The Global 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

Nguyễn Đức Cường (professional name Đen Vâu) was born to a poor village family, couldn’t afford a university education, became a sanitation worker and saved enough money to open a coffee shop. In high school he started writing and performing rap songs, ultimately becoming one of the most successful artists to emerge from Vietnam’s underground indie music scene.
Bring Mom money, bring Mom money/Don’t bring Mom worries/But for Mom, I would have amounted to nothing…/For the PC I recorded my early verses on, Mom traded days of toil and sweat (dripping)/Now that my work is raking it in, Mom could sit back and relax (tea sipping)/Days that were dreary, wind blustery, Mom’s frail figure/In the middle of the road, at times collapsed from hunger/Mom skimped on food, pinched pennies owing to constant worries…/

Who taught me my first words? (Mom)/Who corrected my first mistake? (Mom)/Who lifted me up when life knocked me down? (always Mom)

Little Richard: Tutti Frutti
Lyrics & music: Richard Penniman [Little Richard], Dorothy LaBostrie
U.S., English, 1955

Little Richard was one of the founding fathers of rock and roll and Tutti Frutti was his most revolutionary song. According to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, the song’s “unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music.” The iconic line, “A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom” was described, in Little Richard’s authorized biography, as a verbalization of a drum pattern.
Wop bop a loo mop a lop bam boom/Tutti frutti, oh rootie/Tutti frutti, oh rootie/Tutti frutti, oh rootie/Tutti frutti, oh rootie/Tutti frutti, oh rootie/A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom/I got a gal, named Sue, she knows just what to do/I got a gal, named Sue, she knows just what to do/She rock to the east, she rock to the west/But she’s the gal that I love best/Tutti frutti, oh rootie/Tutti frutti, oh rootie, ooh…/A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom/I got a gal, named Daisy, she almost drives me crazy/Got a gal, named Daisy, she almost drives me crazy/She knows how to love me, yes indeed/Boy you don’t know what she do to me

Zhou Xuan: Tianya genu / 天涯歌女 / The Wandering Songstress
Lyrics: Tian Han/Music: He Luting
China, Chinese (Mandarin), 1937

Immortalized as one of the Seven Greatest Singing Stars—the circle of China’s iconic female vocalists—Zhou Xuan achieved phenomenal success in her short life of 37 years. She joined a Shanghai song-and-dance troupe at age 12, in 1932, and her film career, which encompassed 43 movies, began when she was 15. She first sang The Wandering Songstress in the film Street Angel.
From one end of the earth to farthest sea/I searched for my true love/I sing while you play a zither/My darling, we have the same heart/Looking north to my hometown mountain/Tears fall and wet my blouse/I miss you, my darling, every day/My darling, love through adversity is always deep/Who in life does not cherish their youth?/I am like thread, you are like a needle/My darling, we are held together, never to be apart

Kavita Krishnamurthy: Pyar Hua Chupke Se / प्यार हुआ चुपके से / Secretly in Love
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar/Music: R.D. Burman
India, Hindi, 1994

Winner of four Filmfare Awards, India’s equivalent of the Academy Awards (among many other honors), Kavita Krishnamurthy is known primarily as a playback singer but has also distinguished herself as a soloist with orchestras, in pop, jazz and devotional songs. She has recorded more than 50,000 songs in 45 Indian languages. Pyar Hua Chupke Se is from the film 1942 Love Story.
My heart said this secretly/What has happened to you?/Why do the earth and sky look new to me?/I asked, and the crazy breeze said/Secretly you’re in love…/A butterfly told me the story of the garden/There was a shy untouched flower/One day a rogue bee came along/And the flower bloomed and took a new shape/The flower asked, what has happened to you?/The flower laughed secretly/Secretly, you’re in love/I heard this story from the clouds/A mountain river lost itself as it merged into the sea/This is the magic of love

Frank Sinatra: I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Lyrics & music: Cole Porter
U.S., English, 1956

Gilberto Gil: Palco / Stage
Lyrics & music: Gilberto Gil
Brazil, Portuguese, 1981

Son of a doctor and a teacher, Gil grew up with big plans, once telling reporter, “When I was two and a half I told my mother I was going to become a musician or president of my country.” He certainly fulfilled the first goal, and though he never became president he did serve five years as Brazil’s minister of culture. He became a leading performer of samba and bossa nova in his native Bahia and then a pioneer of the tropicália movement. He was jailed for nine months by Brazil’s military regime in 1969 and then spent three years in London before returning and resuming his career. Though he is a master of the recording studio, Palco (Stage) is a love song to the place where he feels most at home.
I get up on the stage/My soul smelling like talcum powder/Like a baby’s bottom/My aura is clear/Only the clairvoyant can tell, can tell/I bring my band/Only those who know where Luanda is/Will truly value them…/For those who appreciate the crazy beat of the drum/Eternal fire to chase/Hell to a different place/Eternal fire to burn away/Hell, away from here/I come to the party/I know that many have on their foreheads/The sun-god as a sign, a sign/As a devotee/I bring a basket of backyard joys/There’s also a jug/Music sent by God/Asking to let/The soothing balm pour forth

Grace Nono: Kalubutan Nagdumili / Even if the World Rejects Us
Lyrics & music: Fred Berame
Philppines, Cebuano, 2010

Rolling Stones: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Lyrics & music: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards
U.K., English, 1965

Great but also enduring, The Stones have been a defining force in rock music for 60 years—and are still at it. Satisfaction was the apotheosis of the Jagger-Richards songwriting partnership, and Richards plucked his way into music history with the opening guitar riff that is widely seen (and heard) as the greatest hook in history.
I can’t get no satisfaction/I can’t get no satisfaction/’Cause I try and I try and I try and I try/I can’t get no, I can’t get no/When I’m driving in my car/And that man comes on the radio/And he’s telling me more and more/About some useless information/Supposed to fire my imagination/I can’t get no, oh no, no, no!/Hey, hey, hey! That’s what I’ll say!/When I’m watching my TV/And a man comes on and tells me/How white my shirts can be/Well he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke/The same cigarettes as me/I can’t get no, oh no, no, no/Hey, hey, hey, that’s what I say

Solomon Linda & the Evening Birds: Mbube
Music & lyrics: Solomon Linda
South Africa, Zulu, 1939

Like many South African men in the 1930s, Solomon Linda left his home in Natal province for Johannesburg. There he worked in a furniture shop and a hotel before landing in the packing department of a record company; in the evenings he sang in clubs with his band, the Evening Birds. When the record company’s talent scout heard the group perform he offered to record them, and Mbube became a hit in South Africa. Doing research in Africa, the American musicologist Alan Lomax heard the song; he gave a tape, including Linda’s song, to Pete Seeger. Approximating the sound of “mbube,” Seeger and the Weavers added English lyrics and released Wimoweh in 1951; The Tokens released their doo-wop version, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, in 1961. Back in South Africa, Mbube gave its name to a genre of a cappella choral harmony and eventually evolved into isicathamiya. By the early 1970s, the most prominent exponent of isicathamiya was Ladysmith Black Mambazo; the group came to global attention after they appeared on Paul Simon’s 1986 album Graceland.
Every morning you bring us good luck/Yes!/Good Luck/Lion/You’re a lion/You’re a lion/You’re a lion/You’re a lion, Mama!/Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!/You’re a lion, Mama/Oh oh oh oh oh oh/You’re A Lion/You’re A Lion/Long, long ago people used to say/You’re a lion/You’re a lion, mama

17 Hippies: Adieu / Goodbye
Lyrics: Kiki Sauer, Dirk Trageser/Music: Christopher Blenkinsop, Carsten Wegener, Dirk Trageser
Germany, German, 2009

The Berlin-based world-folk group 17 Hippies operates less like a band than a village in which each resident carries tastes and instruments acquired on foreign adventures. The result is a floating center of musical gravity with dominant elements—Balkan rhythm, French chanson, Weimar cabaret—and recessive strands like klezmer and Gypsy swing. Adieu describes an intimate parting.
I’ve come to say goodbye/The others have gone ahead and are waiting/but your scent lingers in the air/I’ll take something with me no one can/since no one was as close as I feel to you/as if you were here/Do you remember when that evening came/You lay in my arms so pale/You spoke very little and faded away, into the blue light/I’ve come to say goodbye…/Everything you confided in me as you lay in my arms/All you said was ‘I want this night from you’/…and now, seduced by you, I stay behind/Take me with you, I’ll leave all this here/You lead the way, I’ll follow you…

Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody
Lyrics & music: Freddie Mercury
U.K., English, 1975

Bohemian Rhapsody was the lead single from A Night at the Opera, an album consciously named after the madcap 1935 Marx Brothers’ film. But the more Queen worked on the song, the more gravitas it took on. Despite, or perhaps because of, its parodies and contradictions—Mercury called it a “mock opera”—it became a masterpiece of symphonic rock and one of the most revered songs of all time.
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?/Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality/Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see/I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy/Because I’m easy come, easy go, little high, little low/Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me, to me/Mama, just killed a man/Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he’s dead/Mama, life had just begun/But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away/Mama, ooh, didn’t mean to make you cry/If I’m not back again this time tomorrow/Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters

Sona Jobarteh: Gambia
Lyrics & music: Sona Jobarteh
Gambia, Mandinka, 2015

After a grounding in classical music (cello, piano, harpsichord, composition) Jobarteh followed and adapted family tradition by becoming the first female kora virtuoso, mastering the 21-string instrument that is the hallmark of West African griots, the hereditary historian-poet-genealogist musicians. She divides her time between music and education: In 2015 she founded the Gambia Academy, which teaches math, arts and science alongside African tradition, history and values. Written for the fiftieth anniversary of her country’s independence, Gambia has become something of an unofficial national anthem.
Built in peace and stability, hosted by development and progress/Humanity and happiness is on all faces, our outstanding country/Wherever you are, never forget/Your homeland Gambia/For if you forget your roots, you turn your back on who you are…/People of the Gambia; this is the beautiful land; this is the peaceful land/People of the Gambia; this is the land of our people; there is nothing that compares to this land/Honour this country because it is blessed

Nîzamettîn Arîç: Zînê / Zina’s Tears
Lyrics: Şahînê B. Soreklî/Music: Nîzamettîn Arîç
Türkiye, Kurdish, 2016

