The Global 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
Why this list? When I launched World Listening Post in 2015, my goal was the same as that of myriad music publications and websites, with one exception: I would review new albums, but I would concentrate on music that encouraged readers to explore beyond the linguistic frontier. In service of that goal, this site has featured artists performing in more than 100 languages.
But focusing on new releases left me little time for listening to or writing about the great artists and songs of all eras. To right the balance, I conceived this project.
This is hardly the first list to present the most exceptional songs of all time, but I believe it is the first that represents a serious effort to cover the entire world. Many lists that purport to catalogue the greatest songs are fun and informative—and all of them to date have been shortsighted. Most confine themselves to a few genres; some, even as they emphasize the “all time” claim, cover just the past few years. But the worst flaw is in the lists that limit themselves largely, or even exclusively, to songs in a single language—usually English.
Fact check: English is the primary language of just six percent of the world’s population. Adding those who speak it as a second language, the figure climbs to about 15 percent. This list reflects global reality.
Each of the 500 entries has the following elements:
Name of artist(s) and song title
Lyric and music credits
The song’s country of origin; language; and performance year*
A video or audio clip
A brief comment, followed by a lyric excerpt
My aim with this project has been to judge, as faithfully as possible, all the songs and artists I surveyed in the context of their own cultural milieu, and to imagine what music critics and listeners in any given country or language community would consider the greatest.
This list not definitive—and I wouldn’t trust a list that presented itself as such. If anything, I hope my effort to produce an inclusive list will prompt others to undertake the same exercise. If I can offer one insight it would be that the most one can hope for is a list that is impressionistic. In two years of research I have concluded that there must be at least 10,000 songs that merit inclusion in a roster of the 500 best.
Given the project’s scope, I often found myself on untrodden or lightly beaten paths to ensure accuracy. I looked for multiple sources on every element of every entry, but sometimes a single source was all I found. While I welcome readers to question my choices of songs and rankings, I would especially appreciate corrections of song details and lyric translations.
I could not have produced this list in two years, or even twenty, without help. It would be impossible to single out all those who inspired me, but I would like to thank a few of the artists, producers, publicists, reviewers and friends who gave me critical assistance. For their music suggestions, input and encouragement, thanks to Dan Rosenberg, Ila Paliwal, Paul Fisher, Dhara Bakshi, Sam Debell, Jeff Meshel, Adriana Groisman, Alberto Oliva and Joseph Lowin. Thanks to Ryan McCarthy, my web designer and developer. Thanks to Angie Lemon, who asked me a question in an interview a few years back that lit the spark for this project. And eternal thanks to Suelly Rodrigues Tigay, my muse, Portuguese teacher and life companion. — Alan Tigay
* Where appropriate, artists/songs are identified by multiple countries, by country-plus-region, or by self-identification. Performance year is not necessarily the year of composition.
101
Sinn Sisamouth: Srolanh Srey Tauch / ស្រឡាញ់ស្រីតូច / I Love the Petite Girl
Lyrics & music: Sinn Sisamouth
Cambodia, Khmer, 1974
Called the King of Khmer Music, Sissamouth was a singer-songwriter, bandleader and film producer whose style ranged from Cambodian folk to rock to Latin. He was at the peak of his career in 1975 when he disappeared during the Khmer Rouge genocide; it is not known how and when he died. He also helped launch the career of Ros Serey Sothea, with whom he sang many duets.
I love the petite girl/I love her sharp little nose/Her waist, fleshy and soft/You look insatiable as you dance, dance, dance/Dance like no other girl/Oh, let’s dance, let’s dance one dance/Our love can dance like no other
102
Ros Serey Sothea: Chumnor Pailin / ជំនោរប៉ៃលិន / Dew at the Foot of the Mountain
Lyrics & music: Ros Serey Sothea
Cambodia, Khmer, 1970
Unlike her larger-than-life mentor Sisamouth, Ros Serey Sothea was often described as somewhat shy. This didn’t seem to slow her career as a singer-songwriter, best known for romantic ballads and film songs. Norodom Sihanouk, who served Cambodia as both king and prime minister, gave her the honorary title “Queen with the Golden Voice.” Like Sisamouth, she vanished during the Khmer Rouge genocide.
Dew at the foot of the mountain/The crows cry for pity/The magic of natural light under the raindrops/First love under the shadow of the moon/Even though your world is narrow, you are honest/Since I was born, I have wanted to meet you
103
Burna Boy: On the Low / Keeping It Low Key
Lyrics & music: Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu [Burna Boy]
Nigeria, Naija (Nigerian Pidgin), 2019
Even without his prodigious talent, Burna Boy would qualify as Nigerian music nobility, both his grandfather and his mother having served as manager to Fela Kuti. But the gift for which he has been showered with honors in his home country and around the world is evident. On the Low is one of the most mellow love songs ever written or sung.
(Heartbeat rhythm, heartbeat rhythm) Baby your love gets me high like chocolate/Angeli Angelina, you cool me down/Whenever you call, I’ll be there, I’ll never disappoint you/Our love will last forever, not like khaki but like leather/Oh my love, any time I see you at the club, I can’t keep my eyes off your body…/You know I feel a vibe, so baby whine it for me…/Should I signal you when I’m leaving? Why do you ask so many questions?/I’m trying to put a ring on your finger, and be a better guy
104
Charles Aznavour: La Bohème
Lyrics: Jacques Plante/Music: Charles Aznavour
France, French, 1966
Like Puccini before him, Aznavour found gold in a story of young artists in Paris, drunk on their dreams and oblivious to their poverty. More than any other song, La bohème certified Aznavour’s place in the French music pantheon.
La bohème, bohemians/It meant you were pretty…/And we all had genius/Often it happened to me/In front of my easel/I spent sleepless nights/Retouching the drawing/From the line of a breast/The curve of a hip and it’s only in the morning/That we finally sat down/Over a coffee and cream/Exhausted but delighted/We had to love each other and love life/La bohème, bohemians/It meant we were 20 years old…/And we lived in the spirit of the times
105
Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir: Polegnala e Todora / Полегнала е Тодора / Todora Has Gone to Sleep
Lyrics & music: Philip Koutev, Mariyka Vassileva Kuteva
Bulgaria, Bulgarian, 1975
The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir was brought to the world’s attention by Marcel Cellier, a Swiss ethnomusicologist, producer and radio host. His four-album series Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares featured the choir performing Bulgarian folk songs to modern arrangements. Polegnala e Todora was one of many high points in the series.
Tudora has taken a nap/Lass Tudora, Tudora/Under a tree, under an olive tree/Lass Tudora, Tudora/A wind from the mountain blew…/And broke a twig on the olive tree…/And awakened Tudora…She got mad at it/You never stopped blowing, wind…/Do you have to blow now?/I dreamed a sweet dream…/That my first love had come…/And brought me colorful flowers/Lass Tudora, Tudora
106
Astrud Gilberto, João Gilberto & Stan Getz: Garota de Ipanema / The Girl from Ipanema
Portuguese lyrics: Vinicius de Moraes/English lyrics: Norman Gimbel/Music: António Carlos Jobim
Brazil/U.S., Portuguese/English, 1964
Based on a true story: Vinicius de Moraes and Tom Jobim used to hang out at a bar-café one block from the ocean in Rio de Janeiro’s upscale Ipanema neighborhood. Seventeen-year-old Helô Pinheiro—who inspired the song—would pass by every day on her way to the beach and sometimes stop at the café to buy cigarettes for her mother. Pinheiro grew up to be a model, television host and businesswoman. The café is is today called “Garota de Ipanema” and the street is Rua Vinicius de Moraes.
Excerpt direct from the Portuguese lyrics: Look, what a beautiful vision, entirely graceful/It’s her, the girl who approaches and passes/Swinging so sweetly on her way to the sea/The girl with her body bronzed by the Ipanema sun/Is the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen walk by/Ah, why am I so lonesome?/Ah, why is everything so sad?/Ah, there is certainly beauty/It’s a beauty that’s not mine alone/And also that passes alone…
107
Kishore Kumar: Mere Mehboob Qayamat Hogi / मेरे महबूब क़यामत होगी / My Love, the Doom Is Nigh
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi/Music: Laxmikant-Pyarelal
India, Hindi, 1964
Kumar was an actor, singer, songwriter and musician—and one of the leading artists of Bollywood’s formative age. Though he would later appear more often as a playback singer, in Mere Mehboob Qayamat Hogi (from the science-fiction romantic comedy Mr. X in Bombay) he sang for the role he played on screen.
My darling, the doom is nigh/for love will be defiled/right in your street, your sight/Only your name will pass my lips/when my hopeless heart stops/and my soul slips away/If you happen to pass her threshold/ask her, o morning breeze/Does she know of my unease/of how I intoned her name/until I could no longer breathe/I wish you would sigh like me, I wish you could love like me
108
Elvis Presley: Jailhouse Rock
Lyric & Music: Jerry Lieber, Mike Stoller
U.S., English, 1957
According to Rolling Stone, Leiber and Stoller deliberately wrote the title track for Elvis’ third movie in a silly, tongue-and-cheek vein, but The King gave it a classic rock delivery that lent it unexpected gravitas. It became Elvis’ greatest song performance in film; among other distinctions, the lyrics’ suggestion of gay romance behind bars was beyond bold by 1950s Hollywood standards.
The warden threw a party in the county jail/The prison band was there and they began to wail/The band was jumpin’ and the joint began to swing/You should’ve heard those knocked out jailbirds sing/Let’s rock/Everybody, let’s rock/Everybody in the whole cell block./Was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock…/Number 47 said to number three/”You’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see/I sure would be delighted with your company/Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me
109
Dolly Parton: Jolene
Lyrics & music: Dolly Parton
U.S., English, 1973
Among some 3,000 songs Dolly Parton has written, Jolene is arguably the greatest. But “arguably” is the operative word, since it may not even be the greatest song she wrote on the day in 1973 that she penned the lyrics and music. In a 2018 interview she revealed that she wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You on the same day. There’s only one Dolly.
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene/I’m begging of you please don’t take my man/Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene/Please don’t take him just because you can/Your beauty is beyond compare/With flaming locks of auburn hair/With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green/Your smile is like a breath of spring/Your voice is soft like summer rain/And I cannot compete with you/Jolene/He talks about you in his sleep/And there’s nothing I can do to keep/From crying when he calls your name/Jolene
110
Hugh Masakela: Stimela / Coal Train
Lyrics & music: Hugh Masakela
South Africa, Zulu/English, 1974
A trumpeter, composer and singer, Masakela is often described as “the father of South African jazz.” He spent long years in exile and was known for several anti-apartheid anthems. Stimela is about the trains that carried men from all over southern Africa to work in the coal mines in and around Johannesburg.
This train carries young and old African men/Conscripted to come and work on contract/In the gold and mineral mines… sixteen hours or more a day/For almost no pay/Deep, deep, deep down in the belly of the earth/Where they dig and drill that shiny mighty evasive stone/Where they dish that mish mesh mush food/Into their iron plates/Where they sit in their stinking, funky, filthy/Flea-ridden barracks and hostels/And think about loved ones they may never see again
111
Fiorella Mannoia: Cara / Dear
Lyrics & music: Lucio Dalla
Italy, Italian, 2013
Dalla, one of the leading cantautori of his time, was only 37 when he wrote Cara, but the song portrays an old man in a rambling imaginary conversation with a younger lover, his self-serving attitude at the beginning of their relationship, his self-pity, and finally his grasping for emotional intimacy. Mannoia released a 16-track tribute album to Dalla a year after his 2012 death; in her interpretation, she invested the rawness and defeat of Cara with stunning tenderness.
