Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Tu Misterio; Gotan Project

Gotan Project is a musical trio formed in France by Philippe Cohen Solal (French), Eduardo Makaroff (Argentine) and Christoph H. Müller (Swiss).


You know, Argentinos are ours hermanos and we share more than the title of best football players in the world, we also share ours music styles and the tango is deeply appreciated here. Knowing that, many years ago I was looking for an avant-garde tango group, which would mix the preciosity of the old milongas and some nowadays beat. That is exactly what Gotan Project means!

They released four studio albums and in the latest is our whistling tango. The 2010 "Tango 3.0" contains "Tu Misterio" a song with a catchy whistling in it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Tu misterio no lo entiendo
Palpitación de mujer

Y en el vaiven de esta illusion
Mis ganas de y tu sudor
Quiero saber si ya estas
Lista para el amor

Te acaricio con mi aliento
Siento tu respiración

En el lugar donde apoyas
La seda rosa de tu piel
Late mi cuore y vas a ver
Que va a estar todo bien




Thursday, November 25, 2010

World, Hold On (Children of the Sky); Bob Sinclar

Wikipedia rules:

"World, Hold On (Children of the Sky)" is a song by Bob Sinclar, featuring Steve Edwards. It was released as the second major single off the Western Dream album, on June 6, 2006. An E-Smoove-produced remix of the song was nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award for "Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical".The track ended 2006 as the 15th most played track in Mexico. The track is also in the film Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom, and is on the film's soundtrack. The song was also picked up by Guess (clothing) for their 2010 web campaign.
The music video includes the same boy (David Beaudoin) from Sinclar's "Love Generation" and "Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)" music clips. In the video, the boy wakes up and notices on the news, that the Earth is going to be destroyed by a meteor. He decides to build a space ship of his own and takes his dog with him in the space ship. During the construction of the spaceship, toys came out from under the boy's bed, and start dancing, while Bob Sinclar appears in the video as a tiny person playing "World, Hold On (Children of the Sky)" using cookies as records. The boy takes no notice of either the toys or Bob Sinclar. The boy then launches the space ship and shoots through the Solar System. The Solar System looks exactly like the poster in the boy's room. All the planets are labeled with information including diameter and other facts. In outer space, he sees the meteor approaching the earth. He fires hundreds of basketballs at the meteor, destroys it, and saves the earth. He then lands the spaceship in his room. Back on earth, he gets a reward and media coverage, presenting him as a hero. While he is getting praise, his mother comes and kisses him on the cheek. This wakes him up and causes him to realize that it was all a dream.

Oh yeah, yeah...
Open up your heart, what do you feel?
Open up your heart, what do you feel?...
is real

The Big Bang may be a million years away
But I can't think of a better time to say

World, hold on
Instead of messing with our future, open up inside
World, hold on
Wonder you will have the answer to the children of the sky

Children of the sky...

Look inside, you'll find a deeper love
The kind that only comes from high above

If you ever meet your inner child, don't cry
Tell them everything is gonna be alright

World, hold on
Come on, everybody in the universe, come on
World, hold on
Wonder you will have the answer to the children of the sky

Children of the sky... alright
Open up your heart
Tell me, how do you feel

Listen now, tell them everything, right here right now
Alright, everybody, here in the world
You are all the children, alright

Together now, unite, and fight... oooh
Open up you heart, no, peace, love for everyone

Oh, no no no no no, alright, to the four corners of the world
Sing it loud, sing it loud, sing it loud loud loud
world hold on on

sing it loud, sing it proud
everybody, yeah yeah yeah yeah, oooh
Don't take no for an answer, no no, not today

Right here,spread love, everybody join together now
One [race], one heart, love and unity, everybody sing
yeah!

World, hold on
Come on, everybody in the universe, come on
World, hold on
Wonder you will have to answer to the children of the sky

World, hold on
Come on, everybody in the universe, come on
World, hold on
Wonder you will have to answer to the children of the sky




Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Send Out the Singers; Josefine Lindstrand

Quote from Aurgasm one more time:

With the flood of music coming from Sweden, Josefine Lindstrand’s debut might be undeservedly left unnoticed. You won’t find much about it on the blogosphere, but by no means mistake not: Josefine is not a beginner in the music world. Swedish singer and pianist, Josefine, has previously collaborated with Django Bates and Uri Caine, as well as indie pop artist Maia Hirasawa and lent her vocals on two of Efterklang’s records. “Send Out The Singers”, from There Will Be Stars (2009), features a oh-so-lovely marimba and gentle whistlings that make this track irresistible.


The lyrics of this song was taken of a poem written by Sara Teasdale on her second collection of poems published in 1911, called "Helen of Troy and Other Poems". I found the ebook here.

By the way, all the songs on Lindstrand's lastest album are Teasdale's poems beautifully performed, I have to say. Bellow a picture of the poet:


Send out the singers — let the room be still;
They have not eased my pain nor brought me sleep.
Close out the sun, for I would have it dark
That I may feel how black the grave will be.

The sun is setting, for the light is red,
And you are outlined in a golden fire,
Come, leave the light and sit beside my bed,
For I have had enough of saints and prayers.

Strange broken thoughts are beating in my brain,
They come and vanish and again they come.
It is the fever driving out my soul,
And Death stands waiting by the arras there.


Sunday, November 21, 2010

Hatten Passer; Bjørn Torske

Yesterday I said that I found a whistling song on the blog Aurgasm, so I had the incredible idea to search for others whistling songs in there! It took me one day to think about it... huhu

Today’s post is about a Norwegian guy called Bjørn Torske, who works as a house music producer, according to his article in Wikipedia. As it seems, Torske has not website nor MySpace account.

Because I didn’t hear his sound yet, I’ll copy and paste what the guys from Aurgasm said:

Given that he hails from a country where the sun barely sets during the summer months, it’s not hard to understand how Norwegian producer and artist Bjørn Torske was able to create Feil Knapp, an engaging collection of blissful summer electronica.


Saturday, November 20, 2010

Work Song; Fallulah

I AM IN LOVE!

With this girl! Her name is Maria Apetri, she is Danish, 25 years old +-, has pretty electrifying eyes, an amazing and strong voice and performs under the codename Fallulah.


I found an article about her in the weblog Aurgarm, whoise motto is “your favorite music you've never heard”. I played “Only Human” and was overrun by a frenzy! The article says, among other things, that “‘The Black Cat Neighbourhood’ (2010) offers quirky melodies and somewhat dark, richly layered soundscapes comparable to the British diva invasion, she adds a rather unique touch of Balkan folk to her sound. The Black Cat Neighbourhood displays Fallulah’s strong songwriting skills, rich instrumentation that includes everything from folky strings, ukulele and glockenspiel to irresistible whistling and hand-claps along her expressive, distinct vocals”.

