The Old Acclaimed Music Forum
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01. THE SMITHS: without being really revolutionary (they manufacture pop in the British tradition with an extra-dose of jangle guitar) they are changing the face of the pop of today. The filigree work on guitars by Johnny Marr is partially responsible, but mainly you can blame to Morrissey, to his mannered yet provocative way of singing and acting on stage and to his sharp yet sensitive lyrics.
My favourite album: The Smiths (1984).
My Top 5 Songs: Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now (1984), This Charming Man (1983), Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (1984), How Soon Is Now (1984), William It Was Really Nothing (1984).
02. ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN: Door-influenced psychedelia and Joy Division-influenced post-punk are the two main foundations for the sound of Echo & The Bunnymen, dark but brilliant, thunderous but majestic.
My favourite album: Ocean Rain (1984).
My Top 3 Songs: The Killing Moon (1984), The Cutter (1983), All My Colours (1981).
03. JOE JACKSON: fascinating evolution, from the sharp new wave hero (although slightly overshadowed by Elvis Costello) to the sophisticated crooner of today, fishing in the fertile waters of jazz, latin, funk and… pop.
My favourite album: Body and Soul (1984).
My Top 3 Songs: Stepping Out (1982), Is She Really Going Out With Him? (1979), You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want) (1984).
04. RUBÉN BLADES: the best salsa artist so far is the Panamanian singer-songwriter Rubén Blades, capable to appeal simultaneously to the feet with those ultra-danceable rhythms and to the brain with those socially conscious lyrics.
My favourite album: Siembra (197
.
My Top 3 Songs: Pedro Navaja (197 , El padre Antonio y su monaguillo Andrés (1984), Desapariciones (1984).
05. THE CRAMPS: psychobilly was a dirty subgenre created from rubbish as obscure rockabilly, garage rock, filthy sex and terror B-movies, a fascinating universe in which Lux Interior and Posion Ivy were the undisputed king and queen.
My favourite album: Psychedelic Jungle (1981).
My Top 3 Songs: Goo Goo Muck (1981), Garbage Man (1980), Human Fly (1979).
06. EURYTHMICS.
07. NEW ORDER.
08. THE SPECIALS.
09. DEPECHE MODE.
10. THE STYLE COUNCIL.
And at the backstage:
01. MILES & IAN COPELAND.
02. GEOFF TRAVIS.
03. STEVE LILLYWHITE.
I will seize the opportunity of my vote for Rubén Blades on HOA to recommend to all of you my all time favourite song in Spanish language, “Pedro Navaja”. I endorse my comment for the all-time poll, the original lyrics and my English translation. Please listen to it (forget the silly you tube clip). Trust me, there’s not only Africa in the world… music.
PEDRO NAVAJA
Composer: Rubén Blades
Performer: WILLIE COLÓN & RUBÉN BLADES
First release: 1978
My comment: “Life’s full of surprises”. Few artists can combine so easily as Rubén Blades the dance rhythms with deep lyrics tinged with social concerns. In his first record, “Siembra” (“Harvest”
, he made a gorgeous reworking of Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill’s “Mack the Knife” in which one not only can hear the sounds, but even feel the flavours, the smells, the lights and the shadows of the mean streets.
Original Spanish Lyrics:
Por la esquina del viejo barrio lo vi pasar
con el tumbao que tienen los guapos al caminar.
Las manos siempre en los bolsillo de su gabán
pa' que no sepan en cual de ellas lleva el puñal.
Usa un sombrero de ala ancha de medio lao
y zapatillas por si hay problema salir volao.
Lentes oscuros pa' que no sepan que está mirando
y un diente de oro que cuando ríe se ve brillando.
Como a tres cuadras de aquella esquina una mujer
va recorriendo la acera entera por quinta vez.
Y en un zaguán entra y se da un trago para olvidar
que el día está flojo y que no hay clientes pa' trabajar.
Un carro pasa muy despacito por la avenida
no tiene marcas pero tos' saben que es policía.
Pedro Navaja las manos siempre dentro 'el gabán
mira y sonríe y el diente de oro vuelve a brillar.
Mientras camina pasa la vista de esquina a esquina
No se ve un alma, está desierta toa la avenida.
Cuando de pronto esa mujer sale del zaguán
Y Pedro Navaja aprieta un puño dentro 'el gabán.
Mira pa' un lado, mira pal' otro y no ve a nadie
y a la carrera pero sin ruido cruza la calle.
Y mientras tanto en la otra acera va esa mujer
refunfuñando pues no hizo pesos con que comer.
Mientras camina del viejo abrigo saca un revolver esa mujer
y va a guardarlo en su cartera pa' que no estorbe.
Un treinta y ocho Smith and Wesson del especial
que carga encima pa' que la libre de todo mal.
Y Pedro Navaja puñal en mano le fue pa' encima.
El diente de oro iba alumbrando toa la avenida (¡guiso fácil!).
Mientras reía el puñal le hundía sin compasión,
cuando de pronto sonó un disparo como un cañón.
