Embarcacao - The Vessel: Thank you!!

Sometimes a distant dream comes true at a time when you least expect it.  To a post written in 2007, on the 10th of October, 2010 (10/10/10 - what a lovely number!) Tam Aham Brumi Brahmanam wrote a translation of Embarcacao.  I hope to reproduce his efforts here to give justice to one of the most deeply beautiful songs ever written.

Embarcacao
The Vessel

Ai, ness mundo ca tem sô sofrimento

Oh, in this world here there is only suffering
Ma naquel olhar cheio di mágoa
But in that stare full of sadness
Modê crê tão cedo na felecidade
For believing so soon in happiness
Tcheu titá fogá na solidão
Something that is drowning in deep loneliness

Ma na embarcação quta levá nôs vida
But in the vessel that takes our lives
Um bom timonero nô ta desejá, pa guiá-no
We hope for a good helmsman to take us
Na temporal nô ta reá vela
Through the storm and pull down our sails
Pa nô ca perdê na profundeza dum amargura
So we will not be lost in the deepness of a sorrow


Terra longe à vista é um doce promessa
The desired land seen so far is a sweet promise
Ma qui ta desfazê nindiferença
But it is not making no difference
Um sonho nascê na porto dilusão
Because a dream is born in the port of illusions
Fgi pa longe parcê um solução
Fly away to a far place seems to be a solution


Ma na rota incerta di nôs destino
But in the uncertain route that is our fate
Nô ta pô esperança num brisa mansa e constante
We are putting our hopes on a sweet and constant breeze


Pintchi vela dnôs existencia
That blows the sails of our existence
E na paz levá, assim, nôs nau
And so in peace takes our vessel
Pum horizonte cheio di luz e bonança
Towards a horizon full of light and peaceful feelings


Pintchi vela dnôs existencia
That blows the sails of our existence
E na paz levá, assim, nôs nau
And so in peace takes our vessel
Pum horizonte di luz e bonança
Towards a horizon full of light and peaceful feelings

Stateless - Bloodstream

You need to be in an ice-cold room with a roaring fireplace, wrapped in furs, sipping a whisky glass filled with ice-cubes and a very good shot of espresso, listening to this.

Stateless - Bloodstream
Wake up, look me in the eyes again
I need to feel your hand upon my face
Words can be like knives
They can cut you open
And the silence surrounds you
And haunts you

I think I might have inhaled you
I could feel you behind my eyes
You've gotten into my bloodstream
I can feel you floating in me

Words can be like knives
They can cut you open
And the silence surrounds you
And haunts you

 I think I might have inhaled you
I could feel you behind my eyes
You've gotten into my bloodstream
I can feel you floating in me

The spaces in between
Two minds, and all the places they've been
I've tried to put my finger on it
I've tried to put my finger on it

I think I might have inhaled you
I could feel you behind my eyes
You've gotten into my bloodstream
I can feel you floating in me

Language or the Kiss Reprise

As I navigate through the honey of her voice, I finally realise what she was talking about (doh!). And I don't know why but that dichotomy did not strike me until now. I've always seen language as expression, without thinking that the kiss expressed differently from language. But my mind was so blocked I never got it why there would be a choice between the two - my poetry being different from your dance.

Between the language or the kiss
I know I choose to think, to speak, to watch,
To learn, to philosophize, to dream, to envy.
And I'd wish, for you, if I could choose,
To do. To act, to move, to declare, to not
lose
The chances you would miss:
"Unforgiving the choice still is,
The language or the kiss".

Our choices make our choices. I know this now as well as I did then, and yet, knowing what I know, I would still end up gravitating towards making the choices I knew I would make. If we knew we wouldn't choose anything different, and our choices make our choices, do we really have a choice?

Pink and Glitter

Definitely my song for this winter... this must be the only song that Tori's ever done in jazzy, big band style which isn't really her, but I'm loving it! It's soft, it's feminine, it's pink, it's big band, it's jazzy, it's coy, it's cute, it's coquettish... what's there not to like?