In British MTV we can find more good review about her: “Fallulah creates popmusic with finesse, integrity and a fiery, hot-tempered feel of Central Europe. Her songs defy genres and contain subtle elements of classic pop, rock’n’roll, indie, balkan, jazz and r&b. They are energetic and highly physical, which is reflected live, when Fallulah is backed by a tight quartet that plays with a teenth-grinding, feet-stomping bluesy rawness.”

You can play the lottery
I can use my hands for praying
I’m not sure what I believe
But we’ve got a lot of paying to do
Working in this tired row
Only thing we’ve got in common
Buy me out so I can go
I believe I’m made for something

Every day’s a battle to get up
Every day I put on a smile
And everyday it wears off
Every day I feel like telling the same people to shut up
Oh, it’s so tough to love
With no love

I feel so misunderstood
I guess that it’s my curse in life
Hope that I can do some good
With all the tears I’ve never cried
Could you hold my heavy heart?
Could you make it better soon?
Promise not to let it drop
I don’t think I’ll get a new




Friday, November 12, 2010

Falador Passa Mal; Os Originais do Samba

From “Os Originais do Samba” came out one of the best Brazilian comedians ever! MUSSUM. Mussum, as a comedian, became part of “Os Trapalhões”, a very famous TV show in 70s and 80s.
Cacildis!
As a musician, he and his fellows — ritmistas [translate it!] from samba schools in Rio de Janeiro — created the group “Os Sete Modernos”, which would be "Os Originais do Samba” years later.¹

They sang a lot of compositions of several compositors and one of them was Jorge Ben Jor that gave them his song “Falador Passa Mal”. It was released in the 1973 EP “É Preciso Cantar”.² Jorge never played this samba.

The meaning of the lyrics is a warning to a street smart guy who talks too much. The lesson is the verses: “if you’re out there, and couldn’t find someone, let someone go out there and can get you”. ;D


Falador passa mal rapaz,
Falador passa mal!
Falador passa mal rapaz,
Falador passa mal!

Quem mandou você mentir?
Você vai se machucar
Novamente aqui estou,
Você vai ter de me aturar

Falador passa mal rapaz!
Falador passa mal,
Falador passa mal rapaz!

Quem mandou você mentir?
Você vai se machucar
Novamente aqui estou,
Você vai ter de me aturar!

Que malandro é você,
Que não sabe o que diz?
Cuidado que muita mentira,
Você pode perder o nariz!

Olha, eu vou te dar um alô, que é pra você se mancar,
Olha, eu vou te dar um alô, que é pra você se mancar,
Se você saiu por aí, e não conseguiu arranjar alguém,
Deixe que alguém saia por aí, e consiga arranjar você.

Falador passa mal rapaz,
Falador passa mal!
Falador passa mal rapaz,
Falador passa mal!


Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Sin Ti; Hombres G

Hola! If we are in the mood of Spanish-language songs, let's hear "Sin Ti", this power ballad composed by the Spanish rock group called Hombres G.

"Hombres G is a Spanish pop rock band, formed in Spain in 1982. They are widely considered one of Spain's most important groups of the late 1980s and 1990s. The band consists of David Summers (bass, vocals), Rafael Gutierrez (guitar), Dani Mezquita (guitar), and Javi Molina (drums)."

"Sin Ti" is a cover song released in the 1985 debut eponymous album. According to Wikipedia, it was adapted from "Vladimir Cosma's song 'Reality' from the motion picture, La Boum."

That's the original song and the scene where it was played, and below el grupo Hombres G playing "Sin Ti" in a live concert:



No se donde estas
te busco en el jardin

las flores no me dejan verte
con tanta oscuridad
la musica tan alta
la luz de las estrellas me ayudara.

Por fin te encuentro estas alli
desnuda en la piscina, tan feliz
y no me atrevo a respirar
por miedo a estropear
el sueño de verte chapotear.

Sin ti, la piscina esta ya muerta
tumbados en la hierba, sin hablar
tu piel mojada y mis labios secos
se confunden en un beso
acerco una toalla y te envuelvo.

He vuelto a despertar
he vuelto a soñar
no podria soportar perderte
aunque tu creas que no,
todo mi corazon
tiembla cuando te ve llorar.

Sin ti, que seria sonreir
que podria yo decir, sin ti
y no me atrevo a respirar
por miedo a provocar
que esos ojitos azules lloren mas.

Por ti dejaria de vivir
solo por ver esa sonrisa, tan feliz
y no me atrevo a respirar
por miedo a estropear
el sueño de que me vuelvas a besar.




Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Viejas de Vecindad; El Tri

“Viejas de Vecindad” (Neighborhood’s Old Women) is the other whistling song by El Tri. This one was in the next album released by the band, “Una Leyenda Viva Llamada El Tri”, 1990.

Hay gentes que se fijan mucho
en la paja del ojo ajeno
y nunca se dan cuenta
de la viga que traen en el trasero
Hay quienes se dedican
a criticar a los demas
y llegan a hacer del chisme
una forma de vivir una profesion
chismes de lavadero
viejas de vecindad
siempre pensando
que mentiras inventar
me recuerdan a las comadres
jugando canasta en las tardes
y haciendo del chisme caliente
una forma de vivir
una institucion
chismes de lavadero
viejas de vecindad
siempre sacandose a balcon
con la suciedad




Monday, November 8, 2010

Dificil; El Tri

Viva Mexico, cabrones!

One more Mexican song, now from El Tri, a 60s-born rock and roll band that has a lot of success in both Mexico and USA, as well as in Spanish-speaking countries.

“Dificil” was released in the 1989 album — the sixth recorded on studio — called “21 Años Después, Alex Lora y El Tri”.

The song talks about the difficulty and ease of aspects of life.

If you liked the sound and want to learn more about the band AND can read in Spanish, El Tri’s website has its complete biography. If you don’t, you have Wikipedia, right?
La vida es como un juego de ajedrez
todos te quieren hacer jaque al rey
pero es dificil, dificil la primera vez.

Y estando arriba, se ve muy facil
pero la neta no cualquiera la hace
porque es dificil, dificl poderla hacer.

Si quieres llegar a la mesa puesta
nadie te la va a poner.
Lo que no hagas por ti mismo
nunca nadie lo va a hacer.

Y estando arriba, se ve muy facil
pero la neta no cualquiera la hace
porque es dificil, dificl poderla hacer.