Arîç began his career singing in Turkish, but after a few years he began performing in Kurdish and was quickly arrested, charged with “spreading propaganda.” Facing a possible lengthy prison term he fled to Germany and was granted political asylum. Nevertheless, his influence in Turkey, through music and film, is enormous. In Zina’s Tears, he tells a tragic story of a Kurdish girl hemmed in by stifling tradition and political oppression.
Amed is surrounded by the waters of the Tigris/To the east, the people have become destitute/They flock to a place hoping to find refuge/The sky is dark and gloomy like a raging war/Instead of the shelter, they find only ruins/In the valleys, the soldiers march with sabers and rifles/Slowly, slowly, the night is falling…/From the sound of the clinking chains, it is Zîna’s shackles/To the shame of the family, Zîna’s name cannot be uttered/Zîna’s mother named her after her youthful beauty/I am a prisoner, you have wounded me deeply/The sleepless girl Zîna said, “Mother, I know the pain of captivity, but the pain of separation is worse

Beyoncé: Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
Lyrics & music: Beyoncé Knowles, Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Terius Nash, Thaddis Harrell
U.S., English, 2008

Renaud: Mistral Gagnant
Lyrics & music: Renaud Séchan
France, French, 1985

Mistral Gagnant is one of those unforgettable songs that almost never got recorded. In a documentary about his life, Rénaud said he considered the lyrics too personal to release. Recording the album of the same name, he called his wife from the studio and sang the song to her over the phone; she said if he didn’t record it she would leave him. The song reveals a father savoring time with his young daughter, telling her about his childhood. The title takes its name from a candy, popular during Rénaud’s youth; inside the wrapper kids occasionally found a ticket that entitled them to another Mistral for free (gagnant means “winning”). By the time he became a father, the candies, no longer sold, were an object of deep nostalgia. 
To sit on a bench, five minutes with you/and watch the people as they pass/To tell you about the good days gone by, or that will return/While holding your little fingers in my hand/Then to feed the silly pigeons, and pretend to kick them/And to hear your laugh echoes off the walls/And that, most of all, heals my wounds/To tell you a bit about when I was a kid/The wonderful sweets that we stole from the shops/Car-en-sac, Mints and one-franc caramels/And the Mistral Gagnants/To walk in the rain, five minutes with you/and watch life going by, while it’s here

Franco & Sam Mangwana, with T.P.O.K. Jazz: Odongo / Coopération
Lyrics & music: Sam Mangwana, Franco Luambo Makiadi
D.R. Congo, Lingala/French, 1982

OK Jazz, which eventually became TPOK Jazz (Tout Puissant Orchestre Kinois de Jazz) was a seminal Congolese ensemble that went through an evolving series of names and changing rosters between the 1950s and the 1990s. Franco Luambo and Sam Mangwana were two of its driving forces. Odongo was one of the group’s showcase/signature songs.
Live from Kinshasa with OK JAZZ, yeah/So now my boss Luambo, when you have eaten and had a drink/What do you do next?/Yes, Mr. Mangwana, it’s simple, we dance, we dance to the music…/Yeah, launch the attack/Big brother, this boat harbors many evil deeds/Poor me, dying with nothing, Odongo/Big brother, this boat is troubled/Mangwana, younger brother, let’s improve/the big brothers are dancing/What is there for us to look for?/the coins will enter, the objective is to come together/this work that we have chosen/of entertaining hearts/let us entertain the country/follow your career, don’t look back

Zarsanga: Ro Ro Keda / رو رو کیږده قدمونه / Make Your Steps Fall Softly, My Beloved
Lyrics & music: Traditional
Pakistan, Pashto, 1993

Known in Pakistan as the Queen of Pashtun Folklore, Zarsanga was born into a nomadic tribe that roamed her country. She began performing as a child; discovered while singing at a wedding, she became a star on Radio Pakistan and eventually toured the Middle East, Europe and the United States. Ro Ro Keda is a traditional song that blends the tensions of a marriage with the experience of wandering.
Make your steps fall softly, my beloved/The music of your anklet is waking the world/Make your steps fall softly, my beloved/This was the small world, which comes under no one’s authority/It remained my strong wish as you went away undiminished, my beloved/I came upon a sleeping village/Oh God, should I cry out or pass through gently/I will sometimes be present, and sometimes not/If you remember the place where I sat, you will recall me, my beloved/My beloved does not understand playfulness/He hits me on my black locks, he hurts me/We hadn’t even seen each other fully/And we made all the trees and earth cry, my beloved

Jovanotti: A Te / To You
Lyrics & music: Lorenzo “Jovanotti” Cherubini, Franco Santarnecchi
Italy, Italian, 2008

Jovanotti began his career in the late 1980s with a mix of hip hop, rap and disco and over time transitioned to the Italian cantautore tradition. A Te is simply one of the great romantic piano ballads of all time.
To you who are the only one in the world/The only reason/To get all the way/To each breath I take/When I look at you/After a day full of words/Without you saying anything/Everything becomes clear/To you who found me/In the corner with my fists clenched/With my shoulders against the wall/Ready to defend myself/Staring with downcast eyes/In line with the disillusioned/You picked me up like cat/And took me with you/To you who are/Just are/The essence of my life/The essence of my life

Arik Einstein: Atur Mitzchech / עטור מצחך / Your Forehead Adorned
Lyrics: Avraham Halfi/Music: Yoni Rechter
Israel, Hebrew, 1977

Despite his reclusive nature (he stopped public performances in his early 40s), Einstein is often referred to as the greatest Israeli singer of all time; he was also an actor and screenwriter. The lyrics of Atur Mitzmech were written by the poet Avraham Halfi in the 1950s. Einstein found them in a volume on his father’s bookshelf.
Your forehead is adorned with black gold/(I can’t remember if it was written in a song)/Your forehead rhymes with eyes and light/(I can’t remember if it was rhymed in a song)/But whoever wins you will have a life filled with poetry/Your pink robe is soft and furry/You always wrap yourself in it at night/I wouldn’t want to be your brother/Not a monk praying to the image of an angel/And see bleak dreams of sanctity/And you, a woman, in front of him…/My dream is spread as a carpet at your feet/Take your steps on its flowers, love…

Cécile Kayirebwa: Umunezero / Happiness
Lyrics & music: Cécile Kayirebwa
Rwanda, Kinyarwanda, 1991

Kayirebwa has divided her life between Rwanda and Belgium, but her artistic focus is on her homeland. Her album Rwanda is devoted to the country’s diverse culture, drawing on traditional strands from its three main communities—Hutu, Tutsi and the forest-dwelling Twa. As the album notes describe Umunezero, “Music from drums, flutes and inanga-s (trough-zithers) rings out and the Amakondera(drums and bamboo side-blown trumpet ensemble) begins to play. So much beauty fills my eyes and heart and I praise the generosity of God for the matchless Rwanda.”
When sacrifice is fulfilled with happiness/Music and songs are sung in unison/The sound of drums and traditional instruments fill the air/When sacrifice is fulfilled with happiness/Decorated cows and goats are part of the celebration/And the decorations are made of colorful beads/When sacrifice is fulfilled with happiness/Hear the laughter and joyful noise of children/Hear the promises and commitments of the community/Yaieh eheh ai ai ehheh/Aiehh ehhh ai ehh ai yaya/Iyaa yaya ah iya iya ahhhh/Ayi ah ya ya ah yaaa

Shakira & Prince Royce: Déjà Vu
Lyrics & music: Geoffrey Rojas, Shakira Mebarak, Daniel Santacruz, Manny Cruz
Colombia/U.S., Spanish, 2017

Talk about déjà vu: The Shakira-Prince Royce song/video roared in 2017, winning the Latin American Music Awards Song of the Year and Billboard Latin’s Tropical Song of the Year. Then in 2023 it went re-viral on TikTok. It couldn’t have happened to two more deserving artists. The Colombian diva’s incandescent voice, dance moves, stage presence and songwriting have made her the undisputed Queen of Latin Music. New York-born Royce’s supersmooth urban bachata has put him at the level of his early idols, like Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan and Ricky Martin.
You opened my wounds/That were already cured with lemon, tequila and salt/An old story, a case of deja vu that never reaches its end/Better to stay alone/And forget about you, your eyes/Better to dodge the dust/I don’t want to fall back into that portrait/Of madness, of total hypocrisy/Who can speak of love and defend it? Please, raise your hand/Who can talk about pain and pay the ransom?/To get out of my heart/If someone is gonna talk about love, I assure you/It’s not going to be me/No, it’s not going to be me

If Hungarian music can be said to have a noble class, Márta Sebestyén is a member. Her mother was a composer and student of the composer and pioneering music educator Zoldán Kodály. Known for her stunning voice, Márta was a founding member (and permanent guest collaborator) of the celebrated folk ensemble Muzsikás. In the traditional Repülj Madár, Repülj she describes a prisoner asking a bird to fly and take messages to her loved ones. When the band first performed the song in the 1980s it also served as a metaphor for Hungary as a captive of communist rule.
Fly, bird, fly/Fly to Menaság/Sit on my sweetheart’s shoulder/Take my letter, bird/Carry it to my father and mother/And to my promised love/If they ask you how I am/Tell them I am a prisoner/In the prison of love/I am knee deep in iron/You are a prisoner, my rose/I am ill/When you come to me, I will be healed

Known for their exuberant mix of traditional flamenco with western pop and Latin rhythms, the Gipsy Kings started out playing at weddings, festivals and in the streets in southern France. It was their eponymous third album—which included Bamboléo and Djobi Djoba—that brought them worldwide acclaim.
The love that comes like this/It carries no fault/The horse that dances in vain/Because he is scorned/That’s why it won’t forgive your crying/The love that comes like this, it carries no fault/Love for sale/Love of the past/Bembele, bembele, bembele/Bem, bembele, bembele/Bamboleo, bambolea (sway, sway)/Because my life, I prefer to live this way/Bamboleo, bambolea/Because my life, I prefer to live like this/I don’t need a divine pardon/You are my life, fortune of my destiny/In the fate of abandonment/The same as yesterday/I am the same

Boubacar Traoré: Duna ma yelema / The World Has Not Changed
Lyrics & music: Boubacar Traoré
Mali, Bambara 1994