Having a little girl really mellowed and added a new dimension to her views on being a woman. At the same time, I must be getting old.

Tori Amos - Pink and Glitter

"Darn Roses", that is what you call all the girls in the world, even the
thorns
You’re surrounded by an army of two who adore you

Our joy isn’t about a present or a grown up motor toy
And little boys all get an honorable mention from me
But this year I’m thinking
Shower the world
Shower the world
Shower the world with pink if you please
Shower the world
Shower the world
Shower the world... with pink.

Black satin, is what I wore
That, and our hearts left on the floor
How was I in that marshmallow snow, to know?
My life would change that night?

In pink, we will paint the town
Champagne never looked so divine
On his lips the sweetest words “Love, you’ve given me quite a ride.”

Cannonball - Damien Rice

I know I should be blogging about the Tori concert, but before I go into that when time permits, just a short one (after a long absence) from me. I discovered this song again in the morning (random playlist I put on in the morning to keep doggie company) and it popped up. A long absence, the song in my ear, but one of those "what exactly is it?" moments. This song should go into the playlist of my life - and I'd like it to be played at my funeral, almost like a prayer.

Cannonball - Damien Rice
There's still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
There's still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
It's still a little hard to say what's going on

There's still a little bit of your ghost, your witness
There's still a little bit of your face I haven't kissed
You step a little closer each day
That I can't say what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love, it taught me to lie
Life, it taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannonball

There's still a little bit of your song in my ear
There's still a little bit of your words I long to hear
You step a little closer to me
So close that I can't see what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love, it taught me to cry
So come on courage, teach me to be shy
'Cos it's not hard to fall
And I don't want to scare her
It's not hard to fall
And I don't want to lose
It's not hard to grow
When you know that you just don't know...

What About Now?

One of my favourite music videos (link in title):

Daughtry - What About Now?

Shadows fill an empty heart
As love is fading,
From all the things that we are
But are not saying.

Can we see beyond the scars
And make it to the dawn?

Change the colors of the sky.
And open up to
The ways you made me feel alive,
The ways I loved you.

For all the things that never died,
To make it through the night,
Love will find you.

What about now?
What about today?
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love never went away?
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it's too late,
What about now?

The sun is breaking in your eyes
To start a new day.
This broken heart can still survive
With a touch of your grace.

Shadows fade into the light.
I am by your side,
Where love will find you.

What about now?
What about today?
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love had never went away?
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it's too late,
What about now?

Now that we're here,
Now that we've come this far,
Just hold on.

There is nothing to fear,
For I am right beside you.
For all my life,I am yours.

What about now?
What about today?
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love had never went away?
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?

What about now?
What about today?
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love had never went away?
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it's too late,
Baby, before it's too late,
Baby, before it's too late,
What about now?

Language of the Kiss

If English is my heritage, then this is my birthright. In true 20/20 hindsight, the choices that we make make our choices. Did you know that then?

Laughter like a language I once spoke with ease
But I'm made mute by the virtue of decision...
Oh, the fear I've known
That I might reap the praise of strangers
And end up on my own

But you told me if I had my way I'd be bored
Right then I knew I loved you best born of your scolding
When we last talked we were lying on our backs
Looking at the sky through the ceiling...
The alphabet of feeling

I am alone in a hotel room tonight...
And I'm working through the grammar of my fears
Oh mercy, what I won't give
To have the things that mean the most
Not to mean the things I miss
Unforgiving the choice is
The language or the kiss.

Run

Shame it took Leona Lewis to bring this song to my attention. Thank you Snow Patrol - I want you in a car with me on a long, straight road to infinity. I want you lying next to me, staring at a blank canvas ceiling, doing absolutely nothing.

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

Slower slower
We don't have time for that
All I want is to find an easier way
To get out of our little heads

Have heart my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess

Another one on the playlist of life

This one has been in circulation over the radio and somehow made itself into my in-the-car playlist.

