all week.
Yes I've been involved, it never resolved into anything shocking.
Pains playing yoyo in my body as we speak.

And now I found something to look for, but I can't decide,
'Cause I might find that to stroll behind is better than to score.
Just like I did before.

It wouldn't be true, not towards you, to say that I'm staying.
When on every single impulse, on every other move I react.
'Cause in any old creek, with changing technique, you'll see me playing.
After any old motherfucking blow I'll be back.

We turned away from instant stuff
our cracking codes were breaking up
our words were sucked out it made them clean.
And after lowness say it
and after more let it be known

You're probably right, as for tonight, you're making me nervous.
What is it you want me to be thinking of?
I'll put on a movie, I'll play something groovy as a matter of service
And I'll chuckle when you smile as a matter of love.
'Cause you know it's not my style to be giving up now.
And this pain in my side, I had enough.

This time I go for Instant Street
This life's a soulless excuse for all abuse and parenthesis.
The flyspecked windows and the stinking lobbies
they'll remain all the same, all the same.

This time I go. This time I go...

The Best Songs In the World #22 - Nick Cave And the Bad Seeds "The Mercy Seat"

A demoniac run that depicts the anguish of a convicted waiting for the sentence to be executed - although he is " nearly wholly innocent". Johnny Cahs did a pretty good version.



"The Mercy Seat"

It began when they come took me from my home
And put me in Dead Row,
Of which I am nearly wholly innocent, you know.
And I'll say it again
I.. am.. not.. afraid.. to.. die.

I began to warm and chill
To objects and their fields,
A ragged cup, a twisted mop
The face of Jesus in my soup
Those sinister dinner deals
The meal trolley's wicked wheels
A hooked bone rising from my food
All things either good or ungood.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.

Interpret signs and catalogue
A blackened tooth, a scarlet fog.
The walls are bad. Black. Bottom kind.
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath gathering at my hind

I hear stories from the chamber
How Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger
Died upon the cross
And might I say, it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade
Or at least that's what I'm told

Like my good hand
tattooed E.V.I.L. across it's brother's fist
That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist.

In Heaven His throne is made of gold
The ark of his Testament is stowed
A throne from which I'm told
All history does unfold.
Down here it's made of wood and wire
And my body is on fire
And God is never far away.

Into the mercy seat I climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
So I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And anyway I never lied.

My kill-hand is called E.V.I.L.
Wears a wedding band that's G.O.O.D.
'Tis a long-suffering shackle
Collaring all that devil blood.

And the mercy seat is a-burning
And I think my head is flowing
And in a way I'm hoping
To be done with all this weighing up of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And I've got nothing left to lose
And I'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway, there was no proof
And nor a motive why.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
A life for a life
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway there was no proof
And I'm not afraid to die.

Now the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is smoking
And in a way I'm hoping
To be done with all these looks of disbelief.
A eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
A eye for a eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
But I'm not afraid to lie.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
But I'm afraid I told a lie.

The Best Songs in the World #21 - Björk - "Venus as a Boy"

Björk has written many, many good songs. This one, from her first solo album "Debut" (1993), keeps the freshness and is still unlike any other song you heard.

The Best Songs in the World 20 - The Manhattan Transfer - "A Foreign Affair"

This is a Tom Waits song from the album of the same name, from 1976. The song is an elegy to travel and the vocal group make an immaculate work around the manificent lyrics.

The Best Songs In the World 19 - Abbey Lincoln - "Throw it Away"

From one of her last albums and with the acoustic guitar of Pat Metheny per (excelent) company, this version of  her own "Throw it Away" is a wonderful song.
.