Tell me what you like, I don’t understand/Where would you like to go, do you want to sleep…/I know a place in my heart, where the wind always blows/For your few years, and for mine that are a hundred/There’s nothing to understand, just sit and listen/Because I wrote a song for every repentance/And I have to be careful, lest I fall into wine, or end up in your eyes, if you come closer/The night has its own scent, and you may fall into it/Because no one is watching you/But for me, poor devil, who just wanted to take your hand, and fall into a bed/What a pity, what nostalgia/Not to look into your eyes and tell you another lie…
112
Noriko Awaya: Wakare no Blues / 別れのブルース / Farewell Blues
Lyrics: Fujiura Ko/Music: Ryoichi Hattori
Japan, Japanese, 1937
Awaya trained as a classical singer but eventually embraced a blues-chanson style and was known widely, before and after World War II, as Japan’s Queen of the Blues. In Wakare no Blues, she sings of a woman looking out a window over Yokohama harbor as sailors—including her foreign paramour—board ships for overseas destinations.
If I open the window, I can see the port/And the lights of Meriken wharf/The night wind blows like the tide and the breath of passion/Where will today’s departing ship go?/My heart is choking with fleeting love/It’s the sadness of the farewell blues/We are strong because you are a sailor/But our languages, our countries are different, we are weak when it comes to love and cry without end/ Our hearts that will never meet again/It’s the sadness of the farewell blues
113
Annett Louisan: Das Gefühl / The Feeling
Lyrics: Frank Ramond, Maren Stiebert/Music: Matthias Hass
Germany, German, 2004
Louisan is Marlene Dietrich redesigned, shorter in stature, higher in voice but reaching the same seductive ends with her style of German chanson, with pop, jazz and swing overtones. From her debut album, Das Gefühl is a lyric-essay on ambivalence.
Again it creeps up from behind me/Asking, “Can I help you?”/It caresses me with plush and velvet/And says, “Look at you now”/The feeling is out of the box/And it looks dazzling once more/And life feels like a department store/Eternities come and go/I’ve tried enough by now to know/Here too narrow, there too strict, somewhere pinching me/Much too wild, not my style/The feeling doesn’t suit me/I am just looking around/Again the feeling creeps up on me/Asks me quietly what I really want
114
Khaled: Didi/ دي دي / Take
Lyrics & music: Khaled Hadj Ibrahim
Algeria, Arabic, 1991
Khaled began singing professionally in his teens and was a key figure not only in the development of raï in his native Algeria but also in France, where he eventually made his home. Didi was the first song in Algerian Arabic to make the Top 50 chart in France, where it remained for 20 weeks.
I’m burning in the fire of my love for you, but I know you do not feel the same/I won’t go far, so that I won’t have to cry over you/It’s just my misfortune, bad karma/Take, take/Take, take, take the beautiful girl, yeah/Take, yeah, take take take, oh the beauty, take her, yeah/If you were far from me on a high mountain/I would still come to see you/Who doesn’t know your apron strings?/Your eyes are dreamy, your eyes are kind, your eyes are beautiful
115
Fatoumata Diawara, Nterini / My Love Has Gone Far Away
Lyrics & music: Fatoumata Diawara
Mali, Bambara, 2018
Diawara is often described in terms of her voice—soulful, sensuous, poignant, passionate—but equally important are her wisdom and independence: At age 19 she defied her traditional Malian family by fleeing from an arranged marriage and joining a French theater company. In her lyrics to Nterini she embodies the many African women who stay home with their children while their husbands leave to find work abroad.
My love has gone far away/And may never come back/He has left his family and friends behind and gone away/He may never come back/What am I to do? He was my friend and my confidant/How is he?/You have gone to a faraway land/I miss you greatly/You have always been my guide/And I love you with all my heart/My love has taken off/Who knows when he will come back?
116
Joaquín Sabina: Calle Melancolía / Melancholy Street
Lyrics & music: Joaquín Martinez Sabina
Spain, Spanish, 1980
Known for his baroque writing style applied to both love and social issues, Sabina is one of the central figures in Spanish music over the past 50 years. In addition to 17 albums (as of 2023), he has published nine volumes of his lyrics and poetry; he is also known for his frequent collaborations with other artists, Spanish and foreign.
Like one who rides on the back of a somber mare/All through the town, won’t you ask where?/I seek any encounter to brighten up my day/But I find nothing but doors that deny what they hide away/Factory chimneys pour their vomit of smoke into the sky…/Across their ochre walls spills juice from the fruit of humanity that grows in asphalt/The neighborhood where I live is no prairie/Just a desolate landscape of antennas and wires/I live at Number 7 Melancholy Street/I’ve been wanting to move for years, but each time I try, the tram has already left
117
Zaz: Je veux / I Want
Lyrics: Kerredine Soltany/Music: Kerredine Soltany, Tryss
France, French. 2010
Zaz (Isabelle Geoffrey) has a voice that’s a force of nature. Her style is often described as a mélange of French variety, folk and soul, although her 2014 album of great Paris songs demonstrated an extraordinary talent for classic French chanson as well. Though she has an introspective side somewhat at odds with her brash stage persona, it was the assertive side the public met in Je veux, her first hit.
Give me a suite of rooms in the Ritz hotel, I wouldn’t want it/Chanel jewelry, not for me/A limousine, what would I do with that?/A manor-house in Neufchatel, it’s of no use/Buy me the Eiffel Tower, what would I do with it?/I want love, joy and cheer/Your money won’t buy me happiness/I just want to die with your hand on my heart/Let’s go together and discover my freedom/Forget all your stereotypes/Welcome into my reality/I’m sick of good manners, they’re more than I can take/I’m loud and straightforward, pardon me!
118
Ray Charles: What’d I Say
Lyrics & music: Ray Charles
U.S., English, 1959
Charles was 28 in 1958, with a string of R&B hits to his credit. One night when he and his ensemble had played their entire performance list they still had time, so he improvised what became What’d I Say. He decided to record it and the wildly enthusiastic response heralded his breakthrough into the mainstream music market; it also became the foundation stone of soul music. For the rest of his career, Charles closed every concert with this song.
Hey mama, don’t you treat me wrong/Come and love your daddy all night long, all right now/Hey hey/All right/See the girl with the diamond ring/She knows how to shake that thing, all right now, now/Hey hey/Hey hey/Tell your mama, tell your pa/I’m gonna send you back to Arkansas, oh yes m’am/You don’t do right/Don’t do right/Oh, play it boy/When you see me in misery/Come on baby, see about me now, yeah/Hey hey/All right
119
Kardeş Türküler: Tencere Tava Havası / Sound of Pots and Pans
Lyrics: Fehmiye Celik Bostanci/Music: Ayhan Akkaya
Türkiye, Turkish, 2013
Kardeş Türküler emerged as an ethnic/folkloric band in the 1990s, celebrating Türkiye’s cultural and linguistic diversity. Tencere Tava Havası was inspired by the demonstrations that began with the violent eviction of a sit-in in Istanbul’s Gezi Park in the summer of 2013 and swept the nation, rattling the increasingly authoritarian government and also attracting public attention to protests that the self-censoring media declined to cover. (In the video the sudden appearance of penguins mocks a news network that broadcast a penguin documentary while the protests were at their height).
Enough with inconsistent messages and bans/Enough with headstrong decrees and commands/Oh my, oh my, we’re really fed up! Such arrogance! Such hatred!/Come slowly, slowly, the ground is wet/They couldn’t sell their shadows, so they sold the forests/They knocked down, closed down cinemas and squares…
120
Violeta Parra: Gracias a la Vida / Here’s to Life
Lyrics & music: Violeta Parra
Chile, Spanish, 1966
Parra began her career singing songs from Spain and Argentina, moved on to traditional Chilean ballads and ultimately wrote her own folk songs. She composed Gracias a la Vida in 1966 and it became one of the most covered Latin American songs of all time, sung by (among others) Mercedes Sosa in Argentina, Elis Regina in Brazil and Joan Baez in the United States.
Thanks to life, which has given me so much/It gave me two beams of light, that when opened/Can perfectly distinguish black from white/And in the sky above, her starry backdrop/And from within the multitude/The one that I love/Thanks to life, which has given me so much/It gave me an ear that, in all of its reach/ Records—night and day—crickets and canaries/Hammers and turbines and bricks and storms/And the tender voice of my beloved
121
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: All Along the Watchtower
Lyrics & music: Bob Dylan
U.S., English, 1968
Bob Dylan was overwhelmed by Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of All Along the Watchtower—to the extent that after Hendrix died in 1970 Dylan adopted the cover version for his own concerts.
There must be some kind of way outta here/Said the joker to the thief/There’s too much confusion/I can’t get no relief/Businessmen, they drink my wine/Plowmen dig my earth/None will level on the line/Nobody offered his word/Hey, hey/No reason to get excited/The thief, he kindly spoke/There are many here among us/Who feel that life is but a joke/But, uh, but you and I, we’ve been through that/And this is not our fate/So let us stop talkin’ falsely now/The hour’s getting late, hey
122
Esma Redžepova: Chaje Shukarije / Little Girl, Pretty One
Lyrics & music: Esma Redžepova
North Macedonia, Romani, 1961
Given the popularity of Roma music today, it’s hard to believe that when Redžepova made her first appearance on Radio Skopje in 1956 (at age 13) it was the first time a Romani song had ever been performed on the station. She wrote Chaje Shukarije when she was 18 and became, along with her husband Stevo Teodosievski, a pillar of Roma culture. She was celebrated as “the Queen of the Gypsies” for her contribution to Romani culture and music.
Little girl, pretty one, don’t walk slowly behind me/don’t walk slowly behind me, girl!/You have eaten and burned me/you have taken my heart/turn, look at me, girl!/Aaaaa…
123
Helene Blum: Friheden Station / Freedom Station
Lyrics & music: Helene Blum
Denmark, Danish, 2016
Blum is a star of the contemporary Danish music scene, her voice bright and poignant, almost magically fusing opera house resonance with small café intimacy. She sings in a folk-chanson style backed the band led by her husband Harald Haugaard. Friheden Station evokes a scene of boarding a train and saying yes to the chances you get in life and love.
I dreamt that you flew over to me and opened the door and whispered in my ear about our future together…/Life was just a standing train, waiting to depart/Time stopped when you took my hand at Freedom Station/Now there were two of us flying above the world…
124
Lokua Kanza: Mbiffé / I Love You, Mbiffé
Lyrics & music: Lokua Kanza
D.R. Congo, Lingala/French, 2002
At 13, Kanza decided he wanted to sing professionally when he saw Miriam Makeba perform on stage in Kinshasa; years later he would compose for her. At the Kinshasa Conservatory he mastered everything from Bach to bossa nova, from jazz to folk styles, and he continued absorbing world lessons as he moved to Abidjan and then Paris. Mbiffé is a song of unrequited love from his 2002 album Toyebi Té.