I also wanted to use this time to demonstrate the use of some cool technology. Clicking on the link takes you to a permalink on Deezer with the song so you can hear how it sounds like in case you don't know.

Not that there's much relevance to the music, but I'm planning on going back to previously tagged blogs and adding the songs if they're available!

Stop and Stare - One Republic

Stop and stare...
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're 'here' not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, can u see what I see...

And then I came across Love Song which I've been humming and didn't know who the song was by...

"I'm not gonna write you a love song..."

A faded kind of mellow

This love, this love is a strange love.
A faded kind of mellow.
This love.

This love.
I think I'm gonna fall again
And even when you held my hand
It didn't mean a thing.

This love.
Now rehearsed we stay, love
Doesn't know it is love, this love

This love.
It hasn't have to feel love.
It doesn't need to be love.
It doesn't mean a thing, this love.

Eloquence is.
Liz Frazer, Craig Armstrong.

This is why.
This is when.
This is because.

Kissing A Fool

Strangely enough, I found the Michael Buble version more compelling than George Michael's. Not going to go into why.

You are far.
When I could have been your star, you listened to people, who scared you to death and from my heart.
Strange that you were strong enough to even make a start.
But you'll never find peace of mind, until you listen to your heart.

People... you can never change the way they feel.
Better let them do just what they will.
For they will, if you let them, steal your heart from me.
People... will always make a lover feel a fool.
But you knew I loved you.
We could have shown them all, we should have seen love through.

Fooled me with the tears in your eyes.
Covered me with kisses and lies.
So goodbye... but please don't take my heart.

You are far.
I'm never gonna be your star.
I'll pick up the pieces and mend my heart.
Strange that I was wrong enough to think you loved me too.
You must have been kissing a fool.

Curiously enough, for the first time, I thought of Yvaine and Stardust. It was an odd what-if. What if Tristan went back to wed Victoria? What if Yvaine had crossed the Wall? What if the two had fallen in love, but never picked up the courage to see love through, and Tristan shook the hair out of his eyes and left Stormhold?

A strange, cold thought.

Private Road

One of the best written songs I've heard. It's so clever! Listen to this song on a lazy, white bright Saturday afternoon. Sip a glass of chilled, iced lemon tea with twinkling cubes of ice. Relax in a cold, cold room on a leather sofa.

Serve chilled.

Private Road
My heart for now is a private road
No thoroughfare, no heavy load
No slow traffic, no graphic details,
Cold or collisions
No more stories to make me ache

I'll always love you, Venus
Still you are mine
Why'd you have to take so much time
In calling me
Just want to be easy like
Sunday morning

Snow falls in silence and covers the green
Still you can see where the birds have been
Hungry but alive and free, waiting
Waiting

These Dreams

What is probably my favourite song (personal reasons) of all time - I just gotta have it on my blog somewhere. Mental note to self to buy a Best of Heart album, probably "These Dreams - Heart's Greatest Hits" since I realised that there are many songs I love from the band.

Spare a little candle
Save some light for me
Figures up ahead
Moving in the trees
White skin, in linen
Perfume on my wrist
And the full moon that hangs over
These dreams in the mist

Darkness on the edge
Shadows where I stand
I search for the time
On a watch with no hands
I want to see you clearly
Come closer than this
But all I remember
Are the dreams in the mist

These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night, I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake, the further I'm away

Is it cloak 'n dagger
Could it be Spring or Fall
I walk without a cut,
Through a stained glass wall
Weaker in my eyesight
The candle in my grip
And words that have no volume
Falling from my lips

There's something out there, I can't resist
I need to hide away from the pain
There's something out there, I can't resist

The sweetest song is silence
That I've ever heard
Funny how your feet in dreams
Never touch the earth
In a wood full of princes
Freedom is a kiss
But the prince hides his face
From dreams in the mist

Cosy in the Rocket with Le Petit Prince

Since you said you didn't know how the Psapp song went (silly you) - here's a little snippet that is not Grey's Anatomy related. You can't believe how difficult it is to find a bit that isn't - honestly, it's a bit misused and overused by now.