I think about the life I live
A figure made of clay
And think about the things I lost
The things I gave away

And when I'm in a certain mood
I search the house and look
One night I found these magic words
In a magic book

Throw it away
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day

And keep your hand wide open
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you

There's a hand to rock the cradle
And a hand to help us stand
With a gentle kind of motion
As it moves across the land

And the hand's unclenched and open
Gifts of life and love it brings
So keep your hand wide open
If you're needing anything

Throw it away
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day

And keep your hand wide open
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you

Throw it away
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day

And keep your hand wide open
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you

'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you
You can never ever lose a thing
If it belongs to you

You can never ever lose a thing
If it belongs to you
You can never ever lose a thing
If it belongs to you

The Best Songs in the World #18 , Sufjan Stevens - "All Delighted People"

This motherfucker is one of the best writers alive and this song may as well be his peak so far. Actually, the song extend for the whole EP with the same name, that has the same duration of a regular LP (for those of you that still remember what it is...)


The way he merges verses from Simon &Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence" in the song is very interesting.

The Best Songs In the World #17- Yo La Tengo - "Ohm"

The motorika rythm of this opening song from their 2013 album "Fade" is the perfect engine for this Yo La Tengo flagship song. And the video is very nice.

The Best Songs in The World #16 - Sparks - "Perfume"

Half crazy, half genius, the Sparks duo has created some of the more refreshing and exhilarating songs of rock'n'roll. This is one of the best, with lyrics that say it all...An unstoppable hit!

                                                                        "Perfume"

Genevieve wears Dior
Margaret wears Tresor
Mary Jo wears Lauren
But you don't wear no perfume

Deborah wears Clinique
Marianne wears Mystique
Judith wears Shalimar
But you don't wear no perfume

That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you

Anna wears CK1
Jeanie wears Opium
Trisha wears No.5
But you don't wear no perfume

Susan wears St. Laurent
Janie wears L'Air du Temps
Kirstin wears Davidoff
But you don't wear no perfume

That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you

The olefactory sense is the sense
That most strongly evokes memories of the past
Well screw the past

That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you

That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you

Genevieve wears Hermes
Annabelle wears Arpege
Betty Lee wears Guerlain
But you don't wear no perfume

Katie wears Giorgio
Lily wears Moschino
Jenna wears Kenneth Cole
But you don't wear no perfume

That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you

Carol wears Cacharel
Lana wears Tommy Girl
Cynthia wears J'Adore
But you don't wear no perfume

Jennifer wears Celine
Laura wears Armani
Deborah wears Polo Sport
But you don't wear no perfume

Gina wears Vera Wang
Sheila wears Helmut Lang
Dinah wears Oxygene
But you don't wear no perfume

Jody wears Gaultier
Peggy wears Jean Patou
Stella wears Lagerfeld
But you don't wear no perfume

That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you

That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you

That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you
That's why I want to spend my life with you

That's why, that's why, that's why, that's why
That's why, that's why, that's why, that's why

The Best Songs in the World #15 - Procol Harum - "A Salty Dog"

Has this one fallen between the wrinkles of time? If that's the case, it's time to hear again this marine symphonic poem from 1969 album "A Salty Dog"



'All hands on deck, we've run afloat!'
I heard the captain cry
'Explore the ship, replace the cook:
let no one leave alive!'
Across the straits, around the Horn:
how far can sailors fly?
A twisted path, our tortured course,
and no one left alive
We sailed for parts unknown to man,
where ships come home to die
No lofty peak, nor fortress bold,
could match our captain's eye
Upon the seventh seasick day
we made our port of call
A sand so white, and sea so blue,
no mortal place at all

We fired the gun, and burnt the mast,
and rowed from ship to shore
The captain cried, we sailors wept:
our tears were tears of joy
Now many moons and many Junes
have passed since we made land
A salty dog, this seaman's log:
 your witness my own hand

The Best Songs In the World #14 - Bill Calahan - "Jim Cain"

Bill Callahan is so simple and so strong... This song from 2009's "I Wish We Were An Eagle" feels like a fireplace at home, or a good Douro aged wine...