You are the morning sun/Who gives me joy/You are oh the flower of my heart, the hearbeat of my soul/If not you, who?/But you have broken my heart, it’s over/Mbiffé, I love you/You are the morning sun/Who gives me joy/Without you I am ruined/Mbiffé, I love you/But it’s over
125
Sofia Karlsson: Alltid Dig Nära / Always Near You
Lyrics: Sofia Karlsson/Music: Roger Tallroth
Sweden, Swedish, 2009
One of Sweden’s most heralded folk singers, Karlsson began her career performing works by great poets from her home country and abroad. Alltid Dig Nära is from her fourth album, the first based mostly on her own compositions. One critic noted that she captured the nuances of love with supreme precision, and that even when the love was ambiguous her lyrics were beautiful and crystal clear.
The wind has died down and the song with it/The song is over the sea/The words have been said, and said once again/The sun goes down with our day/Let me always live close/Close to your heart and close to your arms/Our longing it must bear us/Over the most difficult seas/Come let’s walk out/In a love that never ends/The storm has subsided and the light is on/In our house, here in the city/And no one but us knows what happens/When the sun rises over the roofs
126
Oum: N’nay / الناي / The Flute
Lyrics: Rumi/Music: Oum
Morocco, Arabic, 2015
Oum thrives on identifying the raw ingredients that go into her art. Her music weaves strands of North African Gnawa, Hassani, Sufi, jazz, gospel, Afro-beat, R&B and bossa nova, converging like winds in a magical desert. Her fourth album, Zarabi (Carpets) was inspired an annual festival in an oasis town where local women weave rugs from old clothes. The star instrument of N’nay—with lyrics from a 13th century poet—is a flute crying for the reed from which it was cut.
I heard the nay express its lament/Cut from its reed, it cries out the pain of lovers/It calls to hearts that desire tears apart/Those that burn and melt in passion’s fire/Every soul estranged from its partner/Dreams of the time they will reunite
127
Tabu Ley Rochereau: Mokolo Nakokufa / The Day That I Will Die
Lyrics & music: Tabu Ley Rochereau
D.R. Congo, Lingala, 1997
A leading rumba singer-songwriter and pioneer of soukous, Tabu Ley Rochereau composed some 3,000 songs and produced 250 albums. In Mokolo Nakokufa he wonders about the day of his death and the myriad elements of his legacy. He died 16 years after writing the song.
One day I thought I dreamed, as though I was sleeping/A mama ha/The day that I will die/The day that I will die, who will mourn?/Let me foresee it/Will I die in the forest or in the city/A painful death or will I drown/Oh mama, the day that I will die/The day that I will die, me be a poor person/I will think about Ida, the woman I married/I will think about my children/I will be glad to leave worldly pain behind/The day that I will die, me a rich man/I will think about the fortune I leave behind/The house and cars/The children I sent to Europe/M’ma, the day that I die
128
Black Panther (Hei Bao): Wudizirong /无地自容 / Ashamed to Show My Face
Lyrics: Dou Wei/Music: Li Tong
China, Chinese (Mandarin), 1991
Hei Bao was the eponymous debut album by the seminal Chinese rock band Black Panther. Released in Hong Kong in August 1991, it was launched four months later in China and Taiwan and became one of the bestselling Chinese albums of all time. Its most popular song was Ashamed to Show My Face (sometimes translated, simply, as Shameful), became a rock classic at the intersection of youthful experience, honesty and alienation.
In the middle of a sea of people/There is you, there is me/Meeting, getting acquainted/Pretending to have honest smiles/You are well aware of what you and I want/There’s no need to be sad/There will come a day you will understand me…/In the middle of the crowd, I see you again, charming and beautiful as before/You slowly relax/But like before, you don’t actually care…/I no longer believe in anything/People are so cold/I no longer reminisce about the past/I am no longer my past self/Once I felt lonely, isolated by others/But I never had feelings/I’m feeling too ashamed to show my face
129
Luciano Pavarotti: Nessun Dorma / Let No One Sleep
Lyrics: Giuseppe Adami, Renato Simoni/Music: Giacomo Puccini
Italy, Italian, 1972
Though sung by Calaf, a character in Turandot referred to as the Unknown Prince (principe ignoto), Nessun dorma became one of the most recognized tenor arias of all time—and essentially Pavarotti’s signature song. The aria is the prince’s triumphant statement after falling in love at first sight with the beautiful but cold Princess Turandot. According to the plot, any man who wishes to marry her must first answer three riddles; if he fails he will be beheaded.
Let no one sleep! Let no one sleep!/Not even you, oh Princess, in your cold bedroom/Watching the stars that tremble with love, and with hope!…/Laugh and sing in the sun/Our infinite happiness!/Glory to you! Glory to you!
130
Indrani Sen: Tomar Khola Haowa / তোমার খোলা হাওয়া / Your Breeze Unbridled
Lyrics & music: Rabindranath Tagore
Bangladesh/India, Bengali, 1994
Tomar Khola Haowa was written by the Indian polymath (poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher social reformer and painter) Rabindranath Tagore in 1914, one year after he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. One of the most beloved renditions of the song is sung by Indrani Sen, for whom Rabindra Sangeet (Tagore songs) is a major part of her repertoire.
Unfurling sails to your breeze unbridled/Unfastening my boat from its moors/Tearing away all its tethers/I am willing to sink and go under/The morning goes by in vain/Dusk, too, follows in its wake/O please do not keep me/Chained to the shore…/The storm I will befriend/Fearing not the frown of its brow/O, let me go now/I’d breathe a sigh of relief/If only I could find a gale
131
Ali Farka Touré: Bakoye / Show Your Love
Lyrics & music: Ali Farka Touré
Mali, Songhai, 1988
Touré’s illustrious career was built on a mix of African American Blues with traditional Malian sounds. He was the first African blues artist to gain a widespread audience on his home continent. Bakoyé, from his third album, was adapted from an Arabic praise song.
If you feel love for someone you have to show it/Even if your family and friends disapprove/If you have love inside you, you must let it out
132
Chico Buarque: Homenagem ao Malandro / Homage to the Scoundrel
Lyrics & music: Chico Buarque
Brazil, Portuguese, 1978
Buarque is best known musically for samba and MPB (and resistance to the dictatorship that ruled Brazil for 20 years), and also renowned for his books, plays and films. Homenagem ao Malandro is from his Opera do Malandro, inspired by the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical Threepenny Opera, and transplanted to Rio de Janeiro.
I sat down to write a samba in honor of the cream of scoundrels/That I know from Carnivals past/I went to Lapa and the trip was wasted/‘Cause that kind of malandro no longer exists/Now it’s just not normal/The number of orderly, professional malandros around/Malandro with the trappings of official scoundrel/Malandro with a profile in the society column/Malandro with a contract, a tie, and capital/Who never gets into trouble/But the malandro that counts — don’t spread it — has retired his razor/Has a wife and kid and the whole package/Word on the street is that he even has work/He lives far away, and rattles in on the suburban train
133
Justyna Steczkowska: Wracam Do Domu / I’m Coming Home
Lyrics & music: Łukasz Rutkowski
Poland, Polish, 2007
A singer, songwriter and actress, Steczkowska grew up in a large musical family and has been in the public eye almost all her life. She represented Poland in Eurovision 1995, appeared on the Polish edition of Dancing with the Stars, coached on The Voice: Poland, and has released 17 studio albums. Wracam Do Domu is one of her best-known songs.
I’ve wanted to come home for so many years/Secretly, before sunrise/I know you’ve been waiting for me to say yes/I’m coming home, one last time/Everything I have, what the world has given me/I carry within me to give to you someday/Even though they say we have no chance/I believe there is still time/I want to end this day with you/This one day/I’m coming home, I know it’s time/I want to feel the taste of those years again/There was so much joy in us
134
Rachel Magoola, with Afrigo Band: Obangaina / Where Have You Been?
Lyrics & music: Rachel Magoola
Uganda, Lusoga, 1999
Since the 1970s Uganda has seen military dictatorship, civil war, forced recruitment of child soldiers, an HIV epidemic, economic collapse and food shortages. Rachel Magoola has addressed these serial hardships as a singer-songwriter, activist, philanthropist and—as of 2021—a member of the Ugandan parliament. During her career with the legendary Afrigo Band and later as a solo performer, she has written emblematic songs to promote education for girls, caution against teen pregnancy and call attention to sickle-cell anemia; raised funds to purchase ambulances, give scholarships to orphans and support to expectant mothers. Aside from societal issues, she has she has explored love, intimacy and family dynamics. In Obangaima, Magoola sings about an absentee husband who virtually abandons his family for a romantic obsession.
I have been here looking for you (where have you been?)/I have been here asking for you (where have you been?)/You waste time and money, you are with Magret/You bought a wrap for one thousand for Magret/I spend all day, crying till night because of Magret/Your children no longer see you because of Magret…/You go disco dancing in broad daylight with Magret/All respect for your family is lost because of Magret…/That girl is so proud/That girl is so boastful/That girl took the father of my children/That girl took my darling
135
Tilahoun Gessesse: Harkafune / We Raise Our Hands in Greeting
Lyrics & music: Tegenu Balkew
Ethiopia, Oromo, 1985
During the 1960s—the Golden Age of Ethiopian music—Tilahoun Gessesse was known simply as “The Voice.” Singing in Amharic and Oromo, he specialized in Ethio-jazz. He continued performing until his death in 2020. Harkafune is a triangular discussion of one man with two women.
Hello, hello/Peace, peace/Oh Tamima, we raise our hands in greeting, madam/Peace be with you/Peace be with you Geny, peace be with you/Regarding Tamima/Things about the woman of the city/Caught my eyes and ears/It captured me, they said in the village/”Let it go,” they said/I thought about it and I let it go/They were happy for me/Just like love, my heart misses her/Tamima stayed, the slim girl stayed/I’m worried Geny, my heart refused/Hush, Geny, Hush/O mother, hush/Oh Tame, hush
136
The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations
Lyrics: Mike Love/Music: Brian Wilson
U.S., English, 1966
If ever there was a revolution in three minutes and thirty seconds of song, it was Good Vibrations, the work Brian Williams (who was 23 at the time) called “his whole life performance in one track.” Cosmic, symphonic, psychedelic, simultaneously baroque and perfectly sculpted, it introduced (in the words of band publicist Derek Taylor) “the studio-as-instrument of technical wonder” and etched its title into everyone’s vocabulary.
I… I love the colorful clothes she wears/And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair/I… hear the sound of a gentle word/On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air/I’m pickin’ up good vibrations/She’s giving me the excitations (oom bop bop)/I’m pickin’ up good vibrations (good vibrations, oom bop bop)…/Close my eyes, she’s somehow closer now/Softly smile, I know she must be kind/When I look in her eyes/She goes with me to a blossom world
137
Idan Raichel Project, feat. Idan Raichel and Wagderass Avi Vese: Mi’Maamakim / ממעמקים / Out of the Depths
Original lyrics & music: Idan Raichel/Traditional lyrics and music from Ethiopian song “Nanu Nanu Ney”
Israel/Ethiopia: Hebrew/Amharic, 2005
During his military service Raichel was music director of the Israeli Army rock band; his service completed, he became a counselor at a boarding school for immigrant and at-risk youth, where he became exposed to music from Ethiopia. This was one of the keys to his band, The Idan Raichel Project, in which he merged modern Israeli sounds and traditional Hebrew texts, first with Jewish sounds from Ethiopia and Yemen, then with Arabic and ultimately brought in guest artists from Colombia to Portugal, from Cape Verde to South Africa. The title track of his second album, Mi’ma’amakim is an adaptation of Psalm 130, in Hebrew with an Amharic overlay; instead of beseeching God for understanding, the lyrics plead with a love interest to recognize the petitioner’s dedication.