Si quieres llegar a la mesa puesta
nadie te la va a poner.
Lo que no hagas por ti mismo
nunca nadie lo va a hacer.

El chiste no es llegar hasta arriba,
sino quedarse ahi toda la vida.
Pero es dificil, dificil poder llegar.

El hambre es gruesa y no perdona
raza o nacionalidad.
Coge parejo sin importarle
color, sexo o edad.

Quieres quedar bien con tu chava
pero no tienes pa’ comprarle nada
y ella es dificil, dificil de convencer.
La veo dificil, dificil que la puedas hacer.




Sunday, November 7, 2010

Eo; Café Tacvba

Café Tacvba, a Mexican alternative band, stole its name from a restaurant as stated by Wikipedia: “previously known as ‘Alicia Ya No Vive Aquí’ (a tribute to Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore), the band took its final name from a coffee shop (el Café de Tacuba) located in downtown Mexico City. The cafe, which opened in 1912 and had its heyday in the 1940s and 1950s, was representative of the Pachuco scene at the time, something the band would later acknowledge as an influence. The Café de Tacuba is still in operation as a coffee shop and restaurant on Tacuba Street, in Mexico City’s Historic Center. The band changed its name to Café Tacvba (changing the u for a v) in order to avoid legal issues with the coffee shop.

Hey, if someone want to visit the restaurant, its website is here.

“Café Tacvba” is formed by “Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega (vocals, guitar), Emmanuel ‘Meme’ del Real Díaz (keyboards, guitar, piano, programming, vocals, melodica), José Alfredo ‘Joselo’ Rangel Arroyo (guitar, vocals), and Enrique ‘Quique’ Rangel Arroyo (bass guitar, electric upright bass, vocals). Mexican folk music player Alejandro Flores is considered the 5th tacuba, as he has played the violin in almost every Café Tacuba concert since 1994.


The song “Eo” is in the 2003 album called “Quatro Caminos”. It “appears in the soundtrack to soccer game FIFA Football 2004”. And that’s it!

Que es lo que pasa.
Pasa,
Digo que si pasa.

Pasara paso
Hey tu chamaco,
Chamaquro traes chamaca
Para este agarron
Los de la musica, musica
Empieza a sonar
Con la intencion de poner a bailar
Y la gente se arrejunta
Y junta los cuerpos
Pa´ subir el calor

Se escucha escuchando
Los acordes
De la proxima cancion
Es que es el turno
Del sonido sonidero
Pura sensacion

La pista se retuerde
Y tuerce la chamaca
Con su chamacon
Con el ritmo local
Y no queda ni un espacio
Nada queda
Cuando suena esta canción
Cuando suena esta canción

Que es lo que pasa.
Pasa,
Digo que si pasa
Pasara paso

Hey tu chamaco,
Chamaquro traes chamaca
Para este agarron
Los de la musica, musica
Empieza a sonar
Con la intencion de poner a bailar

Y la gente se arrejunta
Y junta los cuerpos
Pa´ subir el calor
Se escucha escuchando
Los acordes
De la proxima cancion
Es que es el turno
Del sonido sonidero
Pura sensación




Saturday, November 6, 2010

Pecado É lhe Deixar de Molho; Os Tribalistas

“Os Tribalistas” was a musical project by these three (three, tribe, tribalism) Brazilian artists: Arnaldo Antunes, Carlinhos Brown and Marisa Monte. They reunited to write some songs together, to collaborate with each other, these things. The time they spent together was so prolific that the idea of create this musical project emerges and then the trio began to record their songs in Monte’s house. The entire process was filmed and is on Youtube, right here and here.

One curiosity is that “Os Tribalistas” never performed alive; they released an eponymous album and dismantled the band. The band, not the friendship.


The meaning of the song is explained in Tribalistas’ website and I transcribe it below:

Nelson - This song, ‘Pecado é lhe deixar de molho’ (It would be a sin to leave you idle), the bossa nova, also has many aspects from samba. It is a complaint song, which is also a tradition in this genre. But it is different, because generally these are songs filled with revenge, anger.

Marisa - This one is really about giving, it is beautiful. It is about giving yourself, I complain but I surrender because it is good anyway, thank you. I am going to suffer, but I want to suffer, I want to love. Loving is very good, you know. Falling in love itself is great. There is no passion without suffering.”

It’s such a pity I couldn’t embody the video here, but everyone must see it, so click here. ^^

The whistler is Cézar Mendes.

Falados os segredos calam
E as ondas devoram léguas
Vou lhe botar num altar
Na certeza de não apressar o mundo
Não vou divulgar
Só do meu coração para o seu

Pecado é lhe deixar de molho
E isso lhe deixa louco
Não, eu não vou me zangar
Eu não vou lhe xingar
Lhe mandar embora
Eu vou me curvar
Ao tamanho desse amor
Só o amor sabe os seus

Não, eu não vou me vingar
Se você fez questão
De vagar o mundo
Não vou descuidar
Vou lembrar como é bom
E ao amor me render




Friday, November 5, 2010

El Duelo; La Ley

Chile is trendy these days, doesn’t it?

La Ley, a former Chilean rock band created in 1980s, should be too.


This band was formed by Rodrigo Aboitiz and Andrés Bobe, with Mauricio Claveria, Beto Cuevas and Luciano Rojas. In 1994, Bobe died in a motocycle crash and La Ley invited Pedro Furgone to occupy his place. The first album under this new formation was the 1995 “Invisible”, which began the “dark era” of La Ley, with more dreamlike lyrics, full of figures of speech, and a more distorted sound on guitars.*

According Wikipedia, “the first single [was] ‘El Duelo’ which exceed the expectations of the band and quickly rose to the top spot in most of the billboard charts in Latin America, particularly in Mexico and Chile.” “El Duelo” is a Bobe’s posthumous song. It’s chorus says: “without pain you don’t make yourself happy”.

We can see the vocalist Beto Cuevas whistling along the song in the music video.

Con una lagrima de fe sobre tu piel
olvide la grieta que dejo tu amor
pero ese instinto taurino de tu ser
me obligo a azotarte tiernamente

Sin dolor no te haces feliz
sin dolor no te haces feliz
sin amor...
no sufres mas

Toda esa noche provocaste ver en mi
lo que a nadie muestro en la intimidad
pero ese tipo de mirada que hay en ti
me obligo a matarte lentamente

Sin dolor no te haces feliz
sin dolor no te haces feliz
sin amor... lentamente

Sin dolor no te haces feliz
sin dolor no te haces feliz
sin amor
no sufres mas




Thursday, November 4, 2010

J'ai Coupé le Téléphone; Françoise Hardy

Talking about divas, I introduce you Françoise Hardy.


