Les Grognards

Sung by EDITH PIAF

Les Grognards were a regiment created by Napoleon, essentially a special forces operation, from which we get the term "the old guard". This is Edith Piaf's song about the Old Guard's ghosts marching at night through Paris, which they never had a chance to visit when they were alive. I'd love it if anybody could give me details of songwriting credits. An English translation is below the song.

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Écoute peuple de Paris
Tu n’as pas la fièvre
Écoute ces pas qui marchent dans la nuit
Qui s’approchent de ton rêve
Tu vois des ombres qui forment une fresque
Gigantesque accrochée dans ton ciel
Écoute, peuple de Paris
Regarde peuple de Paris ces ombres éternelles
Qui défilent en chantant sous ton ciel

Nous les grognards, les grenadiers
Sans grenades, sans fusils, ni souliers
Sans ennemis et sans armée
On s’ennuie dans la nuit du passé
Nous les grognards, les grenadiers
Sans grenades, sans fusils, ni souliers
Ce soir nous allons défiler
Au milieu de vos Champs-Elysées
Wagram, Iéna, Eylau, Arcole, Marengo…
Ça sonne bien
Quelles jolies batailles
Tout ce travail
C’était pas pour rien
Puisque les noms de rues
Les noms d’avenues
Où vous marchez
C’est avec le sang
De nos vingt ans
Qu’on les a gravés
Nous les grognards, les grenadiers
Sans grenades, sans fusils, ni souliers
Sans ennemis et sans armée
On s’ennuie dans la nuit du passé
Nous les grognards, les grenadiers
On est morts sur des champs étrangers
On a visité la Russie
Mais jamais nous n’avons vu Paris
On n’a pas eu le temps
D’avoir un printemps
Qui nous sourit
Nos pauvres amours
Duraient un jour
Au revoir et merci
Roulez, roulez tambours
Dans le petit jour
On s’en allait
Au son du clairon

Et du canon
Notre vie dansait
Nous les grognards, les grenadiers
On nous a oubliés, oubliés…
Depuis le temps de nos combats
Il y a eu tant et tant de soldats
Mais cette nuit vous nous verrez
Sans grenades, sans fusils, ni souliers
Défiler au pas cadencé
Au milieu de vos Champs-Elysées
Sans grenades…
Sans fusils…
Ni souliers…
A Paris…

Translation

Listen, people of Paris,
You're complacent
Listen to those footsteps marching in the night
That come to you in your dreams.
Do you see the shadows forming a gigantic fresco
hanging from the sky?
Listen, people of Paris
Listen, people of Paris to those eternal shades
Who sing as they pass under your skies!

We are les Grognards, grenadiers
Without grenades, rifles or boots
With neither enemies nor army
Turned grey in the night of the past.
We are les Grognards, grenadiers
Without grenades, rifles or boots
Tonight we're going to march
To the heart of your Champs Elysées.
Wagram, Iéna, Eylau, Arcole, Marengo…
It sounds impressive,
Those fine battles
All our work
Was for nothing.
Because the names of your streets
And avenues
Were written with our blood
Engraved on our twenty years
We are les Grognards, grenadiers
Without grenades, rifles or boots
With neither enemies nor army
Turned grey in the night of the past.
We are les Grognards, grenadiers,
dead on foreign fields.
We visited Russia
But never saw Paris.
We never had time
To have a spring
To smile in.
Our feeble loves
Lasted a day
So thank you and goodbye.
Roll, drums, roll
In the short day
When we followed the bugle's call.

And to the cannon
Our lives danced to.
We are les Grognards, grenadiers,
And you have forgotten us, forgotten us.
Solider after soldier has fallen
Since the time of our battles
But you will see us tonight
Without grenades, rifles or boots,
Marching in time
To the heart of your Champs Elysées
Without grenades...
Without rifles...
Without boots...
To Paris...

