Afterhours – Pelle

Afterhours

Afterhours are an alternative rock band from a small town near Milan, they started singing in english at the end of  the ’80s and switched soon to italian (even though they recorded some more english tracks). The name comes from a Velvet Underground recording, as the leader Manuel Agnelli loved how rich and various that album is, featuring calm but also violent songs.

Pelle (from the 1997 album “Hai paura del buio?”) sounds simply like a song about missing someone, her/his skin, in the most passionate and painful way. The fleshly dimension adds up to the desire to know, to achieve a complete understanding in the lines “I was entering deep in you, you know, / only to understand who you are.”

“Pelle”

È facile sai, averti
se chiudo i miei begli occhietti spenti
e cerco su di me
la tua pelle che non c’è.
Poi ti entro in fondo dentro, lo sai
soltanto per capire chi sei.

Forse sei un congegno che
si spegne da sè.
Forse sei un congegno che
si spegne da sè.

E puoi maledire la tua bocca,
se sbagliando mi chiama
quando lui ti tocca.
Cercherò su di me
la tua pelle che non c’è.
Ti entravo in fondo dentro, lo sai
soltanto per capire chi sei.

Forse sei un congegno che
si spegne da sè.
Forse sei un congegno che
Si spegne da sè.

“Skin”

It’s easy you know, to have you
if i close my beautiful dull little eyes
and search on me
your skin that is not there.
Then i enter deep in you, you know,
only to understand who you are.

Maybe you are a device that
turns off by itself.
Maybe you are a device that
turns off by itself.

And you can damn your mouth,
if by mistake it calls me
when he touches you.
I will search on me
your skin that is not there.
I was entering deep in you, you know,
only to understand who you are.

Maybe you are a device that
turns off by itself.
Maybe you are a device that
turns off by itself..

Afterhours – Quello che non c’è

Afterhours

Afterhours are an alternative rock band from a small town near Milan, they started singing in english at the end of  the ’80s and switched soon to italian (even though they recorded some more english tracks). The name comes from a Velvet Underground recording, as the leader Manuel Agnelli loved how rich and various that album is, featuring calm but also violent songs.

Quello che non c’è is a song (from the 2002 album with same title) about not being satisfied while one constantly looks for something that is not what he truly wants, some goals that come from external expectations and to conform to society in a lazy way. In the end one ends up frustrated for not reaching something that is actually not there, instead of taking risks and be brave enough to reach something satisfying.

“Quello che non c’è”

Ho questa foto di pura gioia,
è di un bambino con la sua pistola,
che spara dritto davanti a sé
a quello che non c’è.

Ho perso il gusto, non ha sapore
quest’alito di angelo che mi lecca il cuore,
ma credo di camminare dritto sull’acqua e
su quello che non c’è.

Arriva l’alba o forse no,
a volte ciò che sembra alba, non è,
ma so che so camminare dritto sull’acqua e
su quello che non c’è.

Rivuoi la scelta, rivuoi il controllo,
rivoglio le mie ali nere, il mio mantello.
La chiave della felicità è la disobbedienza in sé
a quello che non c’è.

Perciò io maledico il modo in cui sono fatto,
il mio modo di morire sano e salvo dove m’attacco,
il mio modo vigliacco di restare sperando che ci sia
quello che non c’è.

Curo le foglie, saranno forti
se riesco ad ignorare che gli alberi son morti,
ma questo è camminare alto sull’acqua e
su quello che non c’è.

Ed ecco arriva l’alba, so che è qui per me
meraviglioso come a volte ciò che sembra non è.
Fottendosi da sé, fottendosi da me,
per quello che non c’è.

“What is not there” 

I have this picture of pure joy,
it’s of a child with his gun
who shoots straight in front of him
at what is not there.

I lost taste, it has no taste
this breath of angel that licks my heart,
but i believe i’m walking straight on the water and
on what is not there.

Here comes the dawn or maybe not,
sometimes what seems dawn isn’t,
but i know i’m able to walk straight on the water and
on what is not there.

You want choice back, you want control back,
i want my black wings, my cloak.
The key to happiness is the disobedience itself
to what is not there.

Therefore i damn the way i am
my way of dying safe and sound, that i cling to,
my coward way of staying, hoping that there would be
what is not there.

I take care of the leaves, they’ll be strong
if i can ignore that the trees are dead,
but this is walking high on the water and
on what is not there.

And here comes the dawn, i know it’s here for me.
Wonderful as sometimes what seems to be isn’t.
Getting screwed by oneself, getting screwed by myself
for what is not there.