Although Hardy is better known in her own country, France, she doesn’t cut a sorry figure around the world. In part, because she “made periodic attempts to capture the international market with English-language recordings” in her early career.

Hardy’s style “draw from French pop traditions, lightweight '50s teen idol rock, girl groups, and sultry jazz and blues”, according to AllMusic.com.

“J’ai Coupé le Téléphone” was released in 1969 as a single and it’s B-side was the song “Les Doigts dans la porte”. The song appeared in an album in 1970, the first compilation by the chanteuse, called “Françoise”.*

J'ai coupé le téléphone
Et je reste dans mon lit
Je dors, je rêve ou je lis
Dans mon lit, je n'ai besoin de personne

J'ai aussi fermé la porte
Qu'on soit l'hiver ou le printemps
J'ai fermé la porte au temps
Aux intempéries de toutes les sortes

Je n'ai besoin de personne
Pour parler, pour ne rien dire
Pour prouver que je suis meilleure ou pire
Je n'aimais qu'une personne

Mais rien, plus rien en moi ne l'étonne
Non.




Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Cry Baby; Madonna

As you can see right there >>>>>>>, American whistling songs is crushing the other countries! It's not fair. This month I will post only whistling songs by other countries and, if possible, other languages than English. But today I have to post Madonna! I do have!

This song was inspired by the movie “Dick Tracy” in which she played Breathless Mahoney. “There are four songs from the film on the album: 'Sooner or Later', 'More', 'What Can You Lose?' and 'Now I'm Following You', although the latter song appears here in a version different from the one in the film (the film version was not performed by Madonna, but by the composer, Andy Paley). So, 'I'm Breathless' can be considered another Madonna album, even though it's officially a soundtrack album.* This album is the Madonna's concept album, and is largely aclamed by the critics.

Still quoting Wikipedia: "Rolling Stone magazine stated: 'No other pop star today could - or probably would - make an album like this.' Madonna commented in a 1998 interview that this album is one of her favorites, saying: 'I love every song on that album'."

This song is very 30s and jazzy. It seems that Madonna is trully the cabaret singer Breathless Mahoney.


My guy is really something, he's sensitive and shy
My guy is such a bumpkin, it doesn't take much to make him cry.
If you hurt someone helpless, it's like taking away all his toys,
He's just a cry baby boy.

My guy is sentimental, he's always feeling blue
He can be so temperamental and I don't know what I should do.
If you step on a little bug he cries all over the floor,
He's just a cry baby bore.

I don't want to hurt his feelings,
But his outbursts have me really
Boo-hoo-hoo-ing all the time,
If I turn out like him, I think I'm gonna cry, baby
La, la, la, la, la, la,
He's such a cry baby,
La, la, la, la, la, la.

And I'll tell you something else

My guy is such a wet noodle, he's always teary-eyed
He acts like a real cock-a-doodle, he can't even tell you why.
If you just play him a sappy song, he acts like his doggie just died,
He's just a cry baby guy.

No kidding, oh dear

My guy is such a whiner, he's worse than baddie so
A cockroach seen in the diner, and the tears flow out of the blue.
And if I ask him to knock it off, he goes and cries in the can,
He's such a cry baby man.

I don't want to hurt his feelings,
But his outbursts have me really
Boo-hoo-hoo-ing all the time,
If I turn out like him, I think I'm gonna cry, baby
La, la, la, la, la, la,
He's such a cry baby,
La, la, la, la, la, la.

I love a cry baby,
La, la, la, la, la, la.
He's such a cry baby,
La, la, la, la, la, la.


Sunday, October 31, 2010

Rise and Fall; Helloween

Today’s song is in the second part of the second album by Helloween, “Keeper of the Seven Keys II”. At this time, the vocalist was Michael Kinske (by the way, Helloween changed a lot of members; the only two who remained from the beginning are the guitarist Michael Weikath and the bassist Markus Grosskopf).

Weikath composed “Rise and Fall”. This song, someone told me, is the proof that the metal doesn’t need to be serious, grave and destructively bad, you can add some happiness and fun as well.

The whistling here, on the contrary of yesterday’s, is right in the end, after the guitar solo, the loud screams and some bleats and whinnies.

Trick or treat?!
Once a singer sang 'bout bullshit
Everyone could see him fall
And be sure it´s been his last hit
He´s never been seen at all

Some ditactor felt progressive
And lay down in the sun
But his people were aggressive
They killed him with a gun

Sometimes you're wrong
By some things you have done
You see fate is too strong
Nothing's won
No use for a fight
If you're not acting right
You´ll be cut down to size
Like a lie

It's the rise and fall
The prize for all
That ain´t nice at all
Luck is like a ball
You can´t recall or care at all
So better use your brain!

A little dragon could spit fire
But never so for something bad
He didn't know the knight's desire
To throw a lance into his head

Romeo loved his Juliet
Their parents told them "Stop"
Then it all turned out peculiar
He couldn't get it up

And it's all in vain
When you're living with pain
Reap not goods you have grown
By your own
Feelings you like
Disappear overnight
You sip up every grin
Free to win

It' the rise and fall
The prize for all
That ain't nice at all
Luck is like a ball
You can't recall or care at all
You nearly go insane

A spaceman flies the rocket
That takes him to the stars
Thinks his wife is in his pocket
But she's strolling 'round in bars

The king of Los Angeles
Bought himself a teddy bear
And the queen became shameless
She did it with a chair

Sometimes you're wrong
By some things you have done
You see fate is too strong
Nothing's won
No use for a fight
If you're not acting right
You´ll be cut down to size
Like a lie

It's the rise and fall
The prize for all
That ain´t nice at all
Luck is like a ball
You can´t recall or care at all

It's the rise and fall
The prize for all
That ain´t nice at all
Luck is like a ball
You can´t recall or care at all
So better use your brain!




Saturday, October 30, 2010

We Burn; Helloween

Tomorrow is Halloween! Nothing better than post two songs about this German power metal band this weekend!


A friend of mine pointed me to this whistling song yesterday and it took me to connect the name of the band with the holiday. But when I finally did, it fitted like a glove.

Helloween is the mother-band of the power metal, a melodic style of heavy metal. My friend said that the vocalist doesn't sing and scream in falsetto, that's his true voice... oO

This whistling song is in the 1996 album "The Time of the Oath". It was composed by Andi Deris, the current vocalist.