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Out in the Street

Performed by THE SHANGRI-LAS
REleased as a single in 1965
And by BLONDIE in 1976

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I can't find attributions for this song, but will try to. It demonstrates the difficulty of trying to get "off the streets" once you've been on them.

He don't, hang around, with the gang no more.
He don't do the wild things that he did before.

He used to act bad, Used to, but he quit it.
It make me so sad.
Cause I know that he did it for me.
(Yes he did now)
And I can see...(It's still in the streets)
His heart, out in the street.

(He don't, comb his hair, like he did before
He don't wear those dirty old black boots no more.)

But he's not the same, Somethin' about his kissin'
That tells me he's changed.
I know that something's missing inside.
(mumble mumble)
Somethin's died...(It's still in the streets)
His heart, out in the street.

He grew up on the sidewalk.
Streetlight shinin' above.
He grew up with no-one to love.
He grew up on the sidewalk.
He grew up running free.
He grew up and then he met me..

He don't, hang around, with the gang no more.
Gee, he doesn't smile like he did before.

I wish I didn't care.
I wish I'd never met him.
They're waitin' downstairs.
I know I've got to set him free
He's gotta' be... (Out in the street)
His heart is out in the street.

He don't hang around with the gang no more.
(Out in the street)
He don't hang around with the gang no more.
(Out in the street)
He don't hang around with the gang no more.
(Out in the street)

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Once in a Lifetime

This song was written by my mother in New York in the early '60s.

Once in a lifetime we make a mistake
One that causes real heartbreak
It's then that we feel, all the sorrow and pain,
And wish that we could turn the clock back again.

Once in a lifetime, we do a great wrong
To someone who loves us sincerely.
We think we are clever, but only headstrong
And too late, we see things quite clearly.

So once in a lifetime, heed the advice
From the one, in whose hearts we are dear.
For that big mistake we pay a terrible price
In emptiness, loneliness and fear.

Fairytale

Words and music by ALEXANDER RYBAK
Winner of the EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2009

Click to go to Tales from a Draughty Old Fen: Eurovision 2009



Congratulations to Alexander Rybak from Norway, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in Russia with this song, and after years of frustration about voting for countries in one's own back yard shares the prize with the night's other big winner - the music!

Years ago, when I was younger
I kinda liked a girl I knew
She was mine and we were sweethearts
That was then, but then it's true

I'm in love with a fairytale
Even though it hurts
'Cause I don't care if I lose my mind
I'm already cursed

Every day we started fighting
Every night we fell in love
No one else could make me sadder
But no one else could lift me high above

I don't know what I was doing
When suddenly, we fell apart
Nowadays, I cannot find her
But when I do, we'll get a brand new start

I'm in love with a fairytale
Even though it hurts
'Cause I don't care if I lose my mind
I'm already cursed

She's a fairytale, yeah...
Even though it hurts
'Cause I don't care if I lose my mind
I'm already cursed

Taxman

Words and music by
GOERGE HARRISON
From the 1966 Beatles album REVOLVER

With the reintroduction of high taxes for higher earners, this song has been on the minds of many

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'cause I'm the taxman,
yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'cause I'm the taxman,
yeah, I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet
Taxman

'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman

Don't ask me what I want it for (ha ha Mr. Wilson)
If you don't want to pay some more (ha ha Mr. Heath)
'cause I'm the taxman,
yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'cause I'm the taxman,
yeah, I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me

Those were the days of our lives

Words by FREDDY MERCURY/QUEEN
Music by QUEEN
From the 1991 album INNUENDO

Freddy Mercury, famously "gay as a daffodil", seems to reflect in this song, recorded in his dying days, about the possibility of living life vicariously "through your kids". Regrets about straying from his long-term relationship with Mary Austin?

Sometimes I get the feelin'
I was back in the old days - long ago
When we were kids. when we were young.
Things seemed so perfect - you know,
The days were endless, we were crazy we were young.
The sun was always shinin' - we just lived for fun,
Sometimes it seems like lately - I just don't know
The rest of my life's been just a show,

Those were the days of our lives,
The bad things in life were so few,
Those days are all gone now but one thing is true,
When I look and I find I still love you.