From the depths I called to you, come to me/May the moonlight light your way to me/They’re spread out and melted again, the touch of your hands/I whisper, asking in your ears/Who is it that calls to you tonight?/Who sings aloud at your window?/Who would give his soul to make you happy?/Who will give his hand and build you a home?/Who will give his life, and subordinate it yours?/Who will be like the dust living at your feet?
138
Félix Leclerc: Le P’tit Bonheur / A Small Delight
Lyrics & music: Félix Leclerc
Canada/Quebec, French, 1950
A singer-songwriter, poet, writer, actor and Quebec political activist, Leclerc was one of the most beloved artists in French-speaking Canada—and his success in France in the early 1950s also influenced Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel. Le P’tit Bonheur, one of his best-known songs, reflects his focus on small pleasures, nature and nostalgia, as well as his stature as a pioneer of poetic song.
It was a small happiness/I picked up/It was in tears, on the side of a road/When it saw me passing, it started shouting/”Sir, pick me up, take me home with you/My brothers have forgotten me, I have fallen, I am sick/If you do not pluck me, I will die, what a ballad!/I won’t take up much space, gentle and submissive, I promise you/I’m begging you, free me from this torture”/I took the small happiness/Put it under my rags/I said, “It must not die/Come into my house”/So the little happiness got better/At the edge of my heart, there was a song/My days, my nights, my sorrows, my pain, all forgotten…//My happiness blossomed/Buds appeared/It was heaven/And yet, one beautiful morning/As I whistled this tune/My happiness left
139
Elvy Sukaesih: Gula-Gula / Sugar, Sugar
Lyrics & music: Fazal Dath
Indonesia, Indonesian, 1998
Emerging in the 1970s, Elvy Sukaisih became known as the Queen of Dangdut, the Indonesian genre that weaves Javanese and Malay folk styles with Hindustani and Arabian touches. Gula-Gula deals with a ubiquitous theme in popular music the world over—infidelity.
How could my husband go home with you?/How could he make love to you?/(Sugar, sugar, sugar)/(Sugar, sugar, sugar)/Yes, yes-yes-yes/The parrot flies into the clouds/Will he come back again?/A man falls so easily out of my hands/He can be seduced again/How could my husband go home with you?/Without your serving him/Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar/Sugar, sugar, sugar, sweet…/How could he possibly be tempted/To light the fire of romance?/Maybe it’s only temporary/Just take a shower and have lunch/Sugar-hoo, sugar-hoo, sugar, sugar, sugar
140
Juan Luis Guerra & 4.40: Ojalá Que Llueva Café / May It Rain Coffee
Lyrics & Music: Juan Luis Guerra
Dominican Republic, Spanish, 1989
Guerra has always balanced poetic love songs with equally lyrical songs on social issues. Ojalá Que Lleuva Café, one of his signature songs, highlights both the hard life of people in the Dominican countryside and also the hope for better days.
May it rain coffee in the fields/Let there be a downpour of cassava roots and tea/Let a drizzle of white cheese fall from the sky/And to the south a mountain of pepper grass and honey/Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh, may it rain coffee/May it rain coffee in the countryside/To smooth a high hill of wheat and yams/To run down a hill of rice/And keep on plowing the land with your love/May autumn cover my harvest/With pitisalé instead of with dry leaves/I want to sow sweet potatoes and strawberries on the plain/May it rain coffee
141
Julie Fowlis: Húg Air A’ Bhonaid Mhòir / Celebrate the Big Bonnet
Lyrics & music: Traditional
U.K./Scotland, Scottish Gaelic, 2007
There was a Scottish Gaelic Renaissance before Julie Fowlis launched her music career, but the singer and multi-instrumentalist from the Outer Hebrides has certainly supercharged the movement with her enchanting heaven-to-earth voice. She can do soulful melancholy equal to the great vocalists in any language, and then veer into a lively puirt à beul set, like Celebrate the Big Bonnet, from her second album, Cuilidh.
Celebrate the great bonnet, add to it, leave it alone/More on the other bonnet, there’s not enough on it/Dòmhnall Bàn’s bonnet is to be found in Bothalam/It was high as the roof joist, higher than the corn-stack frame…/Two spoon-nets in the loft, there’s something in the fish trap/Two spoon-nets in the loft, the seagull has a catch/Although I’m empty-handed, there’s something in the fish trap/Although I’m empty-handed, the seagull has a catch
142
Manu Dibango: Soul Makossa / I Will Dance
Lyrics & music: Manu Dibango
Cameroon, Duala, 1972
Dibangu was a Cameroonian sax player and songwriter who fused African rhythms with jazz and funk. He performed with the cream of African music, including Fela Kuti, King Sunny Adé and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Soul Makossa, his best known work, has been called the first disco song and also the most sampled African song in history, excerpted by, among others, Micahel Jackson, Rihanna, Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
Makossa is a popular urban dance style in Cameroon. “Soul Makossa” channels a sense of pride and celebration in African culture. The opening lines of the song, “Mamasay mamasa mamakusa,” echo a traditional Duala chant that means “I will dance, you will dance, we will dance together.” The song celebrates the joy of dancing and coming together, and it has become an anthem for African unity and pride.
143
Joan Manuel Serrat: Temps era temps / Once Upon a Time
Lyrics & music: Joan Manuel Serrat
Spain, Catalan, 1980
Temps Era Temps is a song by Joan Manuel Serrat, a renowned Spanish singer-songwriter. Written in Catalan, the lyrics echo the passage of time, reflecting on the nostalgia for past experience, urging listeners to cherish the beauty of every moment.
Once upon a time…/we hatched from the egg/with Moscow gold/Peace overwhelmed/the fleet in the dock…/with the symbols forgotten, water in the fountain, restrictions and the boogeyman/Once upon a time…/There was more than good or bad/there was mine and mine alone/Time of illegal trade and trolleys/porridge for dinner/Time of Una, Grande, y Libre [Spanish national slogan]/Metro Goldwyn Mayer/Take it or leave it/Condoms and enemas/Once upon a time, we figured it all out/who were the Three Kings [of Christmas], where babies come from/and what the wolf eats
144
M.S. Subbulakshmi: Sukumara en thabam / சுகுமார் என் தபம் / Sukumara Is My Penance
Lyrics: Papanasam Sivan/Music: Thuraiyur Rajagopala Sarma
India, Tamil, 1940
M.S. Subbulakshmi was the first musician awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor. Regarding her eminence, Jawaharlal Nehru said, “Who am I, a mere prime minister, before the Queen of Music.” She was known primarily for Carnatic music but also excelled at ghazals and film songs.
With Sukumara en thabam, Subbulakshmi bridged the gap between devotional and popular: It was one of eight songs she performed in the 1940 film Sakuntalai, based on the tale of a queen in the Mahabarata, the sacred Hindu epic, and dramatized by the 4th-century CE playwright Kalidasa. The song describes the meeting of King Dusyanta and Queen Sukantali in the forest, their estrangement and their ultimate reunion.
145
Arijit Singh: Tum Hi Ho / तुम ही हो / You Are the One
Lyrics & music: Mithoon
India, Hindi, 2013
Singh is the leading Bollywood male playback singer of his time and one of the greatest of all time, a recipient of India’s National Film Award and numerous Filmfare awards, modelled after the Academy Awards of Hollywood. Tum Hi Ho is from the Hindi-language film Aashiqui 2, which revolves around the turbulent romance between an alcoholic singer and his protégé.
I can’t live without you/What is my existence without you?/If I get separated from you/I will be separated from myself/Because it’s only you/Now it’s only you/Now only you are in my life/My peace and even my pain/Now you are my love…/Not for a moment can I stay away/I live every day for you/I dedicate all of my time to you/I don’t want a moment without you/On every breath is your name
146
Clara Nunes: Conto de Areia / Tale of the Sand
Lyrics & music: António Carlos Nascimento Pinto, Romildo Bastos
Brazil, Portuguese, 1974
Clara Nunes was one of Brazil’s greatest samba singers and her death at age 40 only magnified her legend. Conto de Areia was her most iconic song. Composer Antonio (“Toninho”) Nascimento wrote it based on a friend’s story/fable about a fisherman who sailed out and never returned, and his widow who would go to the shore and call to him, not knowing he had been summoned by Iemenjá, Goddess of the Sea.
It’s water in the sea, it’s high tide, oh, makes you dizzy, oh, makes you dizzy/It’s water in the sea/They say that all the sadness there is in Bahia/Was born of dark eyes soaked in the sea/I don’t know if it’s story of sand or a fantasy/That the light of the lantern shines for us to sing/One day a brunette, decked out in roses and lace/Broke into her girlish smile and asked to dance/The night lent the stars, stitched with silver/And the waters of Amaralina were drops of moonlight…/It was one sole breast full of promise/Who told your love to become a canoeman/The wind that rolls through the palms drags the sailboat/And takes it to the high waters of Iemanjá
147
Sabreen: Shilat Bila / شيلة شيلة / Hurly Burly
Lyrics: Hussein Barghouthi/Music: Said Murad
Palestine, Arabic, 1987
Sabreen (the name means “the patient ones”) formed in 1980, knitting together separate movements of eastern and western-oriented music with the aim of forging modern Palestinian song. Throughout their history they have performed songs by leading Palestinian poets and were fronted by singer Kamilya Jubran until 2002. Hurly Burly is from the group’s second album, Death of the Prophet.
This world is Hurly Burly/They kidnapped Abla the night before/They kidnapped the beauty in her wedding gown/An hour and a night before her wedding/Abla is the prettiest girl in the tribe/They say the kidnapper hides her in a fort/Secure under lock and key…/They say the nights are beastly/Too dangerous to roam/If you can get to Abla, bring her/Antar of the tribe Abbas/Intends on breaking her out/Other than a horse and a sword/He has but himself
148
Mỹ Linh: Tóc Ngắn / Short Hair
Lyrics: Dương Thụ/Music: Anh Quân
Vietnam, Vietnamese, 1998
Called the Queen of Vietnamese R&B, Mỹ Linh has been a major presence on her country’s music scene since the start her career in the 1990s. Tóc Ngắn is the title track of her trademark album, a hymn to carefree spirit and individuality.
A crowded street, the car horns honking, brings me joy/In spring, my short hair bounces and sways along the street/My carefree profile stands out in the bustling traffic/Quick, quick, I fly on the pink road/My short hair and bright smile sparkle in the spring night/Look, I’m the only one with cute, short hair/Short hair, bright eyes/I want to look pretty/Why look like everyone else?/I want to sing, shout and laugh
149
Buena Vista Social Club: Chan Chan
Lyrics & music: Francisco Repilado [Compay Segundo]
Cuba, Spanish, 1997
Compay Segundo said he didn’t compose Chan Chan so much as dream it, waking up with the melody in his head. The story within the song came from a farmer he knew as a child, who recalled a couple—Juanica and Chan Chan— who were building a house and went to the beach to get sand. As Chan Chan collected the sand and put it in a sieve, Juanica shook the sieve and, in the process, shook her body and stirred Chan Chan’s passion.