The whistling here is the worstest I ever heard! It's tuneless, poorly whistled... hear it! I won't say anything, just click and suffer!!! ahahaha

Climb down my pile
And again to the beat of my heart
You're so exciting
Take all the soul
I will give you as much as you want
Control my feelings
Higher, much higher
Unbounded fire
Closer, much closer
Close to the core
We burn, we burn
I contaminate you
I like to pollute you with my G-g-generations
Look in my eyes
And we melt into on yearning mind
We climb the stages
Higher, much higher
Unbounded fire
Closer, much closer
Close to the core
We burn, we burn
Insanity, insanity
Never set me free




Friday, October 29, 2010

Verde Llano; Almendra

Néstor Kirchner, former president of our neighbor Argentina, died this week. This post is my homage to him. Descanse en paz, presidente.

- -

Almendra is an Argentine rock group formed in 1967 in Buenos Aires. Almendra is considered one of the most important rock and roll bands in its country. According to the website Rock.com.arEste grupo es considerado miembro de una trilogía inicial del rock argentino, junto a Los Gatos y a Manal.

According to Almendra’s article in the Spanish Wikipedia, the band’s first album has been regarded in repeated occasions as the best album of the history of Argentine rock. Its second album, called “Almendra II”, was released one year later — it wasn’t too praised as its predecessor but it’s a rare gem too.

“Verde Llano” (translation: “green plain”) is an instrumental song present in “Almedra II". It’s not a sad song, as someone might expect; although the whistling begins with a melancholic melody, the rest of the tune is kind of dancing, pero aún así muy tranquilo.

Well, I don’t think death should be horrible at all. If I may, to explain my point of view, I will quote another song by these porteños rock stars, “si es que sus sueños son luces en torno a ti tu te das cuenta que él ya nunca ha de morir.




Thursday, October 28, 2010

Home; Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

After breaking up with his girlfriend, moving out of his house, and leaving a 12-step program for addiction (he left, as he has said, to live in a more honest reaction to the truth of the moment, not be bound to certain behaviors by fear-based dogma), Ebert began work on a book about a messianic figure named Edward Sharpe. According to Ebert, Sharpe “was sent down to Earth to kinda heal and save mankind...but he kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love.” Ebert later met singer Jade Castrinos in Uruguaiana. In the summer of 2009, as Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Ebert and Castrinos toured the country with a group of fellow musicians in a big white bus.

This is the way Wikipedia explains how the band was created. It also states that “their song ‘Home’ was voted number 15 on the Australian Triple J Hottest 100, 2009 countdown, the largest music poll in the world, and (...) was also used as the background accompaniment for a video called ‘Guy Walks Across America’ by Conscious Minds. The video generated huge internet success, getting millions of hits on YouTube, as well as being featured on the front page of Yahoo! News.”

In an interview with RoneBreak.com, the two leaders of the band speak about the song:

Everywhere I go I hear the song ‘Home,’ can you describe the story behind it? What is home for you?

"Home for me is being with my family and loved ones, it’s not necessarily a physical place, more of an emotional one.”

Et c’est fini!

Alabama, Arkansas,
I do love my ma and pa,
Not the way that I do love you.

Holy, Moley, me, oh my,
You're the apple of my eye,
Girl I've never loved one like you.

Man oh man you're my best friend,
I scream it to the nothingness,
There ain't nothing that I need.

Well, hot and heavy, pumpkin pie,
Chocolate candy, Jesus Christ,
Ain't nothing please me more than you.

Ahh Home. Let me come home
Home is wherever I'm with you.
Ahh Home. Let me go ho-oh-ome.
Home is wherever I'm with you.

La, la, la, la, take me home.
Mother, I'm coming home.

I'll follow you into the park,
Through the jungle through the dark,
Girl I never loved one like you.

Moats and boats and waterfalls,
Alley-ways and pay phone calls,
I've been everywhere with you.

We laugh until we think we’ll die,
Barefoot on a summer night
Nothin’ new is sweeter than with you

And in the streets you run afree,
Like it's only you and me,
Geeze, you're something to see.

Ahh Home. Let me go home.
Home is wherever I'm with you.
Ahh Home. Let me go ho-oh-ome.
Home is wherever I'm with you.

La, la, la, la, take me home.
Daddy, I'm coming home.

(Talking)
Jade.
Alexander.
Do you remember that day you fell outta my window?
I sure do, you came jumping out after me.
Well, you fell on the concrete, nearly broke your ass, you were bleeding all over the place and I rushed you out to the hospital, you remember that?
Yes I do.
Well there's something I never told you about that night.
What didn't you tell me?
While you were sitting in the backseat smoking a cigarette you thought was gonna be your last, I was falling deep, deeply in love with you, and I never told you til just now.

Ahh Home. Let me go home.
Home is wherever I'm with you.
Ahh Home. Let me go ho-oh-ome.
Home is where I'm alone with you.

Home. Let me come home.
Home is wherever I'm with you.

Ahh home. Yes I am ho-oh-ome.
Home is when I'm alone with you.

Alabama, Arkansas,
I do love my ma and pa...
Moats and boats and waterfalls,
Alley-ways and pay phone calls...

Ahh Home. Let me go home.
Home is wherever I'm with you.
Ahh Home. Let me go ho-oh-ome.
Home is where I'm alone with you...




Sunday, October 24, 2010

Tighten Up; The Black Keys

"Tighten Up" is the first single from The Black Keys album, Brothers, released on May 18, 2010. Dan Auerbach told The Sun how this song came about: "That was the last song we did for the record. We had a couple of days off and so did Brian (Danger Mouse) and since we are friends and like hanging out with each other we thought it would be fun to go into the studio and see if we could come up with a tune. We always have a blast when the three of us get together." "Tighten Up" has been liscensed to appear in the video game FIFA 11, the television program Gossip Girl, and a Subaru commercial. The song has become the most successful Black Keys single in America, being only their second charting song and reaching number 2 on the Alternative Songs chart.


The original music video for the song was a low budget clip starring a puppet dinosaur named Frank who is standing beside a plant. The video shows him dancing and miming the words a little, whilst subtitles go on explaining different facts about the video, the band, and Frank; e.g. "Frank has a profile on eharmony.com..." "He is a puppet, not a real dinosaur." This goes along the same direction of using sort of "obvious" or "simple" ways to say things like the album cover does; e.g. "This is a song by the Black Keys" "It's from an album called Brothers", etc.