You can't turn back the clock you can't turn back the tide -
Ain't that a shame!
I'd like to go back one time on a roller coaster ride,
When life was just a game,
No use in sitting and thinkin' on what you did,
When you can lay back and enjoy it through your kids.
Sometimes it seems like lately - I just don't know,
Better sit back and go with the flow.

Cos these are the days of our lives,
They've flown in the swiftness of time,
These days are all gone now but some things remain,
When I look and I find no change.

Those were the days of our lives - yeah,
The bad things in life were so few.
Those days are all gone now but one thing's still true,
When I look and I find,
I still love you.

I still love you.

we are the world

WORDS and MUSIC by
MICHAEL JACKSON and LIONEL RICHIE
Released as a single in 1985

This song was released in the run-up to the 1985 Band-Aid concert by USA [United Singers of America] for Africa. As good as the intentions of the organisers were, the money raised by this and the Band-Aid concert was largely diverted into the hands of the warlords who had exacerbated the famine in the Ethiopian region of Tigray in the first place (see post below)

There comes a time
When we head a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on
Pretneding day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of
God's great big family
And the truth, you know love is all we need

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart
So they'll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

When you're down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe
There's no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change will only come
When we stand together as one

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

do they know it's Christmas?

WORDS and MUSIC by
BOB GELDOF and MIDGE URE
Released as a single in 1984
and twice subsequently

The ultimate song of unfulfilled promise: as part of the Band-Aid process in 1985, almost a billion pounds ($1.4bn) made its way to Africa. Much of this money cme not from the single and and concert but from governments, who would deal only at governmental level. Thus much of the money went to Ethioian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, who had much exacerbated the crisis in Tigray by making war on the region - but this was never reported in Michael Buerk's seminal dispatch nor by Bob Geldof, who were anxious not to give the public reasons not to donate.

It's Christmas time
There's no need to be afraid
At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time

But say a prayer
Pray for the other ones
At Christmas time it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmas time at all

(Here's to you) raise a glass for everyone
(Here's to them) underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's Christmas time at all

Feed the world, feed the world, feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again

Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again

I'll find my way home

Words by JON ANDERSON
Music by EVANGELOS PAPATHANASSIOU (VANGELIS)
From the album
THE FRIENDS OF MR CAIRO (SECOND EDITION)
And as a single (1981)

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You ask me where to begin
Am I so lost in my sin
You ask me where did I fall
I'll say I can't tell you when
But if my spirit is lost
How will I find what is near
Don't question I'm not alone
Somehow I'll find my way home

My sun shall rise in the east
So shall my heart be at peace
And if you're asking me when
I'll say it starts at the end
You know your will to be free
Is matched with love secretly
And talk will alter your prayer
Somehow you'll find you are there

Your friend is close by your side
And speaks in far ancient tongue
A season's wish will come true
All seasons begin with you
One world we all come from
One world we melt into one
Just hold my hand and we're there
Somehow we're going somewhere
Somehow we're going somewhere

You ask me where to begin
Am I so lost in my sin
You ask me where did I fall
I'll say I can't tell you when
But if my spirit is strong
I know it can't be long
No questions I'm not alone
Somehow I'll find my way home

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Loch Lomond

TRADITIONAL SCOTTISH
Released by RUNRIG
In the album THE HIGHLAND CONNECTION (1979)
And as a single (1983/2007)

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By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes
Where the sun shines on Loch Lomond
Where me and my true love spent many happy days
On the banks of Loch Lomond

Twas there that we parted in yon shady glen
On the steep sides of Ben Lomond
Where in purple hue the Highland hills we view
And the moon glints out in the gloaming

You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road And I'll be in Scotland afore ye
Where me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond

Where wild flowers spring and the wee birdies sing
On the steep sides of Ben Lomond
But the broken heart it kens nae second spring
Though resigned we may be while we’re greetin

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Galveston

Words and music by JIMMY WEBB

Released by GLEN CAMPBELL
As a single and in the album of the same name (1969).