Imagine this with Le Petit Prince. It's not difficult to imagine. I'm determined to do one with The Little Prince actually, think it will go perfectly.

Tick, tock, ready for the sky and I'm
tip, top, ready to go go go...
Come, come, fly into my palm and collapse.

I can remember the illustrations in my mind and I think I can nearly find a scene for each line of this rather short song.

A Sorta Fairytale (with Adrien Brody)

Lovely guy, and lovely music video - just a tad creepy.



Strangely enough, with the right context, the video goes perfectly with the content of the music. It's about a sorta relationship that works out perfectly for one perfect good day, between two absolutely incompatible people who, like arms and legs, don't fit together, but don't exactly not make each other whole either. I think when Adrien Brody's hand stroked Tori Amos's face, I sorta melted.

on my way up north
up on the ventura
i pulled back the hood
and i was talking to you
and i knew then it would be
a life long thing
but i didn't know that we
we could break a silver lining

and i'm so sad
like a good book
i can't put this day back
a sorta fairytale
with you
a sorta fairytale
with you

things you said that day
up on the 101
the girl had come undone
i tried to downplay it
with a bet about us
you said that-
you'd take it
as long as i could
i could not erase it

and i'm so sad
like a good book
i can't put this day back
a sorta fairytale
with you
a sorta fairytale
with you

and i ride along side
and i rode along side
you then
and i rode along side
till you lost me there
in the open road
and i rode along side
till the honey spread
itself so thin
for me to break your bread
for me to take your word
i had to steal it

and i'm so sad
like a good book
i can't put this day back
a sorta fairytale
with you
a sorta fairytale
with you

i could pick back up
whenever i feel

down new mexico way
something about
the open road
i knew that he was
looking for some indian blood and
find a little in you find a little
in me we may be
on this road but
we're just
impostors
in this country you know
so we go along and we said
we'd fake it
feel better with
oliver stone
till i
almost smacked him -
seemed right that night and
i don't know what
takes hold
out there in the
desert cold
these guys think they must
try and just get over on us

and i'm so sad
like a good book
i can't put this
day back
a sorta fairytale
with you
a sorta fairytale
with you

and i was ridin' by
ridin' along side
for a while till you lost me
and i was ridin' by
ridin' along till you lost me
till you lost
me in
the rear
view
you lost me
i said

way up north i took my day
all in all was a pretty nice
day and i put the hood
right back where
you could taste heaven
perfectly
feel out the summer breeze
didn't know when we'd be back
and i, i don't
didn't think
we'd end up like
like this

Anyway, enuwy like this one, so just a bit of eye candy while I was at it. I'm starting to get the kick of blogging videos from YouTube and other places I think.

Maria Taylor's meandering song beneath a song

Now here are interesting lyrics. The funny thing is, these nearly Lisa Loeb'ish lyrics do actually go well with the backgrounds.

What's so interesting to me is that it's a song about a song, really. Which is, from a poetic perspective at once quite rare and at the same time, completely satisfyingly navel gazing. Which brings me back to the point that I am probably Carol Ann Duffy deprived and should be digging out my books instead of satisfying myself in song lyrics.

Cryptic words meander
Now there is a song beneath the song
One day you'll learn
You'll soon discern its true meaning

An interesting detachment
A listless poem of love sincere
Desire, despair
Overlapping melodies

And it's not a love, it's not a love
It's not a love, it's not a love song
It's not a love, it's not a love, it's not a love song
It's not a love, it's not a love, it's not a love song

Oh now the roots are reminiscing
Recurring dreams of minor chords
Metred time
Muted chimes find the beat

And in the pulse there lies conviction
A steady push and pull routine
The cymbals swell
High notes flail into reach

And it's not a love, it's not a love
It's not a love, it's not a love song
It's not a love, it's not a love, it's not a love song
It's not a love, it's not a love, it's not a love song
It's not a love, it's not a love,
It's not a love, it's not a love song

Lyric Rant: Chasing Cars

Lyric rant again, and this time not about using the same words to rhyme. I'm so over this song, but I can't help but wonder, is Chasing Cars meant to be a love song? If he lay there, if he just lay there... I would kick him off the couch.