The official music video was released on May 18, 2010. It shows Auerbach and his fictional son walking to the park. Auerbach sits next to Carney on a bench while their fictional sons play with toy trucks. Auerbach's son look up on the playground to see a little girl, after which he starts to lip sync to the song. He climbs up on the playground and goes in to kiss her but then he opens his eyes to realize Carney's son has lured her away. After he attempts to kiss her, Auerbach's son begins to fight with Carney's son. After Auerbach and Carney attempt to break the fight up in vain, they see the mother of the girl and begin to fight like their sons. They hit each other using mostly Carney's drumset and after the woman sees them fighting, she walks away. Their sons come to them looking at them disappointedly.*


I wanted love, I needed love
Most of all, most of all
Someone said "True Love" was dead
But I'm bound to fall
Bound to fall for you
Oh what can I do?

Take my badge, but my heart remains
Loving you, baby child
Tighten up on your reigns, you're running wild
Running wild, it's true

Sick for days, so many ways
I'm aching now, I'm aching now
It's times like these, I need relief
Please show me how, oh show me how..
To get right
Yeah it's all the side

When I was young, and moving fast,
Nothing slowed me down, oh slowed me down
Now I let the others pass
I've come around, oh come around
Cause I found

Living just to keep going
Going just to be sane
All the while I know
It's such a shame
I don't need to get steady
I know just what to feel
Telling me to be ready, my dear




Saturday, October 23, 2010

Winners and Losers; The Tiger Lillies

Hey Hey Hey!


Love is like a battlefield
A weapon used
How often have a pair of eyes
Destroyed and abused

All is fair in love and war
Winners and losers by the score

But just as war is never sacred
Love will always be
Those who do betray
Hell waits eternally

All is fair in love and war
Winners and losers by the score

The greatest warriors
In the flames of hell will burn
Hell has no fury
Like a lover spurned

All is fair in love and war
Winners and losers by the score

The starcrossed lovers
They bathe in bliss
The glory
Of their first kiss

All is fair in love and war
Winners and losers by the score

And Parting is
Such sorrow sweet
The white hot coals of hell
They’ll eat

All is fair in love and war
Winners and losers by the score


Friday, October 22, 2010

Card Game; The Tiger Lillies

They are here again! The Tiger Lillies! In double dose! Today and tomorrow I will post songs of their 2007 album called "Love and War". Today I will copy-and-paste what there is in their website about this album. Tomorrow — I am almost certain — I will post only the basic things about it.

"A Tribute (of sorts) to Monteverdi is a fusion of the familiar squeeze-box stomp of the Tiger Lillies and the baroque harpsichord flourishes of McGuinness. Inspired by Monteverdi's Madrigals of Love and War, the new works touch on murder, rape and mutilation. And Jacques' vocals - his voice is the missing link between classical falsetto and Berlin cabaret - range from a Tom Waits growl to an angelic operatic warble as he rages against religious and political hypocrisy in times of war. Mark Fisher - The Scotsman

"What The Tiger Lillies have come up with - Songs of Love and War - is, on the evidence of the preview CD, both aural seduction and assault in the same breath. There is edgy beauty, rage and a sense of politics. Sarah Unwin Jones - The Herald

"The Tiger Lillies (collaborating with David McGuinness of Concerto Caledonia) present their tribute to Monteverdi's Madrigals of Love and War. Harpsichord, Accordion, church organ and musical saw unite in songs of the futility of war."

 
In their card game you’re a chip
You’re a whore in which they’ll slip
In their chess game you’re a pawn
Falsely honoured truly scorned

In their dice game you they’ll roll
Lie to Heaven goes your soul
Playing poker fuelled by lust
They’ll drink champagne you’ll be dust

In their card game what they win
Each wager is a sin
In their chess game you’ll be raped
For formation a strong shape

In their dice game your snakes eyes
Cannot see their greed and lies
Playing poker their desire
They don’t care if you expire


Thursday, October 21, 2010

NOTE: What worth.

Andrew Bird’s songs and others that may appear someday compelled me to state that will only worth whistling songs recorded originally in studio and released as single, in an EP or in an studio album.

That's because can happen that one song being released without whistlings and then the singer/band realize that it’d be better with whistlings. For me, what will always count is the original recordings.

Perhaps when all the songs have ended up I start an epilogue with these songs. Not now.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Souverian; Andrew Bird

In an album with 12 songs, 5 have whistlings and this one is the last (but not the least). I discovered that “Souverian” is a word in old French for “sovereign” that means “exceptional in quality”; someone wrote in Songmeanings.net that “a google search turned up a farmer named Souverian P. Frigon who was born in 1850 in Canada and immigrated to Iriquois County, Illinois (Andrew Bird’s home state). Might just be a coincidence, but this Souverian being a farmer fits in with the pastoral images of parsnips, thistles, thrushes, and grasses. Perhaps Andrew Bird is spinning a story around a real but mostly unknown figure?

You must being thinking why I am speculating that much. Because not even Andrew Bird himself knows why he composed it:

This one remains mysterious to me. So let’s just leave it there.

^^
--

I’ like to know more about music, so I could speak about Bird’s influences, evolution of sound... these things. Because I don’t, all I can give are informations about the songs. Well, this blog never meant to be about musical trends; it’s more like an encyclopedia... We’re fine this way, don’t we?

Though bells will ring
Church steeples were catchin fire
If you promise spring
Then I’ll know you are a liar

Cause in the spring
Tender grasses won’t burn easily
Tough thrushes sing
Still my lover won’t return to me
Wild parsnips they still scald my lungs
While thistles will burn my feet

And if you join our chorus
You will never fear anymore
So here it comes the chorus
We will meet on a fatal shore

Souverian Souverian the elder
Souverian Souverian was free
Souverian Souverian we feld her
So very young so very young were we

Birds will sing
Still my lover won’t return to me
You promise spring
Still my lover won’t return to me
Wild parsnips scald my lungs
And thistles are burning my feet

So here it comes the chorus
You’ll never fear anymore
If you join a chorus
We will meet on a fatal shore

Under the elders
The older get younger
The younger get over
Over their elders
Under the elders
Pretend that you’re older now

Under the elders
The older get younger
The younger get over
Over the elders
Under the elders
Bending your branches down

We who are so very young
Still my lover won’t return to me
Thrushes sing
Still my lover won’t return to me
Wild parsnips they still scald my lungs
While thistles still burn my feet





Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Not a Robot, But a Ghost; Andrew Bird

“Effigy” has not whistling in it, nor “Nomenclature”, so the next whistling song is “Not a Robot, But a Ghost”. Again, Drowned in Sound explains this beautiful song:

This is the last song I wrote for this record. It was a Dosh instrumental track that I really loved called ‘First Impossible’. I wrote these lyrics and wrestled with over a hundred tracks we painted on then peeled away with a heat gun. You could read this as a protest song, a break up song or some vague geopolitical quagmire instantly resolved by a brilliant algorithm.
--