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Jimmy Webb stated he was thinking of the Spanish-American War when he wrote this song, but Glen Campbell performed the promotional video in battle fatigues, intending it to be about Vietnam, as Galveston was the embarcation point for many soldiers going to that war.

Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin'
I still see her dark eyes glowin'
She was 21 when I left Galveston

Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea waves crashing
While I watch the cannons flashing
I clean my gun and dream of Galveston

I still see her standing by the water
Standing there lookin' out to sea
And is she waiting there for me?
On the beach where we used to run

Galveston, oh Galveston, I am so afraid of dying
Before I dry the tears she's crying
Before I watch your sea birds flying in the sun
At Galveston, at Galveston

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London Pride

Words and Music by NOËL COWARD
Released as a single in 1941

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Noël Coward wrote this song in 1941, comparing the hardiness to Londoners during the Blitz to that of the plant of the same name.

London Pride has been handed down to us.
London Pride is a flower that's free.
London Pride means our own dear town to us,
And our pride it for ever will be.

Woa, Liza,
See the coster barrows,
Vegetable marrows
And the fruit piled high.
Woa, Liza,
Little London sparrows,
Covent Garden Market where the costers cry.

Cockney feet
Mark the beat of history.
Every street
Pins a memory down.
Nothing ever can quite replace
The grace of London Town.

There's a little city flower every spring unfailing
Growing in the crevices by some London railing,
Though it has a Latin name, in town and country-side
We in England call it London Pride.

London Pride has been handed down to us.
London Pride is a flower that's free.
London Pride means our own dear town to us,
And our pride it for ever will be.

Hey, lady,
When the day is dawning
See the policeman yawning
On his lonely beat.
Gay lady,
Mayfair in the morning,
Hear your footsteps echo in the empty street.

Early rain
And the pavement's glistening.
All Park Lane
In a shimmering gown.
Nothing ever could break or harm
The charm of London Town.

In our city darkened now, street and square and crescent,
We can feel our living past in our shadowed present,
Ghosts beside our starlit Thames
Who lived and loved and died
Keep throughout the ages London Pride.

London Pride has been handed down to us.
London Pride is a flower that's free.
London Pride means our own dear town to us,
And our pride it for ever will be.

Grey city
Stubbornly implanted,
Taken so for granted
For a thousand years.
Stay, city,
Smokily enchanted,
Cradle of our memories and hopes and fears.

Every Blitz
Your resistance
Toughening,
From the Ritz
To the Anchor and Crown,
Nothing ever could override
The pride of London Town.

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The Song of the Clyde

Words and music by
R.Y. BELL and IAN GOURLEY
Sung by KENNETH McKELLAR (1963)

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I sing of a river I'm happy beside.
The song that I sing is a song of the Clyde.
Of all Scottish rivers it's dearest to me.
It flows from Leadhills all the way to the sea.
It borders the orchards of Lanark so fair,
Meanders through meadows with sheep grazing there,
But from Glasgow to Greenock, in towns on each side,
The hammers' "ding-dong" is the song of the Clyde.

CHORUS: Oh the river Clyde, the wonderful Clyde!
The name of it thrills me and fills me with pride,
And I'm satisfied, whate'er may betide,
The sweetest of song is the song of the Clyde.

Imagine we've left Craigendoran behind,
And wind-happy yachts by Kilcreggan we find.
At Kirn and Dunoon and Innellan we stay,
Then Scotland’s Madeira—that's Rothesay, they say—
Or maybe by Fairlie and Largs we will go,
Or over to Millport that thrills people so,
Maybe journey to Arran it can't be denied,
Those scenes all belong to the song of the Clyde. CHORUS

When sun sets on dockland there's beauty to see.
The cry of a sea bird is music to me.
The blast of a horn loudly echoes, and then
A stillness descends on the water again.
'Tis here that the sea-going liners are born:
But, unlike the salmon, they seldom return.
Can you wonder the Scots, o'er the ocean so wide,
Should constantly long for the song of the Clyde? CHORUS

4. There's Paw an' Maw at Glasgow Broomielaw.
They're goin' "doon the water" for "The Fair."
There's Bob an' Mary, on the Govan Ferry,
Wishin' jet propulsion could be there.
There's steamers cruisin', and there's "buddies" snoozin',
And there's laddies fishin' frae the pier;
An' Paw's perspirin', very near expirin',
As he rows a boat frae there to here.