Y Pedro Navaja cayó en la acera mientras veía a esa mujer
que revolver en mano y de muerte herida a él le decía:
“Lo que pensaba, hoy no es mi día, estoy salá.
Pero Pedro Navaja, tú estás peor, tú estás en na'”
Y créanme gente que aunque hubo ruido nadie salió.
No hubo curiosos, no hubo preguntas, nadie lloró.
Solo un borracho con los dos muertos se tropezó.
Cogió el revolver, el puñal, los pesos y se marchó.
Y tropezando se fue cantando desafinao,
el coro que aquí les traje y da el mensaje de mi canción:
La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida ay Dios.
(La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida ay Dios)
Pedro Navaja, matón de esquina, quien a hierro mata a hierro termina.
(La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida ay Dios)
Maleante pescador, mal anzuelo que tiraste,
en vez de una sardina un tiburón enganchaste.
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, laa
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, laa
I like to live in America)
(La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida ay Dios)
Ocho millones de historias tiene la ciudad de Nueva York.
(La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida ay Dios)
Como decía mi abuelita: el que de último ríe, se ríe mejor.
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, laa
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, laa
I like to live in America)
(La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida ay Dios)
Cuando lo manda el destino no lo cambia ni el más bravo,
si naciste pa' martillo del cielo te caen los clavos.
(La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida ay Dios)
Barrio de guapos cuidao en la acera
Cuidao camara' que el que no corre vuela.
(La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida ay Dios)
Como en una novela de Kafka el borracho dobló por el callejón.
(La vida te da...)
(Voz de la radio): En la ciudad de Nueva York dos personas fueron encontradas muertas. Esta madrugada los cuerpos sin vida de Pedro Barrios y Josefina Wilson fueron hallados ...
PEDRO THE KNIFE (my English translation):
I saw him walking by the corner of the old hood
With the swing of the handsome men.
His hands always inside the pockets of his overcoat
So no one knows in which of them carries the knife.
He uses a half sided wide wing hat
And slippers for running away if there’s some troubles.
Dark glasses so no one knows what’s looking at
And a golden tooth that shines when he laughs.
Three blocks of that corner a woman
Goes travelling the entire sidewalk by fifth time.
She walks into a hallway and have a drink to forget
That it’s a limp day and there’s no customers for working.
A car passes very slowly by the avenue
Doesn’t have any mark but everyone knows that’s the police.
Pedro the Knife, the hands always inside the coat,
Looks and smiles and the golden tooth shines again.
While he walks he looks from one corner to the other
Not a soul is seen, the whole avenue is deserted.
When suddenly that woman leaves the hallway
And Pedro the Knife squeezes his fist inside the coat.
He sights from side to side and he doesn’t see anyone
And on the run but without a sound he crosses the street.
Meanwhile that woman walks on the other sidewalk
Grumbling cause she couldn’t get money enough to eat.
While she walks, that women takes a revolver from her old coat
To keep it in her handbag for not to bother.
A Thirty-Eight Smith and Wesson Special
That carries to protect her of all the evil.
And Pedro the Knife, dagger in hand, jumped on her.
The golden tooth lighted the whole avenue (easy cook!).
And while he laughed, he stuck the knife without pity
When suddenly a shot sounded as loud as a cannonball.
And Pedro the Knife fell on the sidewalk seeing that woman
That, revolver in hand and injured to death, told to him:
“Just what I was thinking, today is not my day, I’m over.
But Pedro the Knife, you are worse, you’ve become nothing”.
And, believe me people, although there was noise nobody showed up.
There were no curious, there were no questions, nobody cried.
Only a drunkard bumped with the two dead people.
He took the revolver, the knife, the money and he moved out.
And stumbling he went singing out of tune
The chorus I bring to you that takes the message of my song:
“Life is full of surprises, of surprises life is full, oh Lord”.
(Life is full of surprises, of surprises life is full, oh Lord)
Pedro the Knife, street-corner gangster, he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.
(Life is full of surprises, of surprises life is full, oh Lord)
Criminal fisherman, you threw a badly hook,
Instead a sardine you hooked a shark.
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, laa
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, laa
I like to live in America)
(Life is full of surprises, of surprises life is full, oh Lord)
Eight millions tales has the city of New York.
(Life is full of surprises, of surprises life is full, oh Lord)
Like my grandmother said: He who laughs last, laughs best.
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, laa
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, laa
I like to live in America)
(Life is full of surprises, of surprises life is full, oh Lord)
When fate rules even the bravest one can’t change it,
If you’re born as a hammer heaven sends you the nails.
(Life is full of surprises, of surprises life is full, oh Lord)
Tough guy’s neighborhood, be careful on the streets,
Be careful my friend, he who hesitates gets lost.
(Life is full of surprises, of surprises life is full, oh Lord)
As in a novel by Kafka, the drunk goes out by the alley
(Life is full...)
(Voice from the radio): In New York City two people were found dead. At dawn the lifeless bodies of Pedro Barrios and Josefina Wilson were found...