From Alto Cedro I go to Marcané/Then from Cueto, I go to Mayarí/The love I have for you, I cannot deny/My mouth waters/I can’t help it/Juanica and Chan Chan/Were sifting sand from the sea/When she shook the sieve/It hurt Chan Chan to watch her/Clear away the straw/Because I want to sit down/On that tree trunk I see/I can go no further
150
Bonga: Mona Ki Ngi Xica / The Child I Am Leaving Behind
Lyrics & music: José Adelino Barceló de Carvalho [Bonga Kwenda]
Angola, Kimbundu, 1987
Bonga is as relevant to Angola’s culture today as he was when his country broke free from colonial rule in 1975—remarkable considering he spent most of the intervening years in exile. A thorn in the side of the old Portuguese dictatorship and then to the corrupt leaders who dominated the newly independent nation, he has been a voice of liberty, identity and protest. Rooted in Angolan semba (an antecedent to Brazilian samba), he has also been a leading exponent of Cape Verdean coladeira and morna. The Child I am Leaving Behind reflects the agony of a nation in the midst of a long, brutal civil war.
Attention! I’m in mortal danger/And I’ve already warned you/She will stay here and I will go away/This child of mine/Evil people are after her/This child of mine/On a tide of misfortune/God gave me this offspring/That I brought into the world/And she will stay here/When I am gone
151
Iva Bittová: Uspávanka / Lullaby
Lyrics: Jan Skácel/Music: Iva Bittová, Vladimír Václavek
Czechia, Czech, 1997
One of Czechia’s most creative musical artists, Bittová is a folk/rock singer-songwriter, violinist and actress. In the words of AllMusic, her songs are often on the border of avant-garde and playground nursery rhymes.
Just a clean source/of fresh water/and a bed of stars/made of silver/to drink shyly/the doe comes here/on hot nights/from my bottom…/and the well/it never lies/because each human lie/in the small well/will drown even if it is as big/as a tower
152
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Proud Mary
Lyrics & music: John Fogerty, 1969
U.S., English, 1970
One of the great classic bands from rock’s greatest era, CCR went against the traffic. Despite its California roots, in the words of NPR the band “mythologized the American South with an exotic mixture of blues, New Orleans R&B and rockabilly.” Proud Mary was inspired by an actual Mississippi riverboat based in Memphis and tells the story of a working-class guy who trades a low wage city job for life on the river and then comes to appreciate some of the people he knew on land while looking in life’s rearview mirror.
Left a good job in the city/Workin’ for the man every night and day/And I never lost one minute of sleepin’/Worryin’ ’bout the way things might have been…/Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis/Pumped a lot of ‘pane down in New Orleans/But I never saw the good side of the city/’Til I hitched a ride on a river boat queen/Big wheel keep on turnin’/Proud Mary keep on burnin’/Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river
153
Ramy Essam: Irhal / ارحل / Leave!
Lyrics & music: Ramy Essam
Egypt, Arabic, 2011
One of the leading hard rock artists in the Middle East, Essam became the voice of the Egyptian Revolution in 2011 with his short anthem Irhal, which he described as a collection of chants demanding Hosni Mubarak’s resignation that he heard in Cairo’s Tahrir Square demonstrations. A YouTube video of Essam’s performance of the song went viral and Mubarak stepped down with two weeks.
We’re all one hand and we have one demand/Leave! Leave! Leave!/Down, down with Hosni Mubarak!/The people demand/The fall of the regime/The people demand/The fall of the regime/He will leave/We won’t leave
154
Dobet Gnahoré: Palea / Tell Me
Lyrics & music: Colin De Feline, Dobet Laroche De Feline
Côte d’Ivoire, Bété, 2007
Dobet Gnahoré is in the rarefied echelon of leading African singer-songwriters, enhancing her performances with dance and percussion. Based in France, she has released seven albums—songs of love, freedom and empowerment—and also shared a 2010 Grammy with the American artist India Arie.
Tell me, what do you see/Do you see our destiny?/I will follow wherever you lead/Even to the other side of the world/Our dream will be beautiful if we believe/Tell me, what do you see/I see the same thing for our happiness/I will do everything to fulfill you/Most important is the love I have for you/Tell me what do you see for tomorrow/Our dreams will come true if we believe/You know, without you I am nothing/I can’t live without you/Our dream will be beautiful if we believe
155
Carlos Gardel: Por Una Cabeza / By a Head
Lyrics: Alfredo Le Pera/Music: Carlos Gardel
Argentina, Spanish, 1935
At the pinnacle of tango, Gardel stands alone as a singer and composer. Por una Cabeza, in which he compares a losing bet on a horse race with losing at love, was his last hit, released just before his death in a plane crash in June 1935.
By only a head of a purebred race colt/that just at the finish/slowed down to a trot/and on riding back it seemed to be saying/don’t forget this my brother, a smart gambler you’re not/By only a head, I was love struck at first sight, with one coquettish and cheerful dame/who by pledging with a smile a love made of lies/burned all my passion in a blazing flame/By only a head were all of the follies; her lips when she’s kissing, the sadness dismissing/By only a head that, if she forgets me/it won’t matter if I lose the life that hurts me; what is there left to live?
156
The Beatles: A Day in the Life
Lyrics & music: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
U.K., English, 1967
A Day in the Life was a landmark in musical and human creativity. Rolling Stone counted it as the greatest Beatles hit and it probably appears on more greatest-of-all-time lists than any other song. Despite its enormous influence, the song wasn’t released as a single until 11 years after Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the album that it anchored. Lyrically it was an inspired grab bag, from childhood memories (Paul’s bus rides and smoking) to newspaper clippings (the potholes of Blackburn, Lancashire); to Lennon’s friendship with Guinness heir Tara Browne, whose death in a traffic accident was the starting point of the man who “blew his mind out in a car” (a detail that had nothing to do with Browne and everything to do with LSD).
Woke up, fell out of bed/Dragged a comb across my head/Found my way downstairs and drank a cup/And looking up, I noticed I was late/Found my coat and grabbed my hat/Made the bus in seconds flat/Found my way upstairs and had a smoke/And somebody spoke and I went into a dream/Ahh…/I read the news today, oh boy/Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire/And though the holes were rather small/They had to count them all/Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall/I’d love to turn you on
157
Bai Hong: Zuiren de kouhong / 醉人的口紅 / Intoxicating Lipstick
Lyrics: Lu Li/Music: Jin Liu
China, Chinese (Mandarin), 1948
Bai Hong was one of China’s great divas. She sang mostly Mandopop in the 1930s and moved into uptempo jazz in the 1940s, when her career peaked. Her repertoire was banned after the 1949 Communist Revolution but she continued doing theater performances. During the Cultural Revolution she was imprisoned.
That intoxicating lipstick, like a rainbow after the rain, so red, so delicate, so mind numbing/That intoxicating lipstick, like the spring breeze on a winter night, so warm, so soft, intensifying our passions/Ah! Why meet only tonight? Ah! Why such fluctuations tonight?/Such lipstick invades my mind, that intoxicating lipstick, that intoxicating lipstick, lipstick
158
Elis Regina & Tom Jobim: Aguas de Março / Waters of March
Lyrics & music: António Carlos Jobim
Brazil, Portuguese, 1972
In her brief life, Elis Regina performed songs by the cream of Brazil’s composers—Chico Buarque, Ivan Lins, João Bosco and Tom Jobim, among others. She sang Aguas de Março with Jobim; the song was inspired by the heavy rainfall typical of Rio de Janeiro in March, often causing severe floods. The stream-of-consciousness lyrics are a metaphor for the floodwaters and the streaming of life to its inevitable conclusion, even as water itself represents the renewal of life. The lyrics and music also follow a constant downward progression, much like floods careening downhill.
It’s a stick, it’s a stone, it’s the end of the road/It’s the rest of a stump, it’s a little alone/It’s a sliver of glass, it is life, it’s the Sun/It is night, it is death, it’s a trap, it’s a gun/The oak when it blooms, a fox in the brush/The knot in the wood, the song of a thrush/The wood of the wind, a cliff, a fall/A scratch, a lump, it is nothing at all/It’s the wind blowing free, it’s the end of the slope/It’s a beam, it’s a void, it’s a hunch, it’s a hope/And the river bank talks of the waters of march/It’s the end of the strain, it’s the joy in your heart
159
Joan Baez: Diamonds & Rust
Lyrics & music: Joan Baez
U.S., English, 1975
Baez wrote Diamonds and Rust in November 1974 and there’s no mystery about what it means. It was based on her relationship with Bob Dylan and describes a phone call from a former lover that took her back 10 years to a scene in a cheap hotel in Greenwich Village. The irony at the center of the story is that the Dylan figure tells her that her poetry is “lousy,” yet Diamonds and Rust is widely regarded as her greatest song.
Well, I’ll be damned/Here comes your ghost again/But that’s not unusual/It’s just that the moon is full/And you happened to call/And here I sit/Hand on the telephone/Hearing a voice I’d known/A couple of light years ago/Heading straight for a fall/As I remember your eyes/Were bluer than robins’ eggs/My poetry was lousy you said/Where are you calling from?/A booth in the Midwest/Ten years ago/I bought you some cufflinks/You brought me something/We both know what memories can bring/They bring diamonds and rust
160
Farida Khanum: Aaj Jaane Ki Zidd Naa Karo / آج جانے پر اصرار نہ کریں۔ / Don’t Insist on Departing Tonight
Lyrics: Fayaz Hashmi/Music: Sohail Rana
Pakistan, Urdu, 1993
Known as the Queen of Ghazals, Khanum is highly acclaimed in both India (where she was born) and Pakistan (where she has lived all her adult life). Aaj Jaane Ki Zidd Naa Karo is a perennial classical-romantic poem/song that has been performed in various films on both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border and is also part of the soundtrack of several television series.
Tonight, don’t insist on leaving/Keep sitting close to me like you are/Tonight, don’t insist on leaving/Oh I will die, I will be lost/Don’t say such things/Tonight, don’t insist on leaving/Just think for a moment, why should I not stop you/My life seems to leave my body when you get up and go/I swear to you, my beloved/Just agree to this request of mine/Tonight, don’t insist on leaving/Life is trapped in the prison of time/But these are the few moments that are free
161
Georges Brassens: La Mauvaise Réputation / A Bad Reputation
Lyrics & music: George Brassens
France, French, 1952
Brassens was known for his erudite and expressive verse, for dark humor and a penchant for anarchy. La mauvaise réputation is a sterling example of the poet as enfant terrible.
In my town, without aspiration/I have a bad reputation/Whether I go out of my way or I remain still/I am regarded as doing ill/And yet, I don’t do harm to anyone/By following my own sweet path/But the good people don’t like us/To follow a different road than them/Everyone says the worst about me/Except for mutes, that goes without saying…/No need to be a Jeremiah/To guess the fate that awaits me/If they find a rope to their liking/They’ll put it around my neck/Yet I don’t do harm to anyone/By following the paths that don’t lead to Rome/But these good folks don’t like that…/Everyone will come to see me hanged/Except for the blind, of course
162
Baaba Maal: African Woman
Lyrics & music: Baaba Maal
Senegal, Pulaar/English, 1994
Baaba Maal grew up expecting to follow in his father’s path and become a fisherman. But he learned music from his mother and from his school’s headmaster and ultimately became one of Senegal’s most celebrated artists. In African Woman he salutes the women in his life.