I started out in search of ordinary things
How much of a tree bends in the wind
I started telling the story without knowing the end

I used to be darker, then I got lighter, then I got dark again
Something to be seen was passing over and over me
Well it seemed like the routine case at first
With the death of the shadow came a lightness of verse
But the darkest of nights, in truth, still dazzles
And I woke myself until I'm frazzled

I ended up in search of ordinary things
Like how can a wave possibly be?
I started running, and the concrete turned to sand
I started running, and things didn't pan out as planned

In case things go poorly and I not return
Remember the good things I've done
In case things go poorly and I not return
Remember the good things I've done
Done me in

The Best Songs In the World #13- Bob Dylan - "You're a Big Girl Now"

This is a very strange situation. Original Bob Dylan original songs are not on Youtube. The aggressive Sony policy towards rights protection just eliminated all original songs. I've searched through dozens of versions and live takes to realize this is the plain truth.

To me, this is the ultimate Bob Dylan song, from his best album, "Blood on the Tracks", 1974. Of course it is difficult to single out a track in Dylan's vast canon, and everyone has its favourite. Who cares? I vote for this one.

My Morning Jacket's, from a recent cover version album, captures the feeling and emulates almost the voice of the original. It's a pretty cover, but look for the original and it's very unique loose and melancholic feeling. It is a gem in an album that has quite a few.




Our conversation was short and sweet

It nearly swept me off-a my feet
And I’m back in the rain, oh, oh
And you are on dry land
You made it there somehow
You’re a big girl now

Bird on the horizon, sittin’ on a fence
He’s singin’ his song for me at his own expense
And I’m just like that bird, oh, oh
Singin’ just for you
I hope that you can hear
Hear me singin’ through these tears

Time is a jet plane, it moves too fast
Oh, but what a shame if all we’ve shared can’t last
I can change, I swear, oh, oh
See what you can do
I can make it through
You can make it too

Love is so simple, to quote a phrase
You’ve known it all the time, I’m learnin’ it these days
Oh, I know where I can find you, oh, oh
In somebody’s room
It’s a price I have to pay
You’re a big girl all the way

A change in the weather is known to be extreme
But what’s the sense of changing horses in midstream?
I’m going out of my mind, oh, oh
With a pain that stops and starts
Like a corkscrew to my heart
Ever since we’ve been apart

Copyright © 1974 by Ram's Horn Music; renewed 2002 by Ram’s Horn Music

Read more: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/youre-big-girl-now#ixzz376LRoUhy

The Best Songs in The World #12 Midlake - Roscoe

Other songs from this 2006 (8 years already!) classic album "The trials of Van Occupanther" could be here, namely the other three following ones: "Bandits", "Head Home", "Van Occupanther". But this is the album opener, in style and substance.

The Best Songs in The World #11 - Lou Reed - "Perfect Day"

Round and round, like a Perfect Day. But it ends with: "you're going to rip just what you sown"...

A suggestion from Sergio R.

The Best Songs in The World #10 - Owen Pallett - "Lewis Takes off his shirt"

From Mr. Ex-Final Fantasy and from his 2010 "Heartland". Who said Canada is boring?

The Best Songs in the World, Pink Floyd #09 - "Cymbaline"

Written for the film "More" from Barbet Schroeder in 1969, this reflective piece that describes a dream, or a trip, it's a high piece of art. In my humble opinion.

It is also one of the great contributions of the underrated keyboardist, Rick Wright, that often played extended solos on liver versions of the theme.



The path you tread is narrow and the drop is shear and very high
The ravens all are watching from a vantage point near by
Apprehension creeping like a choo-train up your spine
Will the tightrope reach the end; will the final cuplet rhyme
And it's high time
Cymbaline
It's high time
Cymbaline
Please wake me Butterfly with broken wings is falling by your side
The ravens all are closing in there's no where you can hide
Your manager and agent are both busy on the phone
Selling colored photographs to magazines back home
And it's high time
Cymbaline
It's high time
Cymbaline
Please wake me
The lines converging where you stand they must have moved the picture plane
The leaves are heavy around your feet you hear the thunder of the train
Suddenly it strikes you that they're moving into range
Doctor Strange is always changing size
And it's high time
Cymbaline
It's high time
Cymbaline
Please wake me And it's high time
Cymbaline
It's high time
Cymbaline
Please wake me

The Best Songs in the World #08 - Felt - "Down an August and Path"

From their final 1989 album, a simple, frail, but haunting song. Dark images, like a XIX century romantic poem. Not one you would tipically find in this kind of poles. In my mind it is close to the next one - Cymbaline, from Pink Floyd.