(a restless individual)

Bound by Love - Gran Bel Fisher

I guess I'm slowly working through the Grey Anatomy soundtrack. Came across this song, most of the lyrics are mediocre, but one bit stuck -

The motion of emotion
Is the thought I fear
And the whispers of the future now
Keep drawing me near

Just thought that was a bit apt. And that motion of emotion was quite clever, although I heard it as "the notion of emotion" at first, and thought it was quite cute too.

孤单北半球 again...

When I first posted these lyrics on Sunday, August 28th 2005, it wasn't even in my dreams that I would one day find relevance in these lyrics - I had thought that my days of travels were over. That was two years ago. It was a different world, with a different spirit and a completely different attitude.

But here I am again, facing this lyrics redux as I was listening to 欧得洋, ironically on a train travelling from London back to Reading. And suddenly with Chinese New Year coming up, finding myself afraid that I'd miss home (where is home?), and family, Chinese songs and Singapore...

用我的晚安陪你吃早餐 My "goodnight"s accompany your breakfast
记得把想念存进扑满 Remembering to save my fond sentiments into a piggy bank
我望着满天星在闪听牛郎对织女说要勇敢 I look at the night sky and remember the cowherd telling the weaver maid to be brave

别怕我们在地球的两端 Do not be afraid that we are at the two ends of the earth
看我的问候骑着魔毯 Look at my greetings riding a magic blanket
飞用光速飞到你面前 Flying at the speed of light to be in front of you
要你能看到十字星有北极星作伴 So that you can see the Southern Cross accompanied by the Northern star

少了我的手臂当枕头你习不习惯 Are you used to my shoulder not being your pillow?
你的望远望不到我北半球的孤单 Your far sight cannot spy upon the loneliness of my northern hemisphere
太平洋的潮水跟着地球来回旋转 The waves of the Pacific Ocean moves with the earth's rotation
我会耐心地等随时欢迎你靠岸 I will be patient, ready to welcome you to my shores
少了我的怀抱当暖炉你习不习惯 Are you used to being without my hugs for warmth?
e给你照片看不到我北半球的孤单 Though email photos cannot show you my loneliness in the northern hemisphere
世界再大两颗真心就能互相取暖 No matter how big the world is, two dedicated hearts will share their warmth
想念不会偷懒我的梦通通给你保管 My sentiments are never lazy, all my dreams are sent to you for safekeeping

Maybe in my mind I'd still need some translation on that one - but I know that you'd understand it when I say "想念不会偷懒我的梦通通给你保管", and I know that I can honestly say 少了你的手臂当枕头,我不习惯.

In Your Hands

This is probably the one love song that continues to stick with me. As time goes by, I gradually learn what I want from relationships, the kind of love I'm looking for, and what really matters. After some time, you come back to the same thing after circling for a while. More to follow but suffice to say that I realise, deeper than ever before, that KM was absolutely right.

In Your Hands - Bebo Norman

I didn't know I would love you
When I looked into your eyes
Now I have a heart I cannot keep
And the greatest of fear
Is that you'll leave me here
Stranded in this water so deep

So don't you turn away from me
'Cos my heart, and my hopes,
They're in your hands
If I don't seem certain,
It's just a common fear from a common man
But I'm in your hands.

Just so you know, I've never done this sort of things before
Never given up my very soul
But I've heard a voice like none I've heard before
And it's a voice that never grows old

So don't you turn away from me
'Cos my heart, and my hopes,
They're in your hands.
If I don't seem certain,
It's just a common fear from a common man
But I'm in your hands.