Yeah!/Big ups to all the African women/Working hard, doing their thing up in the streets, out in the world/Shout out to my mum who raised me, for your love and guidance/I know I was a bad kid, hard to raise/But you know man’s gotta blow at the end of the day, and because of you I’ll make it/Shout out to Lekan who’s about to go in/Leks, let’s get it
163
Francesco Guccini: Vedi Cara / You See, My Dear
Lyrics & music: Francesco Guccini
Italy, Italian, 1970
A novelist, journalist, teacher and actor, Guccini is one of the great Italian cantautori who emerged in the 1970s, and he is still going. Rooted in folk (Dylan was an early influence) he has produced hundreds of songs on love, life, angst, social justice and political struggle. In Vedi Cara he makes a lyrical attempt to explain to his fiancée that love is not the same as possession or control and that every person, even in a lasting relationship, evolves and harbors mysteries.
You see my dear, it’s hard to explain/It’s hard to talk about the mind’s ghosts/All I can say is that I change a little bit every day, and that I am different/Sometimes I fly up high in the sky, like a kite in the wind that eventually will fall back down/You see my dear, it’s hard to explain/It’s hard to understand if you don’t already know…/You are a lot, even though you’re not enough/And you can’t see the distance between my thoughts and yours/You’re everything, but that everything is still too little/You’re content with your game and already have what you want/I’m still looking, so don’t be afraid when you feel that I am moving away/The dream will end, and I will still be here!/Be happy with the role you have
164
Johnny Cash: I Walk the Line
Lyrics & music: Johnny Cash
U.S., English, 1957
Cash’s hymn to marital fidelity was his first #1 Billboard hit and became a theme song of his career. It follows a freight-train tempo that was one of his trademarks and features a key change before each new verse.
I keep a close watch on this heart of mine/I keep my eyes wide open all the time/I keep the ends out for the tie that binds/Because you’re mine, I walk the line/I find it very, very easy to be true/I find myself alone when each day’s through/Yes I’ll admit that I’m a fool for you/Because you’re mine, I walk the line/As sure as night is dark and day is light/I keep you on my mind both day and night/And happiness I’ve known proves that it’s right/Because you’re mine, I walk the line
165
Gesang: Bengawan Solo / Solo River
Lyrics & music: Gesang Martohartono
Indonesia, Indonesian, 1940
Gesang wrote Bengawan Solo in 1940 in homage to the Solo River that runs through his hometown of Surakarta, in Central Java. It was the first song written in Bahasa Indonesian, the lingua franca of the multilingual Indonesian archipelago that became the official language upon independence in 1949. It also became popular among Japanese troops that occupied Indonesia during World War II. In 1991 a group of Japanese war veterans funded a statue of Gesang that was placed in central Surakarta.
Bengawan Solo, this is a song of your history/People have been fascinated with this great river since ancient times/In the dry season, your waters are shallow, and in the rainy season, they overflow into the distance/Around the source of the Solo River, there are a thousand mountains/And the river flows all the way to the sea/There are always merchants on board ships going up and down the river
166
Ojos de Brujo: Todos Mortales / All Mortal
Lyrics & music: Ojos de Brujo
Spain, Spanish, 2009
Based in Barcelona and rooted in flamenco, with detours into hip-hop and rumba Catalana, Ojos de Brujo (the name means “eyes of the sorcerer”) aimed for a deep look at life and social issues with a rhythmic foundation. In Todos Mortales they added some advice on how to spin without getting dizzy.
Don’t get lost in the land that pumps/It’s not your feet or your head that turns turns turns, going around a thousand times/We want, they want what has no form, turns turns/like the one who runs without breathing to reach his goal, turns turns/like love that rests awake and that takes turns, turns/like a kite that catches the current and flies, turns, turns/like clocks that warn of the time and do not wait/Spin spin spin, rich and poor, all are mortal/following the same sound sound sound and the same beats/spin spin spin…/How hard it is to say no, passion says to reason/look down you get dizzy/look forward you feel better
167
Romica Puceanu: Șaraiman / My Poor Boy
Lyrics & music: Traditional
Romania, Romanian, 1973
Puceanu was a Romanian Roma singer known for her lute-based urban songs and her penetrating voice. To Roma audiences she was known as “Our Queen.”
If you are beaten, oh boy, beaten/By all my love, by all my love/Poor you, oh, poor boy/I don’t think you could sleep/Neither could you love someone else/Because a love like mine/You can’t find with anyone else/Not with anyone else/Poor you, oh, poor boy…/Oh boy, if I only knew you were coming/I would pave your way with stones/I would pave your way with stones/Poor you, oh, poor boy/All with flowers and sapphire/So that you won’t come too late
168
Miriam Makeba: Qongqothwane / The Click Song – The Knock-Knock Beetle
Lyrics & music: Traditional
South Africa, Xhosa, 1965
Qongqothwane is often sung at weddings in South Africa. In the western world it is called The Click Song, a nickname adopted by Europeans who couldn’t pronounce its Xhosa title, which has many click consonants. The Xhosa name literally means “knock-knock beetle,” a name for various species of darkling beetles that make a distinctive knocking sound by tapping their abdomens on the ground and that, according to lore, bring good luck and rain. The song became known world-wide thanks to Miriam Makeba.
He’s the witchdoctor of the road/He’s the knock-knock beetle/He’s the witchdoctor of the road, he’s called/The knock-knock beetle/Already he’s climbing, he’s passing by here, ga’aya/He’s the knock-knock beetle/Already he’s climbing, he’s passing by here, awu/He’s the knock-knock beetle
169
Lucha Reyes: Caminito de Contrereas / Narrow Contreras Path
Lyrics & music: Severiano Briseño Chavez
Mexico, Spanish, c. 1937
Reyes began her career as a soprano on stage and in films, touring the United States and Europe. It was only after a voice change brought on by a throat ailment that she switched to Mexican traditional music and ultimately became known as the “Queen of Ranchera.” Caminito de Contreras was one of her best-known songs.
The Contreras Path, on the slope of [Mount] Ajusco amid the green magueyeras [agave]/That’s where I find pleasure/And I run up to Ajusco/Just to see you/And in the mountains I see a whitewashed house/And looking out the window, your angelic face/In the cold morning, when the sun filters its rays/In the green mountains the fields look red/and your house is whiter/It’s where I want to go/I have a little piece of land/To build our home, covered with vines/And there are peaches in the orchard, and pears on the hillside/For you, my sweet love
170
Alison Krauss & Union Station: The Lucky One
Lyrics & music: Robert Lee Castleman
U.S., English, 2001
Krauss was at the center of the bluegrass renaissance and raised her profile higher by appearing on the film soundtracks for O Brother, Where Art Thou and Cold Mountain. The Lucky One is her Grammy-winning song from her Grammy winning album New Favorite.
You’re the lucky one, always havin′ fun/A jack of all trades, a master of none/You look at the world with a smilin’ eye/And laugh at the devil as his train goes by/Give you a song and a one-night stand/You′ll be lookin’ at a happy man/’Cause you′re the lucky one/Well, you′re blessed, I guess/By never knowin’ which road you′re choosin’/To you the next best thing/To playin′ and winnin’ is playin′ and losin’
171
Grigory Leps: Ryumka vodka na stolye / Рюмка водки на столе / A Glass of Vodka on the Table
Lyrics & music: Evgeny “Zheka” Grigoriev
Russia, Russian, 2002
One of contemporary Russia’s most prominent singers, Leps is known for his wide vocal range and stylistic mix of chanson, pop and soft rock. A Glass of Vodka on the Table is from his 2002 album On Strings of Rain.
No one can make me forget/The feast of your lips, the mortification in your eyes/Take me to your prison/For the last time, I will kiss/This line of your knees/There’s just a glass of vodka on the table/The wind outside is crying/The shouts of this young moon/Echo in me with a faint pain/It’s not easy to let you go/To the sails of winds and to the birds…/You might not even recognize me/Among a thousand womens’ faces/Although my eyes are silent/They’re silently looking at the moon/If someone catches my eyes/He will hurry back to me/I don’t even know why myself/There’s just a glass of vodka on the table/The wind outside is crying/The shouts of this young moon/Echo in me with a faint pain.
172
Eason Chan: Shi nian / 十年 / Ten Years
Lyrics: Lin Xi/Music: Chen Xiao Xia
China/Hong Kong, Chinese (Cantonese), 2003
As an entertainer Chan checks multiple boxes: Actor as well as singer and multi-instrumentalist, star of Mandopop, Cantopop and R&B, he has probably won more music awards than any other Chinese star. Ten Years is a tender lament about settling for friendship when love is elusive.
If I hadn’t faltered while saying those two words/I wouldn’t have known that I was in pain/No matter how I said it, it would still have been a breakup/If I didn’t expect anything from tomorrow/And holding hands with you was just like taking a ride/Thousands of doorways, one of us always had to leave first/Since we couldn’t have stayed in each other’s arms forever/When we say goodbye…/Ten years ago/I didn’t know you, and you weren’t mine/We were the same/Spending time with a stranger/Walking through streets, gradually getting closer/Ten years later/We are still friends/But that kind of tenderness is gone/And we can’t find a reason to embrace anymore/Lovers who inevitably become just friends in the end
173
O-Hum: Ghadah / قدح / The Cup
Lyrics: Hafez/Music: Shahram Sharbaf
Iran, Persian, 2014
O-Hum is the brainchild of lead singer and guitarist Shahram Sharbaf, who wanted to play songs that were sweepingly Persian. The band specializes in putting the works of 14th century poets like Hafez and Rumi to contemporary rock music.
When my Beloved the wine-cup in hand taketh/The market of idols, disaster taketh/Every one, who beheld His eye said/”Where a Mohtaseb, who the intoxicated taketh?”/Like a fish, I have fallen into the sea/So that, me, by the hook, the Beloved taketh/In lamentation, at His feet, I have fallen/In the hope that me, by the hand, the Beloved taketh/Happy the heart of that one who, like Hafez/A cup of the wine of Alast, taketh
174
Le Vent du Nord: Conféderation
Lyrics & music: Nicolas Boulerice
Canada/Quebec, French, 2015
Le Vent du Nord (“The North Wind”) is Quebec’s most dynamic folk band and also a force of nature and culture. Embodying both tradition and renewal, their sound blends French, Acadian and Celtic elements, their archival and original compositions often simultaneously high-spirited and reverent, telling happy, humorous and harrowing tales and spinning instrumental reels, jigs and reveries. Conféderation is an exuberant lament that explores the not-quite-harmonious relationship between Canada and its French-speaking community.
Do you know the history of great beautiful Canada/This borrowed country that was founded three times?/We’ve been made to believe it’s a bilingual nation, with equal rights/So that francophones won’t rise up/They’ve avoided renaming the country/Borealia, their new colony/They gave us the gift of a very strange freedom…/Are we but a prefix to this federation?/We never signed their dear constitution/The French of America still have a nameless country/Why don’t francophones remember?
175
Nepathya: Bhedako Oon Jasto / भेडाको ऊनजस्तो / Like Sheep’s Wool
Lyrics & music: Amrit Gurung, Narayan Wagle
Nepal, Nepali, 2003
Nepal’s pioneering rock band, Nepathya sculpts modern sound to fit traditional society and rural landscapes. In Bhedako Oon Jasto they view human activity and sentiment through the prism of the natural world.