Waiting by a bridge
That leads you to a stone
That says your mother died
Your mother died
Kneeling by her cross
The words they come to life
You open up inside
And start to cry

Shadows that are falling
Are merely angels calling
Shadows in the evening
Say something's got to give
The way you live
This cloud of darkness it must lift

You can't be so sure
Assertiviness never got you anywhere
Not anywhere
So i say to you
Be honest and be loyal
See what faith can do
What faith can do

Shadows that are falling
Are merely angels calling
Shadows in the evening
Say something's got to give
The way you live
This cloud of darkness it must lift

You are on your own
You're father's never there
He leaves you all alone
You're on your own
So you come to town
You shelter behind stories
Of your own design
They're all in your mind
When you saw me coming
You always started running
Stones hurled from afar
They always reach their mark
They never miss
They always, always
Leave a scar

Down an august path
The light is fading trees are shading
You from view
I can't see you
When will you learn
That noone is against you
We're all on your side
Your tide will return

Shadows that are falling
Are merely angels calling
Shadows in the evening
Say something's got to give
The way you live
This cloud of darkness it must lift

Ben Watt - "Nathaniel"

Alguém está com saudades de Mark Knopfler dos Dire Straits? Um dos melhores álbuns de 2014, até agora, "Hendra", de Ben Watt, dá uma ajuda...

A propósito, ainda um dia se fará justiça aos Everything But The Girl....

The Best Songs in the World #07 - Soul Coughing - "Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago"

Very soon the 90's will be gaining tration - it's a generational thing - and then Soul Coughing will be rediscovered. This song is a trademark. " A man / drives a plane / Into the / Chrysler building". 1994.

And what a cover...

The Best Songs In the World - #06 - The Divine Comedy - "The Frog Princess"

The literate, witty and resourceful Neil Hannon in one of his best creations, from "Casanova", 1996.

I met a girl, she was a frog princess
I guess I ought to make it clear
that I saw nothing through her see-through dress
until she whispered in my ear
You don't really love me and I don't really mind
'cause I don't love anybody, that stuff is just a waste of time
Your place or mine?
I met a girl, she was a complete mess
I should've left her well alone, but oh no, not me
I had to see if underneath that dress
her heart was really made of stone
You don't really love me and I don't really mind
'cause I don't love anybody, that stuff is just a waste of time
Your place or mine?
I met a girl, she was a frog princess
and yes I do regret it now
But how was I to know that just one kiss
could turn my frog into a cow?
And now I'm rid of her I must confess
to thinking 'bout what might have been
And I can visualize my frog princess
beneath a shining guillotine
You don't really love me and baby that is alright
'cause I dont love anybody,
I come and go through peoples love-lives
Your place or mine?

Go Folk Fest em Gouveia

Go Folk Fest - Um novo festival dedicado à Folk, que nasce em Gouveia nos dias 1 e 2 de Agosto. A Presença das Formigas, que já estiveram no Gouveia Art Rock, o histórico Júlio Pereira, em fase de relançamento, e duas velhas glórias do folk rock británico, os Fairport Convention (praticamente os inventores do género), e os Strawbs, que também já atuaram no GAR. Acrescem ainda os Asturianos Noega e o duo escocês Fraser Fifield & Graeme Stephen.

http://www.gaudela.net/gofolk/index-p.html

The Best Songs in The World #05 - The Beatles - "Here Comes the sun"

The Beatles will appear in any list of the best songs in the world, and with multiple entries. I love this one because it is so positive and simple.

It's more a springtime song than a summer song...

From "Abbey Road", 1969



"Here Comes The Sun"

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
It's all right, it's all right

The Best Songs in the World #04 - The Doors - Indian Summer

From "Morrison Hotel", time in suspension.