I run the numbers through the floor
Here’s how it goes
I crack the codes I crack the codes
That end the war

The Hour

I pushed a note under your door
Here’s how it goes
Things come to blows
But we don’t want this anymore
No, we don’t want this anymore
I crack the codes you end the war

I hear the clockwork in your core
Time strips the gears till you
Forget what they were for
I push the numbers through your pores
I crack the codes I crack the codes
To end the war

How’s my living
You can call
Encrypted numbers
On bathroom stalls

There’s something burning
It casts a pall
It’s melting numbers right
Off the walls





Monday, October 18, 2010

Tenuousness; Andrew Bird

I skipped “Effigy” because I don’t know where is the album here in my archive, so I couldn’t upload the song. In fact, I also don’t know if it’s a whistling song as well. So I’ll let you with “Tenuousness” today and tomorrow I come back with “Effigy”.

This is an odd one. Definitely not a story song, but one that tries to create a sense of tenuousness with syntax. The word ‘tenuousness’ itself is clearly onomatopoeic, like a frayed rope bridge. Traveling the world for most of a year tends to make me amazed that things hang together as well as they do considering how divisive and chaotic even the smallest countries can get. And knowing that everything is connected and propped up by imaginary things like, oh, credit for instance. Is there order in the universe? What’s to keep this planet from spinning off its axis to be lost?

Tenuous at best was all he had to say
when pressed about the rest of it, the world that is
from proto-Sanskrit Minoans to Porto-centric Lisboans
Greek Cypriots and and harbor-sorts who hang around in quotes a lot

Here’s where things start getting weird
while chinless men will scratch their beards
and to their minds a sharpened axe
is brushed upon the Uralic syntaxes

Love of hate acts as an axis
Love of hate acts as an axis
First it wanes and then it waxes
So procreate and pay your taxes

Tenuousness
Less seven comes to three
Them, you, us plus eleven thank the heavens for their elasticity
And as for those who live and die for astronomy

Know when to stand or when to sit
Can’t stand to stand can’t stand to sit
Now who would want to know this

Click
Click
Click

Who wants to look upon this
Who wants to look upon this
Pray tell

Who wants to look upon this
Who wants to look upon this
Pray tell
Pray tell

Tenuousness
Less seven comes to three
Them, you, us plus eleven comes just shy of infinity
and as for those who live and die from numerology





Saturday, October 16, 2010

Fitz and the Dizzyspells; Andrew Bird

That is the third song of the album Noble Beast. I'm still searching for infos about it, so I'll let you with only lyrics, song and video for now. So, enjoy A.Bird for one more time!

EDIT: I found on Drowned in Sound a track-by-track interview with Bird, guided by Songfacts.com. Now I'll post all of his song on the album “Noble Beast”. ^^

The operative word here is 'flail'. Put away the china and just go berserk. It helps with blood flow and confusing predators. The song goes from catastrophic forces of nature: violent storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions to internal turmoil. Night terrors brought on by ingestion of hallucinogenic aubergines. Talks about language and how we must sew our own coats and not depend on old definitions: a theme readdressed in the song 'Nomenclature'.”
Comes and goes
Like in fits and dizzy spells
Like the weather

And it blows
Like it knows what's going wrong
Like it's clever

Has a name but the name goes unspoken
Weather vanes
Were all twisted and broken
So soldier on, soldier on

Flailing to the whir of a snack machine
And muted screams of an old regime
And then oh
Something gets in it
The nightshade gets in it
We were all fast asleep
Were all so fast asleep
But you woke us
You woke us from the strangest dream that an aubergine could ever know
Would ever know

Lava flows over crooks and craggy cliffs to the ocean
And explodes in a steam heat fevered cyclical motion
Has a name
But the name goes unspoken
It's in vain
Cause the language is broken
So cast your own, cast your own
Soldier on




Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Masterswarm; Andrew Bird


Come what may
Lay your eggs where it’s warm
We come here to swarm
Come by sea
Swarm like smoke in the dawn
We were the young
We were the swarm

Radiolarians
Midges and moths
Out from a cloth
We were the young
We were the swarm

Flailing fetal fleas
Feeding from the arms of the master
Burrow into me
And this is sure to misspell disaster
Oh and the young in the larval stage
Orchestrating plays
In vestments of translucent alabaster

So they took me to the hospital
They put my body through a scan
What they saw there would impress them all
For inside me grows a man
Who speaks with perfect diction
As he orders my eviction
As he acts with more conviction
Than I

Oh, burrow into me
This is sure to misspell disaster
Oh, burrow into me
You're feeding from the arms of the master

We were the young
We were the swarm
We were the young
Radiolarians

We were the young
We were the swarm
We were the young
Radiolarians

We were the young
We were the swarm
We were the young
Radiolarians

Come what may
Come what may
Come






Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Oh No; Andrew Bird

Hello! I’m gonna post some Andrew Bird’s songs again and I’m starting with “Oh No”, one of his most famous song, that was released in the 2009 album called “Noble Beast”. Bird didn’t released any song as a single, neither this one. The album reached #12 on US Billboard 200, according Wikipedia.

According Songfacts.com, “Bird told Drowned in Sound that this song was ‘inspired by the sweet, mournful cry of a four-year-old boy sitting behind me on an airplane. His dread was so utterly complete. I found myself envying his emotional abandon and tracing the musical cadence of his wail as he cried ‘Oh no.’ I suppose we’re talking about repression here. We can’t all behave like four-year-olds but must we be emotionally frozen? So let us lock arms as the harmless sort of sociopath and all sing in together’.

In a blog written for the New York Times, Bird wrote that the thing that’s unprecedented about this song for him, ‘is that the chorus actually happens three times. He explained: “I’ve always had a block against repeating myself. Repetition is one of the basic tenets of Pop music and I’ve gone from deploring it to seeing it as a great virtue. There’s this tension between the restless, early-jazz-obsessed 22-year-old I once was and my present self, who finds writing a simple and direct song infinitely challenging. I think that’s why I respond to Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. They were improvising not in a linear, searching way but with the goal of finding a new melody and then, god forbid, repeating themselves.’

Bird chronicled the history of this song from idea to completion in a series of blogs for the New York Times. After he recorded it, Bird wrote: ‘We tracked it live with two acoustic guitars and some improvised whistling and got it on the second take. I’m pretty happy with it. The whistling sounds are especially otherworldly.’