Traoré first rose to prominence as a blues artist in the 1960s, just as Mali gained independence. But he never recorded, and after a series of ups and downs, including the death of his wife in childbirth, he emigrated to France and did construction work to support his six children. It was in France that a British record producer discovered a tape of one of Traoré’s radio appearances and signed him to his first record contract. Eleven albums followed.
The world has not changed, no it has not/It is the people of today who have changed/If you are generous to a woman, she takes you for an idiot/If you are generous to a man, he thinks you’re blind to it all/Come on, the world has not changed/It’s the people of today who have changed

Buddy Holly & the Crickets: Peggy Sue
Lyrics & music: Jerry Allison, Norman Petty, Buddy Holly
U.S., English, 1957

Holly’s meteoric career was so tragically short that every one of his songs can be identified not only by its rich sound but also be the number of days by which its preceded “the day the music died” (February 3, 1959). Peggy Sue, one of his most storied and studied songs, is on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s list of “Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.”
If you knew Peggy Sue/Then you’d know why I feel blue/Without Peggy, my Peggy Sue/Oh well I love you gal, yes, I love you Peggy Sue/Peggy Sue, Peggy Sue/Oh how my heart yearns for you/Oh Peggy, my Peggy Sue/Oh well I love you gal, yes, I love you Peggy Sue/Peggy Sue, Peggy Sue/Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty Peggy Sue/Oh Peggy, my Peggy Sue/Oh well I love you gal, and I need you Peggy Sue/I love you, Peggy Sue, with a love so rare and true/Oh Peggy, my Peggy Sue/Well I love you gal, I want you Peggy Sue

Mari Boine: Gula Gula / Hear the Voices of Our Foremothers
Lyrics & Music: Mari Boine
Norway, Sami, 1989

Arguably the premier Sami singer-songwriter, Mari Boine combines traditional joik with rock, folk, jazz and world music sounds. Her voice has been described as bringing Norway’s far north landscape “alive with a mesmerizing purity, a voice that represents a thousand years of ancestral connection to an unyielding frozen space.” Dedicated to her roots, Boine has inspired Indigenous artists around the world. In Gula Gula, her foremothers admonish the world to take better care of the climate.
Hear brother, hear sister/Hear the voices of our foremothers/Why have you defiled the earth?/Poisoned, depleted/Listen brother, listen sister/Hear the song of our ancestors/Eatnan, our mother, is Earth/If we kill her, we also die/Don’t fall for the fiction/That symbiosis is competition/Hear our forefathers’ question/Do you know where you are from?/You have brothers, you have sisters/In the Amazonian rainforests, on the windswept cliffs of Greenland/Do you remember where you come from?

Francis Cabrel: C’est Écrit / It Is Written
Lyrics: Francis Cabrel, Roger Secco/Music: Michel Françoise
France, French, 1989

Lyrically, C’est Écrit is about the clash of fragile love with destiny. Overall it’s nearly six minutes of Cabrel’s chanson-ballad-rock at its best… especially when the accordion kicks in.
She’ll make you change the course of the clouds/Sweep away your plans, age you before your time/You’ll lose her a hundred times in the port mists/It is written…/She’ll come home wounded, wreathed in the scent of another/You’ll hear yourself yell, “To hell with her!”/She’ll want you to forgive her, and forgive you will/It is written…/You’ll never get her out of your mind/Not one day, not one night/She dances behind the mists/And you, you search and you run

Sory Kandia Kouyaté: N’na / My Mother
Lyrics & music: Sory Kandia Kouyaté
Guinea, Mandinka, 1970

Sory Kandia Kouyaté, who died at age 44 in 1977, was a pivotal figure in West African music. Descended from the griots who served the king of the medieval Malian Empire, he was a master at using his sumptuous voice in traditional contexts, accompanied by balafon, kora or his own ngoni, and in modern a idiom with keyboards and saxophone. Kouyaté composed not only for himself and bands he formed but also for Les Ballets Africains. He was one of the first African artists to tour the United States and Europe, and he sang in Vienna with Paul Robeson. And taking a turn at diplomacy, in 1974 he helped mediate a peace agreement between Mali and Burkina Faso.
Kouyaté’s mother died when he was two years old, leaving a void he felt all his life; N’na is an homage to her. Considered a classic of Guinean music, it features, in the words of Afropop Worldwide, “heartbreaking vocals, a smoldering groove and stinging electric guitar.

Vijay Prakash & Shweta Mohan: Innum Konjam Naeram / இன்னும் கொஞ்சம் நேரம் / Can You Stay a Little Longer?
Lyrics: Kabilan, A.R. Rahman/Music. A.R. Rahman
India, Tamil, 2013

Vijay Prakash and Shweta Mohan are both award-winning playback singers, predominantly for films in South Indian languages. Prakash was one of four singers credited on Jai Ho, the megahit song from the film Slumdog Millionnaire. In addition to films, Mohan is also a Carnatic singer. Innum Konham Naeram is from the 2013 film Maryan, based on a true story of an Indian man kidnapped by terrorists while doing contract labor in Sudan, and the woman he left behind.
Why can’t you stay with me a little longer?/What’s the hurry? Wait my love/We haven’t even started talking/And our hearts are barely filled/Don’t leave me now, don’t leave/If you have come like rain, I will be like the sea…/Until now, I let my lonely heart wander… wander/At an unexpected moment in my heart, you put out a net, put out a net/You keep coming and going like the waves/If I come I’ll get caught like the bangle in your hand/I will come as you like, just wait a little…/Even if you give yourself the way you are, my heart will be sweetened

Jil Jilala: Chamaa /  الشمعة / Candle
Lyrics & music: Jil Jilala
Morocco, Arabic, 1976

Formed in Marrakech in the 1970s, Jil Jilala was a six-man ensemble performing mostly in the traditional Moroccan styles of gnawa and malhun. In Chamaa, one of the group’s classic songs, a man suffering from emotional despair projects his feelings onto a burning candle, slowly dying, and tries to engage in a dialog with a kindred spirit.
O candle…/No one knows your suffering/Oh, if one knew what you go through in just one night/Your light makes parties beautiful/While you’re dying, crying all of your mortal life away/I will be your companion through the night/and talk about our long, long misery/What’s wrong with me/What’s wrong with my candle?/My candle refuses to light my darkness/What’s wrong with my fortune/Not fixing my days/No fortune ever made me happy/Nor made me forget those days/The one I love is gone/Thoughts of her haunt my memory

Luis Fonsi, feat. Daddy Yankee: Despacito / Slowly
Lyrics & music: Erika Ender, Luis Fonsi, Ramon Ayala [Daddy Yankee]
Puerto Rico/U.S., Spanish, 2017

Fonsi was already in the top echelon of Latin music artists, but Despacito sent him into the stratosphere. He conceived the song as a cumbia ballad but after conferring with co-writers Daddy Yankee and Erika Ender settled on the reggaeton-Latin pop style to carry the story of infatuation followed by a slow romantic burn to sex. Aside from winning myriad awards, the song topped charts in 47 countries.
Yes, you know that I’ve been watching you for a while/I have to dance with you today/I saw your eyes calling me/Show me the way that I’m going oh/You are the magnet and I’m the metal/I’m getting closer and I’m making the plan/Just the thought of it makes my heart beat faster/All my senses are asking for more/But we shouldn’t rush/Slowly, I want to breathe in your neck slowly/Let me whisper in your ear/So you remember when you’re not with me/Slowly, I want to undress you with kisses slowly/Sign the walls of your labyrinth/And make your whole body a manuscript

Richard Bona: Dipama / Together
Lyrics & music: Richard Bona
Cameroon, Duala, 2005

Bona has had a rich career as a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, playing mostly jazz varieties and world fusion. Starting in his native Cameroon, he moved first to Paris (where he played with the likes of Salif Keita and Manu Dibango) and ultimately to New York (where he has been the bassist of choice, and sometimes vocal partner, for John Legend, Chaka Khan, Bobby McFerrin and many others). He is also one-third of the Afro-French supergroup Toto Bona Lokua, which released luxurious albums in 2004 and 2018. Dipama—from Bona’s Grammy-nominated album Tiki—is a gentle song portraying a husband approaching his wife on a delicate issue.
My wife, can we talk about your stubbornness?/I would like you to change/So that we can move forward/I accept you with your stubbornness, your incredulity and so on/I expect you to change with time/I accept you with all your poor behaviour/Even though it’s painful for me to see you like that/If you change there will be peace between us/I just want to talk, to talk with you so you can change/Let’s talk in peace/Let’s talk deeply

Prince: Purple Rain
Lyrics & music: Prince Rogers Nelson
U.S., English, 1984

Prince originally composed Purple Rain as a country song and wanted to collaborate with Stevie Nicks, but she begged off. Over a long rehearsal with his band, the song was retooled into the rock-R&B-gospel-orchestral work that became the title track of his sixth album (the first with his new band, The Revolution) and the vehicle for the film of the same name that became the composer’s acting debut.
I never meant to cause you any sorrow/I never meant to cause you any pain/I only wanted, one time, to see you laughing/I only want to see you laughing/In the purple rain/Purple rain, purple rain/Purple rain, purple rain/I only want to see you bathing/In the purple rain/I never wanted to be your weekend lover/I only wanted to be some kind of friend, hey/Baby, I could never steal you from another/It’s a shame our friendship had to end

Erkin Abdulla: Uyghur qizi / ئۇيغۇر قىز  / Uyghur Girl
Lyrics & music: Erkin Abdulla
China, Uyghur, 2003

Erkin Abdulla is a singer, composer and guitarist who performs a mix of contemporary folk, Uyghur traditional music and flamenco. Born in China’s Xinjiang province, traditional homeland of the Uyghur people, he studied music in Beijing and later in Los Angeles. Beginning in 2002, he achieved widespread recognition and myriad awards in China. He moved to the United States in 2014. Uyghur Girl is one of his most acclaimed songs.
Your eyebrows are like arched bows/Your eyes, playful springs/A mere glance from you/Lights a lamp in the heart/Among the world’s beauties/An unmatched, majestic presence/Even the moon feels shy of your grace/Stay away from the evil eye/Pure as light, Uyghur girl/Clean as milk, Uyghur girl