What has come flying down from the sky/Like sheep’s wool?/I will take a photo of my love/Just like a full moon/The snow stream flows like yak’s milk/I will come floating at this auspicious hour today/Like the rising sun/The pheasant has hatched a chick/Like a lovely mountain flower/I will carve an image on the stone/Just like your beautiful figure
176
Haris Alexiou: Se Gelasane / Σε Γελάσανε / They Laugh at You
Lyrics & music: Kostas Skarvelis
Greece, Greek, 1983
Alexiou is best known for rebetiko, laiko, traditional and modern folk songs. Alpha TV rates her as the greatest Greek female artist of the phonographic era. In addition to her huge popularity at home, she also has a large following in Turkey; there is a street named in her honor in Izmir province, from which her grandmother’s family emigrated during the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. Se Galasane is from her double album Ta Tsilika, a collection of early twentieth century rebetiko songs.
I can see right through you, and I know what you’ve been smoking/It’s not me you want, just my poor wallet/They laugh at you, don’t waste your time/Whoever gave you lessons didn’t teach you very well/Do you really think anyone will fall for your tricks?/They laugh at you, don’t waste your time
177
Kadim Al-Sahir: Zeidini Ishqann / زيديني عشقا / Love Me More
Lyrics: Nizar Qabbani/Music: Kadim Al-Sahir
Iraq, Arabic, 1996
Al-Sahir was born in Baghdad but left his homeland after the first Gulf War and has spent his adulthood moving between Beirut, Cairo, Paris and Rabat. Nevertheless, many of his songs—both political and romantic themes—revolve around the people of Iraq and their struggles.
Love me more, my sweet fit of madness/Make me drown in your passion, for the sea is calling me/Perhaps then I can truly live/Oh, most beautiful woman of the universe/I am the one who loved you until the fire burned me/If you allow it, I would love for you to live within my eyes/Your love is my only map/The map of the world no longer concerns me/I am the oldest city of sorrow/My wounds as deep as hieroglyphics/My pain has spread like a flock of doves from Baghdad across Asia
178
Zeritu Kebede: Degu Abate Kifu Balua / ደጉ አባቴ ክፉ ባሏ / Kind Father, Cruel Husband
Lyrics & music: Zeritu Kebede
Ethiopia, Amharic, 2005
A leading figure on Ethiopia’s contemporary cultural scene, Kebede is both a singer-songwriter and a film producer-writer-actress. Kind Father, Cruel Husband is from her self-titled debut album.
You were a good father to me, there is no doubt/You never denied me what I deserved as a child/Yet I feel bad when I think about her and you/It makes me wonder, what kind of cruel person you were/You are my support/My guardian so that I don’t get lost/But you didn’t give her comfort/You tied her to me so she wouldn’t leave…/You raised me to speak the truth/So how can I forget about your misdeeds?/My teacher, my feeder/You humiliated her while she respected you…/You abused her by overlooking her good intentions/You made her suffer while she was begging you/Father, why were you a bad husband?
179
Kiran Ahluwalia: Vo Kuch / वो कुछ / Passion
Lyrics: Tahira Masood/Music: Kiran Ahluwalia
Canada/India, Hindi, 2003
Kiran Ahluwalia’s biography reflects her music—or is it the other way around? Born in India, transplanted to Canada (where she won two Juno awards), currently living in New York, she is known for her mixing of South Asian ghazals, Punjabi folk, desert blues and Western styles.
He has completely gripped my emotions, as if he had taken hold of my thoughts/On the path of love I tread alone, so I can save him the anguish/Rumor has it that he has fallen out with my rivals/This has brightened my light of hope/Tahira why should I complain against the world, when I myself can bear this grief happily
180
Raul Seixas: Oro de Tolo / Fool’s Gold
Lyrics & music: Raul Seixas
Brazil, Portuguese, 1973
Seixas was called the Father of Brazilian Rock, but his musical palette included native Brazilian styles and he veered into satire, mysticism and veiled political commentary. Ouro de Tolo is about discovering that what you wished for and achieved wasn’t what you wanted; it’s also a thinly veiled criticism of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for 20 years, that thought prosperity would encourage the middle class to forsake democracy.
I should be content/Because I’m seen as a respectable citizen/Earning four thousand cruzeiros a month/I should thank the Lord/For my success as an artist/And because I can afford/A 1973 Corcel/I should be satisfied/That I live in Ipanema/Here in The Marvelous City…/I should be proud/Because I have succeeded/But I think it’s a big joke/And a little bit dangerous/And what a boring man I am/Who doesn’t have fun in anything/Everything I have sucks!
181
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Redemption Song
Lyrics & music: Bob Marley
Jamaica, English 1980
Redemption Song was the closing track of Marley’s ninth and final studio album with the Wailers. Already diagnosed with cancer when he recorded the song—a solo acoustic performance—he died less than a year after its release. It is considered one of his greatest works; the poet and radio talk-show host Mutabaruka rated it as the most influential Jamaican song of all time.
Old pirates, yes, they rob I/Sold I to the merchant ships/Minutes after they took I/From the bottomless pit/But my hand was made strong/By the hand of the Almighty/We forward in this generation/Triumphantly/Won’t you help to sing/These songs of freedom?/’Cause all I ever have/Redemption songs/Redemption songs/Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery/None but ourselves can free our minds…
182
Magic System: 1er Gaou (Premier Gaou) / First Fool
Lyrics & music: Salif “A’Salfo” Traoré
Côte d’Ivoire, French/Nouchi (Ivoirian patois), 1999
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me: That’s the theme of the autobiographical song by Magic System lead singer Salif “A’Salfo” Traoré, whose girlfriend dropped him when he was down and out and then tried to win him back after his career took off.
When I was down, my gal Antou left me/When I had little (money), morning noon evening, we were together/At the Rue Princesse (bar) or the Mille Maquis/When the money was gone, Antou changed boyfriends…/Thank God I knew how to sing a little/I did my demo tape, people saw me on TV/Morning noon evening, it’s me singing on radio/Antou saw and said, “The fool made it big/Let me go and take his money/And we say: “The first fool is not a fool/It’s the second fool who is the real fool”
183
Azam Khan: Ami Jare Chaire / আমি_যারে_চাই_রে / The One I Want
Lyrics & music: Azam Khan
Bangladesh, Bengali, 1984
Khan was a decorated veteran of Bangladesh’s war of liberation from Pakistan, and years later he savored the memory of singing as he held his rifle, just yards from enemy forces. The war over and won, he turned his focus to music, started the folk-rock band Uccharon and became one of the greatest stars of his country’s has produced. He wrote songs of love and social issues, but Ami Jare Chaire was a departure, channeling the cherished inner spirit.
The one I desire/He lives in the deepest part of my soul/Even when I find Him I lose Him/Here He is, then He is gone/He reigns the Universe/Devotion brings Freedom/If you know this as True/Your desires will be complete/Through your spiritual commitment
184
Sam Cooke: A Change Is Gonna Come
Lyrics & Music: Sam Cooke
U.S., English, 1964
Cooke grew up singing in the choir of his pastor-father’s Chicago church and then became a runaway success as a pop singer. After hearing Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind in 1963, Cooke said he was moved that such a powerful song about racism had been written by someone who wasn’t Black, and also ashamed that he had written nothing like it. A few months later, after being denied service in a Louisiana hotel on racial grounds, he wrote A Change is Gonna Come, which became a Civil Rights anthem.
I was born by the river/In a little tent/Oh, and just like the river, I’ve been running/Ever since/It’s been a long/A long time coming, but I know/A change gon’ come/Oh yes, it will/It’s been too hard living/But I’m afraid to die/’Cause I don’t know what’s up there/Beyond the sky…/There been times that I thought/I couldn’t last for long/But now, I think I’m able/To carry on
185
Haydamaky: Deriviyane sheeteh – yeroi nye viyaret / Дерев’яні Щити – Герої Не Вмирають / Wooden Shields – Heroes Don’t Die
Lyrics: Oleksandr Yarmola/Music: Haydamaky
Ukraine, Ukrainian, 2014
Hadamaky formed in the 1990s as a Ukrainian folk-rock band with an overlay of reggae and punk. Wooden Shields is the group’s tribute to the demonstrators who flooded Kiev’s Maidan Square in November 2013 to protest the Ukrainian government’s plan to ignore a parliamentary-approved agreement with the European Union and instead form a closer alliance with Russia. The demonstrations lasted until February 2014, when troops opened fire, killing almost 100 people. Shortly after, Russia occupied Crimea.
Your wooden shield will protect you from bullets/Your colored helmet is for sport/You’ve dreamed of the real war/In the city center on the battlefront/And here everything was for real/Real death. Real blood. Real fight/Your wooden shield will always help you/And your angel protects you from bullets/Wooden shields didn’t protect everyone/Each of them covered you with his body/Wooden shields against real bullets
186
Emel Mathlouthi: Kelmti Horra / كلمتي حرة / My Word Is Free
Lyrics & music: Amin al-Ghozzi, Emel Mathlouthi
Tunisia, Arabic, 2011
Mathlouthi sang Kelmti Horra during the protests that brought down the Tunisian government in January 2011. After a video of her performance went viral, the song became the anthem of the Tunisian Revolution and one of the theme songs of the wider Arab Spring. She also sang Kelmti Horra at the 2015 ceremony at which the Nobel Peace Prize was given to the four civic organizations that formed the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet.
We are free people who are not afraid/We are secrets that never die/And for those who resist we are the voice/In their chaos we shine/We are free and our word is free/But we do not forget those who cause the sobs and betray our faith/Tonight I will need all of your voices/So, all sing it with me/For freedom of expression/I am those who are free and never fear/I am the secrets that will never die/I am the voice of those who would not give in/I am the meaning amid the chaos/I am the right of the oppressed
187
Lars Winnerbäck: Hjärter Dams sista sång / The Queen of Hearts’ Last Song
Lyrics & music: Lars Winnerbäck
Sweden, Swedish, 2004
Winnerbäck is one of Sweden’s most celebrated and most productive singer-songwriters. Written as he was approaching his 30th birthday, Hjärter Dams sista sång is a tale of aching nostalgia for a first love.
Where the illuminated tracks led home at dinner time/Where everything was modern around seventy-seven/Where the low-rise buildings ended and the forest began/Where I lived, where you lived/No earthquakes there, no one was cold, no one starved/But there was a tremor when you touched me/You were 17, I was 16 and I ignored everything/I just wanted to be with you/Now I hear about you every now and then from a friend/And it seems as if everything is okay/I wonder if you ever go back there/And if maybe you wonder about me
188
Carlos Vives: La Gota Fria / The Cold Drop
Lyrics & music: Emiliano Zuleta Baquero
Colombia, Spanish, 1993
Vives began his career singing rock, then released two albums of ballads. But music took a back seat to acting when he landed a series of roles in TV dramas. In 1991 he was cast in the leading role of a series based on the life of Rafael Escalona, a vallenato composer and longtime friend (and occasional literary character) of Gabriel García Marquez. After singing in the series and on two soundtrack albums, life imitated art and Vives became a vallenato singer and composer, later adding rock fusion and venturing into cumbia and other Colombian styles. La Gota Fria is a classic song about an epic competition between two vallenato accordionists. The Spanish term “gota fria” refers to violent stormy weather produced by the clash of cold and warm fronts—or, in this case, two rival musicians.