Bird admitted to Q magazine March 2009 that he is afraid of dry lips when attempting to whistle on this and other songs onstage. He explained: ‘Whistling is something that you do without thinking, not in front of a microphone to order.’ Bird added that this song is “carried by a whistling melody, so there’s a terrible fear of choking. I try to drink water and eat lots of succulent fruits with crisp skins, such as grapes.”


Oh, he is the best!

In the salsify mains
of what was thoughtful and sad
all the calcified arhythmatists
were doing the math.

And it would take a calculated
blow to the head to
blind the eyes of all the harmless
sociopaths. Oh

Arm in Arm we are the harmless
sociopaths. Oh
arm in arm with all the harmless
sociopaths

Calcium mines you buried
deep in your chest. Oh the
calcium mines you buried
deep in your chest.

Hoo-oo-oo
you’re deep in a mine,
hoo-oo-oo
a calcium mine
o-o-oh.

Let’s get out of here
past the atmosphere,
squint your eyes and no one
dies or goes to jail,
past the silver bridge
oh the silver bridge
wearing nothing but a
one-sie and a veil.

Hoo-oo-oo
you’re deep in a mine,
hoo-oo-oo
a calcium mine
o-o-oh.

Arm in arm we are the harmless
sociopaths. Oh
arm in arm with all the harmless
sociopaths

In the calcium mines buried
deep in your chest. Oh the
calcium mines buried
deep in your chest.

Hoo-oo-oo
you’re deep in a mine,
Oh-no
a calcium mine
Oh-no.

So let’s get out of here
past the atmosphere,
squint your eyes and no one
dies or goes to jail,
past the silver bridge
oh the silver bridge
wearing nothing but a
one-sie and a veil

Oh no...
Oh no...
Oh no...
Oh no...





Saturday, October 9, 2010

De Camino a la Vereda; Buena Vista Social Club

Wow! Only one album and two songs with whistling! What a example!

Wow!² Look what I found in Buena Vista's website:

The singer Ibrahim Ferrer was born at a social club dance in Santiago in 1927. He was the only one of his family to become a professional musician although he says “they all like to dance”. He wrote ‘De Camino a la Vereda’ in the early 1950s around the time he was touring the east of the island aboard a carnival float, as the specialist improvising singer with Pacho Alonso’s group. After years of singing with Benny Moré, the Chepín-Chovén Orchestra and Los Bocucos amongst others, his pure soft voice had grown less fashionable in recent times. Called in to the studio from his daily walk through the streets of Havana on the day of recording, this was his first session for a number of years.

Ibrahim lives in old Havana in a run down apartment building. He is a shy and unassuming man with a strong faith. His tiny living room is dominated by an alter to Saint Lazarus (Babalé-Ayé in the Santería religion) and this song has religious overtones not to stray from the path.


Perfect!

!Óígame compay! No deje el camino por coger la vereda.

Usted por enamorado
Tan viejo y con poco brillo
Usted por enamorado
Tan viejo y con poco brillo
El pollo que tiene al lado
Le ha hecho perder el trillo

!Óígame compay! No deje el camino por coger la vereda.

Ay, pero yo como soy tan sencillo
Pongo en claro esta trovada
Yo como soy tan sencillo
Pongo en claro esta trovada
Compay, yo no dejo el trillo
Para meterme en ca~nada

!Óígame compay! No deje el camino por coger la vereda.

Ay, pero estabamo´ comentando
Por qué ha abandonado a Andrea
Estabamo´ comentando
Por qué ha abandonado a Andrea
Compadre uste´ ´ta cambiando
De camino por vereda.

!Óígame compay! No deje el camino por coger la vereda.

Pero mire compadrito, uste´ ha ´dejao´ a la
pobre Geraldina para meterse Dorotea.
No hables de tu marido mujer.
Mujer de malos sentimientos,
Todo se te ha vuelto un cuento
Porque no ha llegado la hora fatal.

!Óígame compay! No deje el camino por coger la vereda.

Ay ay ay ay, canta y no llore´ Eliade´
Porque cantando se alegran, cielito mío
Los corazones.

No hables de tu marido mujer.
Mujer de malos sentimientos,
Todo se te ha vuelto un cuento
Porque no ha llegado la hora fatal.

Ay, húyanle, húyanle, húyanle al mayoral.

Pero ese senor está en el paso
Y no me deja pasar.

A la man... a la man... a la mancunchévere,
Camina como chévere ha matao su
madre, mamá




Friday, October 8, 2010

El Carretero; Buena Vista Social Club

David Hutcheon is journalist who writes about music. He works for Sunday Times, Mojo and Time Out, all British magazines. In 2005, Hutcheon was invited to write articles for the book “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”. The band of today was listed by him in the book. In the next paragraphs there is the history of this amazing Cuban band, which released only this eponymous album, in 1997:

You could not make it up: a six-million-selling Cuban album that topped the German charts and bust sanctions so the musicians could play Carnegie Hall — although you cannot buy it in Havana, where its pre-revolutionary son style in seen as old hat. Not only that, it was an accident: the plan had been to take some Malian musicians to Cuba to collaborate, but red tape meant no Africans, and studio time had already been booked. Ry Cooder asked Juan de Marcos González, credited as ‘A&R consultant,’ if he knew any musicians who might be available.

González searched Havana for survivors from Cuba’s golden age, finding the singers Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo, the pianist Rubén González, the guitarist Compay Segundo, and the bass player Cachaito López. He also put together a big band, the Afro Cuban All Stars, who recorded their own album in a burst of unhindered creativity. González was asked to suggest tunes he would like to record. He turned up the next day with them all written on a till roll. With three albums in the can, the team went their separate ways.

Although many have since decided that World Circuit knew exactly what it was doing all along, nobody could have predicted what would happen. The musicians played a handful of shows, but things snowballed without their participation. People fell for the story — retired musicians make a comeback to save music on the brink of extinction — and flocked to the stores. Was it true? Who cares?

Por el camino del sitio mio
Un carretero alegre paso
Con su canciones que es muy sentida
Y muy guajira alegre cantó

Me voy al transbordador
A descargar la carreta (bis)
Para cumplir con la meta
De mi pequeña labor

A caballo vamos pa’l monte
A caballo vamos pa’l monte(bis)

Yo trabajo sin reposo
Para poderme casar (bis)
Y si lo llego a lograr
Seré un guajiro dichoso

A caballo...

Soy guajiro y carretero
Y en el campo vivo bien (bis)
Porque el campo es el eden
Más lindo del mundo entero

A caballo...

Chapea el monte, cultiva el llano
Recoge el fruto de tu sudor (bis)