Renowned for stunning harmonies, Klapa Dišpet is one of the leading ensembles performing klapa, traditional a cappella singing style that originated on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast. Though it began as church music, today klapa encompasses themes of love, homeland, sea and wine. Zbogom oče is a young woman’s farewell message to her parents and sisters as she prepares for marriage.
Farewell father, may your heart cry/Farewell mother, I am your child, from your parents’ home/it’s time for me to go/Goodbye father, and all my family/I’m going with the man I fell in love with/You are all kind and dear to me/But my darling is dearest of all/Goodbye my dear sisters/Carry water to our mother/So she does not wash her face in tears/My dear sisters, I leave her to you/Goodbye mother/We took away your blazing sun/You stay with the young and the weak/God bless you to raise them, mother/While I was at my mother’s house/I grew roses and violets/Since I left the roses and violets have faded

Saloma (Saloma binti Ismail): Istana Cinta / Love Castle
Lyrics: Jamail Sulong/Music: Tan Sri P. Ramlee
Malaysia/Singapore, Malay, 1956

Saloma binti Ismail, known by her stage name Saloma, was a Singaporean-Malaysian singer, actress and fashion icon. In 1978 she was awarded the title Biduana Pertama Negara (First National Songbird) for her contributions to Malaysia’s music industry. Many of her songs were written by her husband, the actor-filmmaker-composer P. Ramlee, considered an icon of Malay-Indonesian culture.
I built a castle with love/You touched it and it turned into a tomb/The light of my life eclipsed/My heart bears the suffering/I sow the seed of true love/I tended it with the best of nourishments/Why are you watering it with poison?/The only thing I reap is pain/I dream of the castle you promised/I decorated it beautifully in my imagination/Now my dream castle has collapsed

Carabao: University / มหาลัย / Mahalai
Lyrics & music: Yuenyong Opakul
Thailand, Thai, 1984

Carabao was a leading Thai folk-rock band that performed for 40 years (with revolving personnel) and were known for their songs of protest and social/political comment. The group started in university, which was the subject of one of their early hits.
University is a rip-off/Young people from the countryside/Study, learn and graduate, but can’t find work/No work means no money/Pound the pavement, submit applications/We take tests we can’t pass/Average brains, but they only want the smart ones/I don’t know enough to compete/I don’t have little noodles, big noodles, or really wide noodles [connections]/My last name carries no weight/My future has no value/My hope was this diploma/I might as well stick it on a wall next to a picture of a famous monk/I have incense, candles and flowers to offer for worship

Sotiria Bellou: Synefiasmeni Kyriakh / Συννεφιασμένη Κυριακή / Cloudy Sunday
Lyrics & music: Vassilis Tsitsanis
Greece, Greek, 1948

Anitta: Bang
Lyrics & music: Larissa Machado [Anitta], Umberto Tavares, Jefferson Junior
Brazil, Portuguese, 2015

Anitta launched her career at age 19, in 2012, and within a few years was hailed as the biggest Brazilian pop star in decades. Once she started releasing songs in Spanish and English she also became the Brazilian artist with the widest international following. Bang! is the title track of her third studio album.
Come, come baby, I can see you wanna touch me, yeah/I want it and you know I like it my way/Bang, bang, my eyes left a bullseye on you/Let me tell you what I’m gonna do/Imma make it happen gotta be my way/When n’ how we come close tell me if you gonna be a man/I’m the type to always take command/If you really want this you can’t be late, or hesitate/I can dominate you, come out on top like I do/Turn your head around, I wanna see you, feel you/I know how to shock you, no one does it like I do/And I won’t stop, I’m gonna tease you baby

Blaumut: El primer arbre del bosc / First Tree in the Forest
Lyrics & music: Xavi de la Iglesia
Spain, Catalan, 2015

Blaumut is sui generis, a folk-rock-chamber ensemble known for songs rich in imagery, often crossing into impressionism and surrealism. El primer arbre del bosc, title track of their third album, is inspired by a René Magritte painting and evokes special places that stay in memory long after we leave them behind.
It was a small place, with no room for the furniture/The window, an exact painting by Magritte/From the sofa watching the soap opera, we lost the thread/And nights passed like cruising cars/The light bulb, tightrope walker over the void/Kicking the dust on top of things by the weight of oblivion/The moon comes, the moon goes/Like a pendulum in your hand/The cadence of sleep/Face the wind or face the sea/A goodbye is always cold/But there is light even in the first tree of the forest/An admiral, lost in a leak/I was sailing inside a nutshell/The drift is just a poem/The bucket of the well

Edith Piaf: La Vie en Rose / Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses
Lyrics: Edith Piaf/Music: Louiguy
France, French, 1947

As France’s greatest female singer of all time, Piaf could afford several signature songs, but La Vie en Rose was the only one she wrote herself—and it almost got away. She wrote it in 1946 but her closest friends and her songwriting team were not impressed. She put it on hold for a year and then released it to acclaim, making it the song on which she built her international following. Though it was a hymn to finding love and appealed to a population that had just emerged from World War II, it’s likely the song’s title came from the name of a nightclub where she had once performed.
Eyes that make mine look down/A laugh lost on his lips/That’s the un-retouched portrait/Of the man I belong to/When he holds me in his arms/When he speaks to me softly/I see life through rose-colored glasses/When he whispers words of love/Everyday words/They do something to me/He has entered into my heart/A share of happiness/The cause of which I know/It’s only him for me, me for him in life/He said that to me, swore it for eternity/And as soon as I see him/I feel inside/My heart pounds

Feo Gasy: Tsofy Rano / Give Us Water
Lyrics & music: Feo Gasy
Madagascar, Malagasy, 1996

Feo Gasy is one of Madagascar’s leading bands, performing traditional ba-gasy music with sumptuous harmonies and a rich backing of acoustic guitars. Tsofy Rano focuses on humanity’s most basic questions.
Our country is in a crisis/What shall we do?/What steps should we take?/What moves should we make?/Let’s hope and pray that one day/Madagascar will be back on its rails

Alireza Assar, feat. Mohammad Esfahani: Ghodsian-e Aseman / قدسیان آسمان / Saints of Heaven
Lyrics: Rumi/Music: Alireza Assar
Iran, Persian, 1999

Assar is one of the most popular singer-songwriters to emerge in Iran since the Islamic Revolution. In Saints of Heaven (from his debut album, Loving Migration) he pairs his own music with a poem by the 13th-century Persian bard Rumi.
Hey! Caravan, Hey! Caravan/I’m not a thief in the night/I’m hero of the world/I fight face to face/I’m hero of the world/I fight face to face/To the saints in Heaven, hu!/I say YaHu (Dervish uses this word to call and trust God) every night. hu!/I say there is no God but Allah/I’m not the falcon on the air to bring the Fatyhv [a kind of partridge] of life/I am the phoenix of the Qaf mountain of mystery/Hey powerful one! Get up and come to me/Sit before me, politely/I’m the king of the country/I’ll not kneel before you

Oliver N’Goma: Bane / Tragedy
Lyrics & music: Olivier N’Goma, Manu Lima
Gabon, Lumbu, 1990

N’Goma was a Gabonese Afro-zouk and soukous singer. When he was young his dabbling in various pursuits led him on a crooked path to success. He studied accounting in high school but got involved in the school band. His passion for film led to a job as a cameraman with Gabon TV and an assignment in Paris. In France, he met a producer who was impressed with his music and produced his debut album Bane, which became one of the best-selling African albums of all time. The title track was a downbeat story delivered with an infectious zouk beat.
Tragedy/When the feeling is gone and you can’t go on/It’s hard to bear/When the morning cries and you don’t know why/Tragedy/With no one to love, you’re going nowhere/It’s hard to bear/When the morning cries and you don’t know why/Here I lie in a lost and lonely part of town/Held in time in a world of tears, I slowly drown/I really should be holding you/Holding you and loving you

Jesse & Joy: ¡Corre! / Run!
Lyrics & music: Tirzah Joy Huerta Uecke, Jesse Eduardo Huerta Uecke, Tommy Torres
Mexico, Spanish, 2011

A brother-sister Latin pop-rock duo, Jesse & Joy were born in Mexico City to a Mexican father and an American mother. They scored their first Latin Grammy with their 2006 debut album, Esta Es Mi Vida, but it was their third album ¿Con Quién Se Queda El Perro? (Who Gets the Dog?) that took them to platinum and won them six Latin Grammy Awards. ¡Corre! was that album’s biggest hit.
You look at me differently/You hug me and I don’t feel your warmth/I tell you how I feel/You interrupt me and finish the sentence/You are always right/You, an always predictable script/Yeah, I already know it/So run, run, run, heart/Between the two of us, you were always the fastest/Take everything you want but leave now/Because I will never give you my tears/So run as always, don’t look back/You’ve already done it and honestly, I don’t care/I’ve already lived this scene/And with much sorrow, I tell you no, not with me…/You, always repeating the same script/No, it doesn’t suit you anymore/So run, run, run, heart

M.S. Subbulakshmi: Sri Venkatesa Suprabhatam / श्री वेङ्कटेश सुप्रभातम् / Auspicious Morning, Sri Venkatesa
Lyrics and music: Pratvada Bhayankara Sri Anantacharya
India, Sanskrit, 1963

A suprabhatam is a Sanskrit prayer recited in the early morning to awaken the Hindu diety. This devotional composition dates from the 14th century. The recording by M.S. Subbulakshmi is played daily in many temples and homes.
O Rama! Kausalya’s auspicious child/Sunlight is approaching in the east/O best of men! Wake up, the divine daily rituals have to be performed/O Govinda, wake up!/O he who has Garuda on his flag wake up!/O husband of Kamala!/Arise, and render the three worlds auspicious/May it be an auspicious dawn to thee, O Lakshmi, the mother of the worlds/Who dwells on the chest of Vishnu, the enemy of Madhu and Kaitabha/Of attractive and divine form, with the nature of granting what is desired by those seeking refuge!/O beloved of Venkatesha, an auspicious dawn to thee

Warsaw Village Band: W boru kalinka / In the Forest
Lyrics & music: A.V. Sveshnikov
Poland, Polish, 2004

After the fall of communism, Poland entered a phase of rapid modernization and globalization, provoking many artists to fear a decline in authentic Polish culture. The name Warsaw Village Band defines the goal: Bring the village to the big cities by finding the places where the folk culture still exists—and the artists still playing it—and merge the traditional with some modern elements. In the Forest presents a clash of dream with reality, in which the relationship between a man and woman leads to mutual suspicion and jealousy.
In the forest, honeysuckle bent down/Kasienka and Jasienko got to like each other/Jasienko went hunting/Leaving Kasienka asleep, beautiful as a painting/If she weren’t sleeping/She’d have wiped his eyes and kissed them/And you, Kasienka, you’re my wife/Water my chestnut horse/The horse drinks, and kicks his legs/Move away, Kasienka, lest he kill you/Let him kill me/But don’t let Janicek live with another woman/My horse is a free spirit/He ate my wheat and parsnip/He didn’t eat it, I mowed it down/Remember, Kasinia, what I asked you for/I asked you for a ring for my finger/And you gave me a wreath [of sadness]

Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit
Lyrics & Music: Abel Meeropol
U.S., English, 1939

Holiday was a groundbreaking jazz and swing singer who began her career as a teenager in nightclubs during the Harlem Renaissance; in short order she was performing sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall. Frank Sinatra said of her: “With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the U.S. during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It was Billie Holiday who was, and remains, the greatest single musical influence on me.” Strange Fruit was written by the songwriter-poet Abel Meeropol as a protest against the lynching of Black Americans. The song has been called “the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.”
Southern trees bear strange fruit/Blood on the leaves and blood at the root/ Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze/Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees/Pastoral scene of the gallant south/The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth/Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh/Then the sudden smell of burning flesh/Here is fruit for the crows to pluck/For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck/For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop/Here is a strange and bitter crop

Lucila Campos: Toro Mata
Lyrics & music: Traditional, Carlos Soto de la Colina
Peru, Spanish, 1973

Campos was one of the leading performers of Afro-Peruvian music, and Toro Mata—a composition in the landó genre, with African, Andean and European influences—was one of her most iconic songs. It tells the story two friends who were slaves, owned by a man who raised bulls for fighting. One of the friends had been drinking and decided to try his hand in the ring. His friend urged him to be careful. When he stepped forward, the bull went after his dark skin and not his red cape. He couldn´t get away. His friend tried to get him to stop, but it was no use.
Toro Mata, the bull kills/The bull kills, dancing bull, the bull kills/The old bull is dead/Tomorrow we’ll eat meat, the bull is dead/The old bull has died/Tomorrow we’ll feast/His color doesn’t let him move out of the way quickly enough/And the bull might kill him/That man’s color doesn’t permit him to hide and the bull might kill him/Don’t cut him with the rope/It’ll get too bloody/Here’s Pitité the drummer, the music’s kicking!/Ay, la ponde, la ponde, ponde, ponde/This black man is not from here/This black man is from Acari/Who brought him here?

Dahmane El Harrachi: Bahdja Baida / دحمان الحراشى / White City
Lyrics & music: Abderrahmane Amrani [Dahmane El Harrachi]
Algeria, Arabic, 1978

Umekichi: Kusatsu Bushi / 草津節 / Song of Kusatsu
Lyrics & music: Traditional
Japan, Japanese, 2009

Mariza: Transparente / Transparent
Lyrics: Paulo Abreu Lima/Music: Rui Veloso
Portugal, Portuguese, 2005

Marisa dos Reis Nunes, popularly known as Mariza, was born in Mozambique to a Portuguese father and a Mozambican mother. Raised in Lisbon, she started singing gospel, soul and jazz, but her father encouraged her to concentrate on fado, hoping it would help her gain acceptance from a society in which racism was not uncommon. It turned out to be good advice. Her debut album, released in 2001, sold 140,000 copies, roughly 30 times the typical fado album. In 2002 she sang the Portuguese national anthem at the FIFA World Cup and she ultimately climbed to the top rank of the New Fado movement, performing in world venues, including Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House. One of her most beloved songs, Transparente is a tribute to her African grandmother.
Like water from the fountain/My hand is transparent/In my grandma’s eyes/Between earth and heaven/My Black grandma knew how to read/The secrets of one’s destiny/The sea before my eyes flows/Into rivers of this desire in me/The desire of those born to sing/This Tejo, as beautiful as the Zambezi/Is inspiration for so many songs/That I even envy Lisbon, for living so close to it/I see a braid of hair/And hear the warm tune of fado/in a shawl of snails/Like in a fairytale/Drums are guitars/And palm-trees are sunflowers

Amy Winehouse: Back to Black
Lyrics & music: Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson
U.K., English, 2006

Ella Fitzgerald, feat. Chick Webb Orchestra: A-Tisket, A-Tasket
Lyrics: Ella Fitzgerald, Al Feldman, Traditional/Music: Traditional
U.S., English, 1938

Ella Fitzgerald was 18 in 1935, when she began singing with the Chick Webb Orchestra at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom. Three years later she and Al Feldman adapted the lyrics to an old nursery rhyme (Rain, Rain Go Away/Ring Around the Rosie) for A-Tisket, A-Tasket, taking her and Webb’s band to wider acclaim. Webb died of tuberculosis in 1939 and Fitzgerald succeeded him as the band leader.
A-tisket, a-tasket/A brown and yellow basket/I sent a letter to my mommy/On the way I dropped it/I dropped it, I dropped it/Yes, on the way I dropped it/A little girlie picked it up/And put it in her pocket…/She took it, she took it/My little yellow basket/And if she doesn’t bring it back/I think that I will die

Chico Buarque: Construção / Construction
Lyrics & music: Chico Buarque
Brazil, Portuguese, 1971

A lyric drama about a day in the life of a construction worker—from making love to his wife in the morning to falling to his death in the afternoon—Construção is a commentary on alienation and the dehumanization of labor, written during the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship. The song’s circular narrative consists of a series of one-line scenes, each with 14 syllables in the original Portuguese, and each repeated once or twice with slight changes at the end, representing alternate angles of vision.
He made love that time as if [it/he] were [the last time/the last man/a machine]
He kissed his wife as if [it/she] were [the last time/the only one/logical]
And kissed each one of his children as if they were [the only one/prodigal]
And walked across the street with steps that were [timid/drunken]
He went up the construction site as if [he/it] were [a machine/solid]
He raised on that floor four walls that were [solid/magical/flaccid]
Brick by brick in a design that was [magical/logical]
His eyes turned blurry by cement and [tears/traffic]
He sat down to rest as if [it/he] were [Saturday/a prince/a bird]
He ate rice and beans as if [he/it] were [a prince/awesome]
He danced and laughed as if [he was listening to music/he was the next one]
And stumbled in the sky as if he [was drunk/heard music]
And floated in the air as if [he/it] were [a bird/Saturday/a prince]

Bob Dylan: Blowin’ in the Wind
Lyrics & Music: Bob Dylan
U.S., English, 1963

Blowin’ in the Wind is Dylan’s most emblematic protest song, more timeless and poetic, for example, than The Times They Are a-Changin’. Sixty years after its release, the journalist Mick Gold observed that the song’s powerful refrain—“The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind”—was “impenetrably ambiguous: Either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind.”
How many roads must a man walk down/Before you call him a man?/Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sail/Before she sleeps in the sand?/Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs fly/Before they’re forever banned?/The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind/The answer is blowin’ in the wind…/How many times must a man look up/Before he can see the sky/Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man have/Before he can hear people cry?/Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows/That too many people have died?/The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind/The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Lucky Dube: Remember Me
Lyrics & music: Lucky Dube
South Africa, English, 1989

Carmen Consoli: Il Pendio Dell’abbandono / The Slope of Abandonment
Lyrics: Carmen Consoli/Music: Carmen Consoli, Goran Bregović
Italy, Italian, 2005

“Lit, Film, Song” may not be as catchy as “Eat, Pray, Love,” but the lyricism comes out on Il Pendio dell’abbandono. It started as a 2002 novel—The Days of Abandonment, by Elena Ferrante—and was made into a 2005 film. Consoli, one of Italy’s leading singer-songwriters, wrote and sang the song for the film score.
Arduous and insidious, the slope of abandonment/Heartbroken and compassionate, the Good God looks inert/Human wealth and misery, oblivion will reign supreme/Valuable remedy for impotence, and the cruelty of a vile farewell/Inflicted by surprise by those who swore loyalty/But a warm wind will smell the awakening of better times/But a warm wind will smell the awakening of better times/But a warm wind will shape the rigor of merciless winters

Drake: Nice for What
Lyrics & music: Aubrey Graham [Drake], Lauryn Hill, Marvin Hamlisch, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Wu-Tang Clan
Canada, English, 2018

Wael Kfoury: Qalbe Meshtaq / قلبي مشتاق / My Heart Yearns
Lyrics & music: Samir Nakhleh
Lebanon, Arabic, 2005

Popular throughout the Arab world, Kfoury is a Lebanese singer-songwriter who performs Arabic folk, pop and mawwal music. Qalbe Meshtaq is a song of heartbreak over lost love.
My heart yearns for you/And your absence burns like coal and fire/The love and passion/Are not things I can forget in a day/You are the love that calls me/How I wish I could close my eyes/And see that you still love me in the distance/And when I hear your voice next to me it is calm/The harshness in your voice awakens me/Your absence has become/Like a shock to my heart/Like darkness/And a sea of secrets

Jorge Drexler: Al Otro Lado del Rio / On the Other Side of the River
Lyrics & music: Jorge Drexler
Uruguay, Spanish, 2004

Yang Hee-eun: Achim iseul / 아침 이슬 / Morning Dew
Lyrics & music: Kim Min-ki
South Korea, Korean, 1970

Wuta Mayi: Kata ba liens / Cut the Ties
Lyrics & music: Wuta Mayi
D.R. Congo, Lingala, 2019

A rumba singer-songwriter, Gaspard Wuta Mayi is a veteran of several seminal ensembles, from the Orchestre Bamboula, which represented the Congo at the landmark 1969 Pan African Culture Festival in Algiers; to TPOK Jazz, leading Congolese band from the 60s to the 80s; from the Paris-based Quatre Étoiles, which surfed the soukous wave of the 80s and 90s; to Kékélé, an acoustic rumba revival group of the early 2000s. In 2019, at age 70, he released La Face Cachcée (The Dark Side), a collection of songs about life’s compromises, complications and contretemps. One key track is Kata ba liens, focused on a mature couple simultaneously coming apart and clinging together, their bitter words offset by the sweetness of their repartee.
In my heart I keep the counsel my parents gave me/If there’s any doubt why I change men as if they were clothes, in my mind I don’t know whom I wronged/Perhaps I’m paying for the sins of my ancestors/In my heart I keep the counsel my parents gave me/If there’s any doubt why I go through men as if they were tissue paper, I’ve never known who it was that I wronged, O mother!/Perhaps I’m paying for the sins of my ancestors /O my god!/Cut the ties!/You, Mwutwa Ya Mbuntu, be careful!/Father of my children, your years are passing/Beware of young girls!/Father of my children/They will squander your wealth (Translation by Ken Braun)