Remember Moralito, that day in Urumita/You didn’t want to make a fool of yourself/You left early in the morning…/Tomorrow is Saturday, Day of the Virgin/He’ll take me or I’ll take him, a battle to the finish/!Ay! Morales can’t beat me/’Cause I don’t feel like it/What culture does he have?/He was born in the sticks/Morales lies about my mother, only to offend/So that he too may be offended/Now I’m lying about him/He’ll take me or I’ll take him to the finish/And when he heard me play/He felt the cold drop
189
Şivan Perwer: Çavreş / Your Eyes
Lyrics & music: Şivan Perwer, Dalshad Said, Hevras Qamisloki
Türkiye, Kurdish, 1995
Perwer is a leading Kurdish singer/poet who has lived most of his adult life in exile due to the banning of Kurdish music in Türkiye and the cultural/political content of his songs. Çavreş is a romantic ballad that echoes the story of Mem and Zin, protagonists of a 17th century Kurdish love story with Romeo-and-Juliet overtones.
May beauty be yours, beloved, come to me now/Gift me a rose from your spring/When I come for you, sit next to me/Tell me what’s in your heart/Your eyes strike men down, they’re like arrows/Come to the capital of my heart and be the sultan/It is the land of your love, this land is sacrificed to you…/Love is tired, you and I are not tired/Our love was like that of Mem and Zin/I gifted you a song by Şivan Perwer/Please be content with that, I can’t do more than that/It is very beautiful to be in love with you, my beloved/Your eyes are like arrows, they strike men down/Oh beloved, oh beloved
190
Vicente Fernandez: Estos Celos / This Jealousy
Lyrics & music: Joan Sebastian
Mexico, Spanish, 2007
Fernandez was the King of Ranchera, winner of Grammys and Latin Grammys and a mainstay of Mexican culture from the early 1960s until shortly before his death in 2020. Estos Celos (which won a Latin Grammy for composer Joan Sebastian) was the lead track on Fernandez’s 79th studio album in 2007.
I looked at you, so lovely, so sensual/I imagined you belonged to someone else and I felt wretched/Ohhh love, ohhh what pain/With you I had it all, and I lost out/I looked at you, your hair blowing in the wind, your gaze/Touching your low neckline, your beauty mark/Today I am dying at the very thought/That I won’t be the one you love/This jealousy does me harm, it drives me crazy/I shall never learn to live without you/I found out too late yes, yes/With you I had it all and I lost out
191
Eric Wainaina: Nchi Ya Kitu Kidogo / Nation of Small Things
Lyrics & music: Eric Wainaina
Kenya, Swahili, 2001
Wainaina’s Nation of Small Things tapped into widespread public frustration in Kenya over corruption. It was banned for a time—to the point that it became something of an underground national anthem. In the song, “tea” is a common euphemism for a bribe; Limuru is in the middle of the country’s tea-producing region.
The men of old say nothing is free and we have taken this out of context/To get a child admitted to school you must give a bribe/Getting a telephone line is almost impossible/You’ll pay a large sum for a driving license…/We are taking our republic backwards/A nation of petty things is a nation of small people/If you want tea, go to Limuru/When you call 999 because thieves broke into your house/They tell you, “We don’t have a car. Give us five thousand shillings for petrol; contribute to our service”
192
Haruomi Hosono: Bara to Yaju / 薔薇と野獣 / Rose & Beast
Lyrics & music: Haruomi Hosono
Japan, Japanese, 1973
Still active today (his latest album appeared in 2021), Hosono was a pioneer of Japanese pop, electronic music and also an influential record producer. Rose & Beast was a breakout hit from Hosono House, his debut solo album.
My house is protected by thorns of roses, but the sound of thunder makes my fingertips tremble/The shadow of the town reflected in a mountain has faded with the sunset/From the milk-colored sky an angel comes down and pats me on the shoulder/Let me have a sweet, sweet dream/Please don’t shake me awake. I’m sleeping now/La la la la…/Protected by the thorns/The dark melody rolling in my head/I’m humming to myself
193
Sampaguita: Nosi Balasi / Who Are They to Judge?
Lyrics & music: Enrique Cabatino
Philippines, Tagalog, 1989
Born Tessy Alfonso, Sampaguita took her professional name from a species of jasmine, the Phillipine national flower. A leading figure in Pinoy rock beginning in the 1970s, she announced her retirement in 1994 and then resumed performing in 2010. Nosi Balasi counsels resilience and independence in face of criticism, never letting the opinion of others define you.
Don’t mind those who mess with you/As long as you know that what you’re doing is right/Don’t think about it, don’t take it to heart/The more you pay attention/The more they’ll piss you off/Who, who are they?/Who, who are they?/Just continue/Doing as you like/Nothing will happen if you give them attention/They’re just like that/They have nothing better to do/They’re just like that
194
Domenico Modugno: Nel blu, dipinto di blu (Volare)
Lyrics: Domenico Modugno, Franco Migliacci/Music: Domenico Modugno
Italy, Italian, 1958
Nel blu, dipinto di blu swept the world in 1958. In the first Grammy Awards (1959), it won “Record of the Year” and “Song of the Year,” to this day the only non-English song to achieve such a distinction. After his illustrious career as a singer and actor, Modugno went on to serve five years in the Italian parliament.
I think a dream like this never comes back/I painted my hands and face blue/Then, suddenly, I was kidnapped by the wind/And I began to fly in the infinite sky/Flying, oh, oh/Singing, oh, oh/In the blue-painted blue sky/Happy to be up there/And I flew, I flew happily higher than the sun/And even higher/While the world slowly disappeared far down below/Sweet music was playing just for me/But all dreams vanish in the dawn, because/When the moon goes down, it takes them with it/But I keep dreaming of your beautiful eyes/Blue like a star-studded sky
195
Jay Chou: Gàobái qìqiú / 告白气球 / Confession of Love
Lyrics & music: Jay Chou
Taiwan, Chinese (Mandarin), 2016
Chou is one of the most successful Taiwanese singers of all time, his signature fusion of Chinese and Western pop, rock, classical and R&B is widely referred to as “Chou style.” Love Confession (sometimes translated as Confession Balloon) is a romantic tale set in Paris.
Coffee from the left bank of the River Seine/Cup in my hand, drowning in your beauty/A lipstick mark you left/Roses from the florist, who wrote the wrong name/Confession balloons blown across the street/Smiles all over the sky/You said you’re hard to chase, so I could give up/You don’t need expensive gifts, leaves from the Champs Élysées are enough…/Having you, I have the world/I was in love with you from the first day
196
Sima Bina: Shirin / شیرین / My Sweet Beloved
Lyrics & music: Faramarz Payvar
Iran, Persian, 1993
Sima Bina is a singer, composer and researcher known as the “grand lady of Iranian folk music.” After the 1979 Islamic Revolution imposed restrictions on women singing in public, she continued giving concerts for all-female audiences; she also gave voice lessons to women and did tours abroad, dividing her time between residences in Germany and Iran. Shirin is a song of abiding love, even after separation.
I’ve heard that you sell beauty marks, and as a buyer, I sought your business/Oh my sweet, my beloved, you’ve sulked and grilled me/Won’t you reply?/You have turned away/Last night we bid adieu, our hearts heavy as we separated/No provisions for the desert journey, yet we trusted in God/I can’t shout or weep, for in my hands I clasp your ring, my beloved…/I am your companion, you the daffodil, while I am your dew/You’ll remember me when you lament and bellow/You won’t find another like me, though you search for a hundred years
197
Bilja Krstić & Bistrik Orchestra: Jana i Turčin / Яна и Турчин / Jana and the Turk
Lyrics & music: Traditional
Serbia, Bulgarian, 2007
Bilja Krstić was a mainstay of the Serbian pop scene for much of her career and also had great success writing film scores. It was only when she was in her forties that she decided to pursue her true passion for traditional Balkan songs, becoming a leading figure in world music. Jana and the Turk, from her 2007 album Tarpos, is a Bulgarian folk song from the Ottoman period, reflecting the practice of seizing Christian girls and taking them to harems.
Jana was lying to the Turk/Jana was lying to the Turk/Gooih gooih googoodeeh/Coo, speak, you dove/She was lying to him in jest/The Turk was kidnapping Jana/The Turk was kidnapping Jana/Gooih gooih googoodeeh/Coo, speak, you dove/Come Jana, shall we go/To my white palace
198
Boudewijn de Groot: Testament
Lyrics: Lennaert Nijgh, Boudewijn de Groot/Music: Boudewijn de Groot
Netherlands, Dutch, 1967
Boudewijn de Groot is a veteran Dutch singer-songwriter who emerged in the 1960s as a protest singer, then an exponent of flower power, moved through folk, retired and reappeared several times, releasing his latest album in 2022. In Testament, from his 1967 album For the Survivors, he is forever young and irreverent, full of good memories and lost ideals; like his career, the song reappeared on Dutch music charts over the course of decades.
I’m twenty-two years old now, so I’m making/A will, a testament about my youth/I don’t have goods or money to offer/’Cause for sure a smart guy I’ve never been/But I have some ideals that are quite charming, though old-fashioned now/If you want them, you can have them for nothing/And especially young people like them still/To my brother, who would like to go to college/I gladly leave the address of my pub/Where I drank too much to impress a woman/And got the slap I was asking for/I have some female friends/So well-mannered, respectable and smart/That no man has a chance to even date them/But perhaps someone will manage to succeed
199
Moni Bilé: Osi tapa lambo lam / Don’t Touch My Stuff
Lyrics & music: Moni Bilé
Cameroon, Duala, 1983
Makossa, heavy on brass and electric bass, swept Cameroon and much of Africa in the 1980s and Moni Bilé rode the top of the wave. Osi tapa lambo lam, an infectious dance groove with a refrain about protecting what you love, was the title track of his second album.
Don’t touch what is mine/Don’t touch my pineapple/What I hold in my heart/Don’t touch/Don’t touch my darling/What I hold in my heart/Don’t touch ihihiiii/Don’t touch my darling/You, child, are you going to put up with the problems oohh?/Yes I will bear them/You, child, are you going to put up with selfishness oohh?/Yes I will bear it/Ihoo but you are looking for a darling/Ihhoo but you touch my love/Ihhoo but looking for love/Ihhoo but you don’t touch what is mine
200
Aruna Sairam: Madu Meikkum Kanne / மாடுமேய்க்கும் கண்ணே / Oh, Dear Cowherd
Lyrics & music: Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi
India, Tamil, 2007
Aruna Sairam is an internationally celebrated singer of Carnatic and Indian classical music who has released more than 60 albums. Madu Meikkum Kanne was written by Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi (1700-1765) as a conversation between the child Lord Krishna, who wants to play outdoors with cattle and his mother Yasodha, who is concerned with his safety.
I would give you well boiled milk/I would give you sugar and candy/I would roll butter and put it in your hands/Please do not go in this sun/I do not want well boiled milk/I do not want sugar and candy/I would joyously herd the cows/And return within no time/There is always fear of robbers in the shores of Yamuna/And oh darling, you would be afraid if they come and beat you/Are there thieves you have seen mummy?/If robbers come to beat me, I will break them into pieces