Caetano Veloso – Michelangelo Antonioni

*(unfortunately not available on Spotify, a short version is used here with Lorenzo Mattotti’s drawings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9mW4VMhBqc)

Caetano Veloso

Caetano is probably the most famous brazilian songwriters, i couldn’t write enough about him. Nine latin Grammys, two Grammys, composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. And definitely a poet. Classic and contemporary, he kept publishing albums from 1967, more than fifty so far, besides writing soundtracks. To have a glimpse of his talent, watch his performance (singing in spanish, a classic mexican song) in Pedro Almodóvar’s movie “Hable con ella”.

Michelangelo Antonioni is the name of the famous italian movie director, a friend of his, who actor Peter Weller once defined as “the first guy who really started making films about the reality of the vacuity between people, the difficulty in traversing this space between lovers in modern day”. The song was featured on 2001 album “Noites do Norte” and then used in the soundtrack of Antonioni directed episode in movie Eros (filmed with Soderbergh and Wong-Kar-Wai) in 2004.
A few lines in italian, images as if it was an Antonioni’s movie. Disconnected, enigmatic, dreamlike, without answers.

“Michelangelo Antonioni”

Visione del silenzio
Angolo vuoto
Pagina senza parole
Una lettera scritta sopra un viso
Di pietra e vapore
Amore
Inutile finestra

“Michelangelo Antonioni”

Vision of silence
Empty corner
Page without words
A letter written upon a face
Of stone and steam
Love
Useless window

David Bowie – Ragazzo solo, ragazza sola


David Bowie

No need to introduce him. 😉

I’d like to start posting some italian language songs not sung by italian. Ragazzo solo, ragazza sola is the special italian version of Space Oddity. Published in 1970, its lyrics were written  by one of the most famous italian song authors, Mogol (who wrote most of the hits by Lucio Battisti in the ’60s and ’70s), and have nothing in common with the original english ones. Quite uncommon nowadays (with the exception of the french market due to laws that restrict the number of non-french language songs transmitted), at the time it wasn’t strange to translate songs and record them in other languages. This way many famous hits were born, like My Way (originally french) or the italian L’appuntamento (originally brazilian).

“Ragazzo solo, ragazza sola”

La mia mente ha preso il volo
Un pensiero, uno solo
Io cammino mentre dorme la citta’

I suoi occhi nella notte
Fanali bianchi nella notte
Una voce che mi parla chi sara’?

Dimmi ragazzo solo dove vai,
Perche’ tanto dolore?
Hai perduto senza dubbio un grande amore
Ma di amori e’ tutta piena la citta’,

No ragazza sola, no no no
Stavolta sei in errore
Non ho perso solamente un grande amore
Ieri sera ho perso tutto con lei.

Con lei
I colori della vita
Dei cieli blu
Una come lei non la trovero’ mai piu’

Ora ragazzo solo dove andrai
La notte e’ un grande mare
Se ti serve la mia mano per nuotare
Grazie ma stasera io vorrei morire
Perche’ sai negli occhi miei
C’e’ un angelo, un angelo
Che ormai non vola piu’ che ormai non vola piu’
Che ormai non vola piu’

C’e’ lei
I colori della vita
Dei cieli blu
Una come lei non la trovero’ mai piu’

“Lonely boy, lonely girl”

My mind just took off
One thought only one
I walk while the city sleeps

Her eyes in the night
White lanterns in the night
A voice that talks to me who will it be?

Tell me lonely boy where are you going to,
Why so much pain?
You lost without doubt a great love
But the city is full of loves

No lonely girl no no no
This time you are mistaken
I haven’t just lost a great love
Last night I lost everything with her.

With her
The colors of life
Of the blue skies
One like her I’ll never find again.

Now lonely boy where will you go?
The night is a big sea
If you need my hand to swim
Thank you but tonight I would like to die
Because you know in my eyes
There is an angel an angel
That now does not fly anymore that now does not
fly anymore
That now does not fly anymore

There is her
The colors of life
Of the blue skies
One like her I’ll never find again.