The Police, feat. Sting: Every Breath You Take
Lyrics & music: Sting
U.K., English, 1983

Cui Jian: Yikuai hong bu / 一块红布 / A Piece of Red Cloth
Lyrics & music: Cui Jian
China, Chinese (Mandarin), 1996

After Cui Jian electrified the crowds in Tiananmen Square in 1989 with Nothing to My Name, his career was curtailed but never completely cut off. In 1991 he released another anthem, more influenced by western rock. Typically performed with a red cloth covering his eyes, the song symbolized the regime blocking the sight of the masses so they couldn’t see the truth of a controlled society. 
That day you used a piece of red cloth/Blindfolded my eyes and covered the sky/You asked what I saw/I said I saw a happy world/The feeling gave me comfort/It made me forget that I have no place to live/I said I can’t see you and I can’t see the road/You held my hand/You asked what I was thinking/I said I want you to be the master/I feel you are as strong and fierce as iron/I feel the blood in your body/Because your hands are hot/I feel this is not a wilderness/But I can’t see that the ground is dry and cracked/I want to drink some water/But your mouth blocked mine/I can’t go and I can’t cry/Because my body is dry/I want to be with you forever/Because I know your pain best

Kendji Girac, feat. Dadju: Dans mes bras / In My Arms
Lyrics & music: Charlotte Gonin, Renaud Rebillaud, Dadju Nsungula
France, French, 2020

They came from opposite sides of the music tracks. Kenjdi Girac is from a Catalan-speaking Roma family of itinerant tree pruners. At 16 his uncle filmed him singing a flamenco-inflected version of a song by the singer-rapper Maître Gims; the video went viral and led to an invitation from The Voice: France. Dadju Nsungula is from a prominent Congolese-French musical family; his father was a singer in Papa Wemba’s band and Maître Gims is his brother. The two young stars are in perfect sync with Dan mes bras, a contemporary chanson about a powerful romantic attraction and a young woman wavering between hesitancy and flirtation.
I saw you, I imagine what’s next/I saw you, I understood right away/Too quickly/That I’d make the first move, yes/You’re always on the defensive/No man controls you/Too quickly/You isolate yourself/I tell myself I’m not up to it/I lie in front of you and act like it’s normal/And if/If it were possible/I’d get rid of all your rose thorns/Just to hold you in my arms/And if/It were possible/I’d erase all the words that go against us/Just to hold you in my arms/Na-na-na, na-na-na-oh/Ta-na-na-oh/With your impassive air, approaching you seems impossible/Even then, I’d make sure that at the end of the day we’d be a pair

Ricardo Arjona: Historia de Taxi / Taxi Driver’s Story
Lyrics & music: Ricardo Arjona
Guatemala, Spanish 1994

When Ricardo Arjona played for Guatemala’s national basketball team, he once scored 78 points in a single game, a record that lasted for decades. But he ultimately filled more arenas (and created more records) as Guatemala’s greatest singer-songwriter, with honors aplenty, including a Grammy and a Latin Grammy. At 6 minutes, 40 seconds, Taxi Driver’s Story is long for a song but short for an odyssey rich in detail.
One of those bad nights with no fares/Then, the sequins of an outfit hailing me to stop/A gorgeous blonde, in a miniskirt/Her plunging backline just to that “sweet spot”/A black tear rolled down her cheek/It was ten-forty, zigzagging along Reforma/”My name is Norma,” she said, crossing her legs/She took a cigarette out, the weird type, that make you laugh/I offered a light, fast, and my hand trembled…/”What’s a taxi driver doing seducing life?/What’s a taxi driver doing creating strife?/What’s a taxi driver doing in front of someone’s wife?/What’s a taxi driver doing with dreams of bedroom delight?” I wondered

Vusi Mahlasela: Basimanyana / The Boys Are Tired
Lyrics & music: Vusi Mahlasela
South Africa, Sesotho, 1994

Simón Diaz: Caballo Viejo
Lyrics & music: Simón Diaz
Venezuela, Spanish, 1980

Diaz was a Grammy-winning Venezuelan folk singer and composer whose most noteworthy accomplishment was reviving the musical traditions of the llanos—the Venezuelan plains. In addition to some 30 albums, he sang (and sometimes acted) in theater, film and on television. Caballo Viejo, a song-metaphor about the passage of time and the wisdom that comes from lived experience, is one of the most covered songs in music history—most notably making up a large part of the Gipsy Kings’ megahit Bamboléo.
Old horse!/When love comes like this, in this way/you don’t even realize it; the bean field turns green again/and the guamacho flowers/and the rope snaps/Horse is put out to pasture ’cause he’s old and tired/but they don’t even realize that a tied-up heart/when the reins are released/turns it into a wild horse/When love comes like this, in this way/no one is to blame, love doesn’t keep a schedule, nor a date on the calendar/of when desires come together/When love comes like this, comes like this, in this way…/Loving each other has no schedule, or date on the calendar… horse…

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh: An Spealadóir / The Scytheman
Lyrics & music: Traditional
Ireland, Irish, 2006

There’s an earthy mystery to Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh’s voice, making her not only one of the finest singers of Celtic music but one of the great voices of the world. Her name may be challenging (pronounced Murr-en Nick OWL-eve) but she embodies both the Irish music renaissance and the Irish language revival. She was the lead singer for the Irish supergroup Danú for more than a decade and is now a solo artist.
By mid-autumn I was spent/My story was a very sad one/Sick, sorrowful and weary was I/Without consolation in life/My little field of grass uncut/On account of the family of Brackloon/And the neighbors’ grass already cut/And dried by the sun/If I had a scythe from England/And a handle from Lough Leane/A stone and a board and sand on it/From the country of O’Neill/I would give it an edge in the morning/That would stand for the whole week/And the acre would be cut/By daybreak

Ruby (Rania Hussein Mohammed Tawfik): Enta Aref Leih / إنت عارف ليه / Do You Know Why?
Lyrics: Khaled Mounir/Music: Mohamed Raheem
Egypt, Arabic, 2003

Ruby had already appeared in two films by the time her debut single, Enta Aref Leih, put her on Egypt’s music stage as well. In the official music video, her appearance in a belly dancing outfit sparked controversy in conservative Egyptian society—and also drove the song’s popularity. That same double-edged reaction has accompanied her for much of her artistic career, which now includes some 25 films, three albums and multiple singles.
Do you know why I love you and why your love is beautiful to me?/Why I stay up late, why I melt at your sight and love for you to be near?/I’m so confused ohh just like that/You’re busy and your worries are my worries/Because you are passionate crazy and your love fills my universe/You are sometimes innocent, sometimes bold, and you never trivialize my heart/Sweetheart, precious to my eyes/I couldn’t give up your love, even for a single day/I’m calling you, come here/I have much to say, all tenderness, passion, and love/And my longing for you does not sleep, it does not sleep/Do you know why?/Do you know why?

Hank Williams: I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
Lyrics & music: Hank Williams
U.S., English, 1949

Williams had 55 top-ten Billboard hits—and he died of heart failure at age 29. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry was classic country-blues, a perfect vehicle for his haunting voice. Ironically it was the B-side of My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It, an up-tempo song deemed more of a draw for the jukebox circuit than a melancholy ballad. History turned a B into an A+.
Hear that lonesome whippoorwill/He sounds too blue to fly/The midnight train is whining low/I’m so lonesome I could cry/I’ve never seen a night so long/When time goes crawling by/The moon just went behind the clouds/To hide its face and cry/Did you ever see a robin weep/When leaves begin to die?/Like me, he’s lost the will to live/I’m so lonesome I could cry/The silence of a falling star/Lights up a purple sky/And as I wonder where you are/I’m so lonesome I could cry

Teddy Afro: Hewan Endwaza / ሄዋን እንደዋዛ / Eve Was Careless
Lyrics & music: Teddy Afro
Ethiopia, Amharic, 2001

Tewodros Kassahun Germamo (professional name, Teddy Afro) is a singer-songwriter best known for blending reggae with Ethiopian traditional sounds. Since his 2001 debut, his revolutionary songs and political dissent have had a major cultural impact on Ethiopia’s music industry, but he can also turn out evocative love songs.
My heart is at ease and I am comfortable/Though people gossip about my love for you/What matters after “I love you”?/Only my name can be defamed/My heart is at ease/I was living in this world, hungry for love/My wish came true, because of you/God created you from me, for me/How can I live without my other half?/Eve ate that fruit carelessly/If you bring death to me and the world/Still your heart brought me mercy/Let our love be determined between us/I’ll be yours and you’ll be mine/My heart is conquered by love, enslaved by it/And Eve made her home inside me easily/Eve was careless/Eve was careless

Monique Séka: Chilèn’koé / Deaf Girl
Lyrics & music: Monique Séka
Côte d’Ivoire, Akoué, 1992

Fela Kuti: Zombie
Lyrics & music: Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti
Nigeria, English/Naija/Yoruba, 1977

Zombie—album and title track—represented a sharp attack on Nigeria’s military dictatorship, in power from 1966 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1999. The word “zombie” was Fela Kuti’s chosen metaphor for vicious, mindless soldiers who carried out the regime’s repressive orders. The album was wildly popular and also had a tragic impact. It led to the invasion of the commune that housed Kuti’s family, his band and his studio. Kuti was severely beaten and his mother, thrown from a window, died from her injuries.
Zombie o, zombie/Zombie o, zombie/Zombie no go go, unless you tell ’em to go/ Zombie no go stop, unless you tell ’em to stop/Zombie no go turn, unless you tell ’em to turn/Zombie no go think, unless you tell ’em to think/Zombie o, zombie/ Zombie o, zombie/Tell them to go straight/No break, no job, no sense/Tell ’em to go kill/No break, no job, no sense/Tell them to go quench/No break, no job, no sense/Go and kill/Go and die/Go and quench/Put ’em for reverse/Go and quench/Go and kill/Go and die/Put ’em for reverse

Yao Lee: Meigui meigui wo aini / 玫瑰玫瑰我愛你 / Rose, Rose, I Love You
Lyrics: Wu Cun/Music Chen Gexin
China, Chinese (Mandarin), 1940

One of China’s anointed “Seven Great Singing Stars,” Yao Lee began her career in Shanghai in 1935, at age 13, and signed her first recording contract two years later. After the Chinese Communist revolution she moved to Hong Kong and continued her career. Rose, Rose, I Love You, released in 1940, was one of her most popular songs; in 1951, the American singer Frankie Laine released an English version and the song was subsequently covered by numerous artists in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Rose, rose, you are the most charming/Rose, rose, you are the most beautiful/Blooming on the branches all summer/Rose, rose, I love you/Rose, rose, how dear is your affection/Rose, rose, how strong is your affection/Blooming in thorns all summer/Rose, rose, I love you/The heart’s oath, the heart’s affection/A holy light shines across the earth/Rose, rose, how thin are your branches!/Rose, rose, how sharp are your thorns!/Today, the wind and rain came to destroy/Hurting your tender branches and delicate core/Rose, rose, how resilient is your heart!/Rose, rose, I love you!

Fréhel: La Java Bleue / The Blue Java
Lyrics: Géo Koger, Noël Renard/Music: Vincent Scotto
France, French, 1939

Fréhel, stage name of Marguerite Boulc’h, was at the peak of her popularity between 1925 and 1939, performing songs to bal musette music, a music/dance style that flourished during the Belle-Époque. The java was a kind of fast waltz. Though the song’s tempo is upbeat, the lyrics end with the sober thought of how ephemeral happiness can be.
This is the blue java/The most beautiful java/The one that bewitches/When we dance eye to eye/At a joyful pace/When bodies entwine/And to all the world/They are no longer two/This is blue java/Here at the musette ball/The air filled with sweetness/Turns heads/Turns hearts upside down/When we dance in small steps/Hugging the one we love in our arms/He whispers in a shudder/Listening to the accordion play/Darling, in my embrace/I want to squeeze you harder/To better keep step/To feel the warmth of your body/What promises we swear/In the madness of a moment/For we know these oaths filled with love/Won’t last forever

Nirosha Virajini: Nidi Waru Pini Binduwa / නිදි වැරූ පිණි බිඳුව වෙමි මම / I Am the Sleeping Spark
Lyrics : Sammanie Wijesinghe/Music: Darshana Wickramatunga
Sri Lanka, Sinhala, 2017

Virajini is one of Sri Lanka’s most versatile singers, performing in concerts and also as a playback singer. Nidi Waru Pini Binduwa is a lyrical song about the experience and the mystery of love.
I am the sleeping spark/The sigh of love/Cannot flow/In the bright blue pond where it hides/I strive to find the pleasure of my eyes/In the night dreams/Fire beads fall down/The mystery of love/Blooming and smiling tomorrow morning/The fire keeps burning/Love is glorious

Paul Simon: Still Crazy After All These Years
Lyrics & music: Paul Simon
U.S., English, 1975

Carmen Miranda: Tico-Tico no Fubá / Sparrow in the Cornmeal
Lyrics & music: Zequinha de Abreu
Brazil, Portuguese, 1947

Carmen Miranda was the first Brazilian artist to gain worldwide fame, and it brought her grief as well as happiness, criticism at home over becoming “Americanized” as well as credit for putting samba—Brazil’s national music—on the world stage. Tico-Tico no Fubá was a choro song written by Zequinha de Abreu, and by the time Miranda sang it in the 1947 film Copacabana the song was nearly 30 years old; her Hollywood career was in decline and she was trying her hand at comedy. Today few remember other artists’ renditions of the song. Footnote: Tico-Tico no Fubá made a cameo appearance in O Pato, Tom Jobim’s bossa nova classic, in which an avian quartet rehearses the sparrow’s song.
And the sparrow there, the sparrow again/Is eating all my corn meal/Look, Mr. Nicolau/The corn meal is gone/I’ll grab my shotgun/And if the shot goes off/Then I’m sorry for the habdabs I caused him/And I give him a gourd full of corn meal/And joyful now, flying and hooting/My corn meal, my corn meal/Jumping here and there/But one day I heard that he didn’t come back/His tasty meal was taken by the wind/I was sad, almost crying, but then I saw/Soon after, it wasn’t one but two/I want to tell you in a whisper of their life/They had a nest, and then chicks/All of them jumping and hopping here/Eating all my corn meal

Angela Aki: Tegami – Haikei Jugo no Kimi e / 手紙 ～拝啓 十五の君へ / Letter to My 15-Year-Old Self
Lyrics & music: Angela Aki
Japan, Japanese, 2008

Kiyomi Angela Aki sees the world from two angles. Born in Japan to a Japanese father and an American mother, she has spent much of her life learning and performing in two cultures, as a singer-songwriter, pianist and theater director. Letter to My 15-Year-Old Self — an imagined dialogue between a teenager and her adult alter ego — is a touching echo of her story, viewing not only the world but also life from two sides.
You who are reading, where are you and what are you doing?/I’m 15 and I’m worried/About something that I can’t talk to anyone about/But if I address a letter to my future self/I know I’ll be able to speak my mind/I feel like giving up, I feel like crying, I feel like I’m going to disappear/Whose words can I trust as I move forward?/My heart has broken into pieces time and again/And I’m living through painful times now/I’m living in the present…/I have something to tell your 15-year-old self/If you keep asking why and where you should go/The answer will become clear/The seas of adolescence can be rough/But keep sailing the boat that is your dream toward tomorrow’s shore

Lágbájá, feat. Ego Iheanacho Ogbara: Never Far Away
Lyrics & music: Bisade Ologunde [Lágbájá]
Nigeria, English/Yoruba, 2005

Bisade Ologune is an Afrobeat singer-songwriter and musician. His professional name, Lágbájá—the equivalent of “John Doe”—is inspired by a Yoruba carnival tradition of covering his face with a textile mask to represent the common man by concealing his identity. The artist is renowned not only as an entertainer but also as the founder and host of Motherlan, an outdoor music venue in Lagos designed to resemble an African market square. He often sang with Ego Iheanacho Ogbara before she launched her solo career. Never Far Away was one of their best-known collaborations.
Hmm, all alone/When I think about the good times that we shared together, baby/I cannot understand/How we ever let things get so bad/Shouldn′t have let you go/Let you out of my sight, baby/Never knew how much I care/Never knew/Wherever I go/Wherever you are/Baby, baby, you’re never far away/You′re always on my mind/When I think of you/All I see is your smile/I, I can feel it/Someday we’ll be together again/I can’t wait to see that day/We′ll be together again/Baby, baby, baby, you and I/Let it be so/Yeah, oh-oh

Fonseca: Arroyito / Little Brook
Lyrics & music: Wilfran Castillo
Colombia, Spanish, 2008

Ever since he released his first album in 2002, Juan Fernando Fonseca Carrera’s infectious vallenato/tropi-pop mix has been part of the soundtrack of Colombian life. It may be a cliché to paint a successful artist in the rosy light of his songs, but Fonseca embodies his music in myriad ways, composing a portrait of dedication to family, art and society. His causes include Colombia’s image abroad and addressing problems at home, including sponsoring music training for former guerrillas, combatting violence against women and becoming Save the Children’s first Colombian goodwill ambassador. Honors (and there are many) aside, the power of his music comes from a voice that goes straight to the heart.
Daylight broke and I found out you were planning a long trip/My heart escaped from your luggage/And it stayed just to fill me with memories/Daylight broke and the old rooster that always crows at the window/Was silent today because you didn’t open to the morning/Even the wind retreated because you weren’t here/You are the little brook that bathes my cabin/You are the negative of my soul’s photograph/You are that ray of light that heats my nest…/I just want to possess your love/I just want to possess your laughter/To find you and give you back your heart/And have you keep me company for the rest of my life 

Odd Nordstoga: Ein farfar i livet / A Grandfather in Your Life
Lyrics & music: Odd Nordstoga
Norway, Norwegian, 2011

You might say Odd Norstoga went into the family business, since he comes from a clan of folksingers. So it’s entirely in keeping with his lineage that one of his most beloved songs is about a particular family figure.
A grandpa you can run over to/Who always wants a cup of coffee/And to waste time with a little one/Yes, a grandfather is something everyone should have in their life/A grandpa you can turn to/With anything you wonder about/At grandpa’s house you can always get advice/Yes, a grandfather is something everyone should have/A grandfather in overalls, is something everyone should have/Who smells like oil and sea/With his pockets full of old junk/There’s a lot you can use in grandpa’s mess/A grandfather’s lap is good to have/Because grandpa has been around/With your whole life in front of you/If you ask, he’ll show you the way/Yes, everyone should have a grandfather in their life

Yuri Vizbor: Milaya moya / Милая моя / My Heart’s Desire
Lyrics & music: Yuri Vizbor
Russia (Soviet Union), Russian 1973

Vizbor’s lyrical observations on life grew out of vast experience. In addition to a songwriter, he was a soldier, a sailor, a teacher, a journalist, a ski instructor, an actor, a poet and a writer for stage and screen. The romantic ballad Milaya moya was his most revered song.
All our meetings are sadly destined for separation/The creek near the amber pine tree is quiet and bleak/The coals in the campfire are covered with ash/All is ended, it’s time to say goodbye/My heart’s desire, my woodland sun/Where, in which land/Will we meet again?/The tent is folded, the journey over/The plane spreads its wings, the sign of separation/The stairway moves slowly away from the plane/And I see a deep chasm between us now/Don’t comfort me, I don’t need words/I’d wish to find that creek near amber pine tree/To suddenly see through the fog the flame of the campfire/Imagine someone waiting for me near that flame

Rhoma Irama: Terejana
Lyrics & music: Rhoma Irama
Indonesia, Indonesian, 1973

Rhoma Irama is known as the King of Dangdut—the most popular Indonesian music genre, uniting Indian, Arabic, Malay, Javanese and Sundanese elements. Dangdut was once a term of derision for music beloved by the poor, and Irama was instrumental in mainstreaming it. Terejana is about the joy of singing and dancing to the music.
I once heard music in Taman Ria/The rhythm is Malay, duhai is very good/The flute is made of bamboo, the drum is cowhide/Dangdut is the sound of the drums, the feeling of wanting to sing/Mastered, mastered/That’s the song, the Indian song/Hi, it’s melodious, hi, it’s melodious/Mellow voice, the singer/Fits beautifully in style/Because I’m having fun, without realizing it/Hips swaying, feeling like humming

Javier Ruibal: Isla Mujeres / Island of Women
Lyrics & music: Javier Ruibal
Spain, Spanish, 2003

Ruibal is known for flamenco mixed with jazz and North African strains, but with Isla Mujeres he uses his Andalusian lens to peer at an island off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula for a tale of passion, seduction and the transformative nature of love.
The heat went up as I ambled the sidewalk/The whole boulevard could burn like a candle/From bar to bar, a legion of satyrs and pirates/Call out to her the same word: Beautiful!/I become a follower of your Panther moves/Pilgrim I go where your hips order/What do I care if it’s a hell of a street/If I can win the prize/Hey, my good woman, Queen of Isla Mujeres/If you love me, I’ll be your most faithful slave/Poor me, if I stray from your fire/My cold heart will forget how to beat/On her profile a copper sun spills/The April Rose naked in the middle of the bed

Nameless: Sinzia / I Fall Asleep
Lyrics & music: David Mathenge [Nameless]
Kenya, Swahili/English, 2010

David Mathenge made a name for himself as a Kenyan architect, and then he made another name for himself as Nameless. To be on the safe side he kept working as an architect for 10 years into his career as an Afropop singer and songwriter—then jumped from the building into the soundwaves. Sinzia, about the woman who occupies his thoughts as he falls asleep, is one of his iconic songs.
Commit a crime and I’ll be your defender/Overpower me so that I surrender/I wish I could be your saliva/So that I could taste your lips whenever/I wish I could be your shoe/I would have such a beautiful view…I fall asleep thinking about you/Years to, years go/I fall asleep thinking about you/Every day of the calendar/I fall asleep thinking about you/Whatever you do I will follow/I’ll draw eight, you draw seven

Nat King Cole: Stardust
Lyrics: Mitchell Parish/Music: Hoagy Carmichael
U.S., English, 1950

Early in his career, Nat King Cole was one of the most influential pianists and small-band leaders of the swing era. It was only later that he became one of America’s most beloved singers of warm ballads and smooth jazz. Starting in clubs in New York and Los Angeles, Cole became a mainstay in films and on television. In the 1950s, he starred in The Nat King Cole Show, the first nationally broadcast television program in the U.S. with an African-American host. Hoagy Carmichael composed the music for Stardust in 1927 and later asked Mitchell Parish to write lyrics for it. By the time Cole began singing it in his shows in 1954 it had been performed by many artists, including Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. When his producer suggested he put the song on his 1957 album Love Is the Thing, Cole initially refused on the grounds that the song had been so widely recorded. Now, nearly a century after it was written, Cole’s Stardust stands as one of his greatest songs and as one of the song’s greatest renditions. In the words of another song he made famous, it’s “unforgettable.”
And now the purple dusk of twilight time/Steals across the meadows of my heart/High up in the sky, the little stars climb/Always reminding me that we’re apart/You wander down the lane and far away/Leaving me a song that will not die/Love is now the stardust of yesterday/The music of the years gone by/Sometimes I wonder why I spend/The lonely night dreaming of a song/The melody haunts my reverie/And I am once again with you/When our love was new/And each kiss an inspiration/But that was long ago/Now my consolation/Is in the stardust of a song

Awatiñas: Kullakita / Brothers and Sisters
Lyrics & music: Miguel Conde
Bolivia, Aymara, 1984

Awatiñas is a pioneering Aymara-language ensemble, taking their name from a term that means “those who care” or “those who keep watch.” Many of the band’s members are from the Conde family, which over the years divided its time between Bolivia and Europe.
Brothers, sisters, let us all rise/For the great day that awaits us/My sisters and brothers, let us all rise up/My sisters and brothers, let us all rise up/Don’t forget your voice, for the sake of our people/Don’t forget your voice, for the sake of our people

Founded in 2004, DakhaBrakha was originally an offshoot of an avant-garde theater project. The band’s name means “give and take,” reflecting their mission of refashioning traditional Ukrainian folk songs with non-traditional—including African, Caribbean  R&B, punk and rap—sounds. Since 2014 their appearances have also revolved around the Ukrainian freedom struggle. Komora is typically sung as part of a traditional wedding ritual, when the whole village—with dances, songs, joking banter and celebratory madness—escorts a young couple to the pantry of their new home for their first night together.
Oh gray-feathered cuckoo/Oh gray-feathered cuckoo/Did fly over all the gardens/Young, young maiden/Young-young maiden/Did seat all her girlfriends at the table/God bless/And for the second time, God bless/And for the third time, God bless/That’s good/Oh, yes/You said it all well/So it should be/Like talking with a candle/We rejoiced/We asked the Lord God/Come, Lord, from heaven/Come down, Lord, from heaven/Because we really need you/I will get a child married/I will get a child married/I will plant in the garden

Sunny Neji: Oruka / The Ring
Lyrics & music: Sunny Neji
Nigeria, Yoruba/English, 2003

Neji began his career as a backup vocalist and emerged in the 1990s as a major Nigerian singer-songwriter, performing a mix of highlife, makossa and pop sounds. Oruka, a tribute to the bonds of marriage, is at the top of his playlist.
You found harmony to the song you sing/You can do anything/You wanna call/You’re her father, and her brother/And her lover, and her cover/and her teacher and her everything/She is your mother and your sister/And your lover and your cover/And your teacher and your everything/O ni mole Aye re/So don’t take your smile away/Oh no O ni alo baro re/From today your wedding day/It’s your wedding day, so be happy and rejoice/Whatever they say, today you made your choice/This is when I and I is one/Ololu fe, together you belong

Lauryn Hill: Doo Wop (That Thing)
Lyrics & music: Lauryn Hill
U.S., English, 1998

Hill began her artistic career as an actress, landing roles in television, film and theater while still in her teens. Then she became a barrier-busting female rapper and pioneer of melodic rap and neo-soul. Doo Wop (That Thing)—a warning to both young women and young men about sexual exploitation—is from her debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Girls you know you’d better watch out/Some guys, some guys are only about/That thing, that thing, that thing/Guys you know you’d better watch out/Some girls, some girls are only about/That thing, that thing, that thing/That thing, that thing, that thing/Class!/Hey, we′ve got some very intelligent women in here, man/Do you think you’re too young to really love somebody?/… I say it for me, uh, I’m an adult I say, wait/You′re too young to be in love, this is silly/You’re infatuated or whatever, you got nice jeans/You wear fancy Adidas, I mean, it might be something I don′t know (It’s the difference from loving somebody and being in love with somebody)

Sabahat Akkiraz Beni beni / My Friend
Lyrics & music: Sabahat Akkiraz, Dertli Asik
Türkiye, Turkish, 2005

Sabahat Akkiraz is a folk singer who has gotten around. She spent much of her childhood in Germany, launched her music career when her family returned to Türkiye and later took a five-year detour to represent her Istanbul electoral district in in the Turkish parliament. She was raised in the Alevi musical and cultural tradition, which informs her work. In Beni beni, adapted from a song by the 19th-century bard Dertli Aski, she portrays divinity as Creator and Friend.
From your Door of Benevolence, cast your generosity upon me/Don’t let me mix into the world of chaos/Overlook my rebellion, show compassion/Take me, O Friend, to my goal, the ultimate destination/”Be!” You ordered, and You created every object/You brought existence to Your perfection/You made the Ninth Heaven a throne, and placed Yourself there/Then you lowered me, O Friend, down into the struggle of the world/(Take) me me me me, O Beloved, (take) me me/You lowered me, O Friend, down into the struggle of the world

Guus Meeuwis: Brabant
Lyrics: Guus Meeuwis/Music: Jan-Willem Rozenbloom
Netherlands, Dutch, 2002

One of the Netherlands’ most popular singer-songwriters, Meeuwis started performing with the band Vagant in the 1990s and went on to an illustrious solo career. Among other distinctions, he was granted a Dutch knighthood and was also the first Dutch-language artist to play a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall. One of his most beloved songs is Brabant, a tribute to his home province. Written while he was on tour in a wintry Moscow, the song expresses longing for the warmth of Brabant’s pubs and people—even “their complaining about everything and nothing.”
A warm hat on my head/My collar stands up/It is ice cold here/But fortunately dry/The days here are short/Nights begin early/The people are stiff/And there is only one pub/As I walk to my hotel/After a dark day/I feel my key/Deep in my pocket/I walk here alone/In a city too still/I have never really suffered/From homesickness/But the people are sleeping/The world is closing/Then I think of Brabant/Where the lights are still on/I miss the warmth/Of a neighborhood pub/The conversation of people

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu: Bapa / Beloved Father
Lyrics & music: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
Australia, Yolngu, 2008

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu was the most admired and commercially successful Indigenous singer and musician in Australian history, renowned for the clarity of his voice. Blind from birth, as a child he taught himself to play accordion and guitar; left-handed, he played a right-handed guitar upside down. “He was educated by immersion,” said friend and collaborator Michael Hohnen, “by his aunties, parents and grandmothers, with love and lullabies; by his uncles, fathers and grandfathers through songs and storytelling, much of it through music…. He learned foot stomping, calling and whooping, vocalizations of traditional songs and their different sounds.” Bapa is a song of loss.
Grief has taken hold of me/for my father/when the sun sets/oh, beloved father/Crying and crying/when the sun goes down/my mind there at Bekulnura/oh, beloved father/Mmmmm/Two Gumatj ladies crying/ancestor boss ladies Dhuwandjika and Daylulu/when the sun sets/my mind is there at the place Gunyanara (Bekulnura)/Mmmmm

Zemfira is a rock singer and musician, popular throughout the former Soviet republics, who grew up in a Volga Tatar family. Reminiscent of pioneering underground bands like Akvarium, she is known for her intensity, her love ballads and songs focused on social issues, her lyrics running from the existential to the surreal. Though not overtly political for most of her career, beginning in 2013 she began making subtle signs of solidarity with Ukraine, and after Russia’s 2022 invasion she moved to Paris.
Please, just don’t die/Or I’ll have to die too/Obviously you’ll go straight to heaven/Me, I don’t think so/Do you want the most delicious oranges?/Do you want me to tell you a never-ending story?/If you want, I’ll blow up all those stars/The ones that won’t let you sleep?/Please, just live on/Can’t you see, you’re the one I live for/My enormous love will be more than enough for us/Do you want to sail into the sea?/Do you want the latest music?/If you want, I’ll kill the neighbors/The ones that won’t let you sleep