5. With eyes a-flashin', it is voted "smashin",
To be walkin' daily on the prom:
And May and Evelyn are in seventh heaven
As thy stroll along with Dick and Tom;
And Dumbarton Rock to ev'ry Jean and Jock,
Extends a welcome that is high and wide:
Seems to know that they are on their homeward way
To hear the song of the Clyde. CHORUS

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Mull of Kintyre

Words and Music by PAUL McCARTNEY
Releaased as a single by WINGS (1977)

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Mull of kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh mull of kintyre

Far have I traveled and much have I seen
Dark distant mountains with valleys of green.
Past painted deserts the sunsets on fire
As he carries me home to the mull of kintyre.

Mull of kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh mull of kintyre

Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen
Carry me back to the days I knew then.
Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir
Of the life and the time of the mull of kintyre.

Mull of kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh mull of kintyre

Smiles in the sunshine
And tears in the rain
Still take me back to where my memories remain
Flickering embers growing higher and higher
As they carry me back to the mull of kintyre

Mull of kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh mull of kintyre

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Remember the Alamo

Words and music by JANE BOWERS
Recorded and sang by
the KINGSTON TRIO, JOHNNY CASH, DONOVAN and others

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A hundred and eighty were challenged by Travis to die
By the line that he drew with his sword when the battle was nigh.
Any man that would fight to the death cross over,
But him that would live better fly
And over the line went a hundred and seventy nine

Hey Santa Anna we're killing your soldiers below,
That men where ever they go, will remember the Alamo

Jim Bowie lay dyin', but his powder was ready and dry
Flat on his back Bowie killed him a few in reply
And young David Crockett was singin' and laughin',
With gallantry fierce in his eyes
For God and for freedom, a man's more than willin' to die

Hey Santa Anna we're killing your soldiers below,
that men where ever they go, will remember the Alamo

And then they sent a young scout from the battlements bloody and loud,
With the words of farewell from a garrison valiant and proud
"Grieve not little darlin' my dyin', if Texas is sovereign and free,
We'll never surrender and ever with liberty be"

Hey Santa Anna we're killing your soldiers below,
that men where ever they go, will remember the Alamo!

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Né en 17 à Leidenstadt

Words and music by JEAN-JACQUES GOLDMAN
From the 1990 album FREDERICKS GOLDMAN JONES
Released as a single in 1991

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This song was a big hit when I was living and working in France, and I fell in love with the words and the arrangement. The lyrics show the moral and intellectual courage of Jean-Jacques Goldman, who has Polish Jewish forebears, as he reflects on how he would have felt had he been one of the Germans in their humiliating WWI defeat in the town of the title. He also wonders how he would have felt in the tribalised atmosphere of industrial Belfast, and the late Carole Fredericks, from Springfield, sings the verse wondering how she would have acted had she been born white and rich in Johannesburg. The last two lines speak of a hope of peace springing from stepping back from war until we are somewhat more enlightened than at present, and the sampled bagpipes in the chorus, which is sung only once, are the icing on the cake. My English translation is below the French words.

Si j’étais né en 17 à Leidenstadt
Sur les ruines d’un chams de bataille
Aurias-je été meilleur ou pire que ces gens
Si j’avais été allemand?

Bercé d’humiliation, de haine et d’ignorance
Nourri de rêves de revanche
Aurais-je été de ces probables consciences
Larmes au milieu d’un torrent

Si j’avais grandi dans les docklands de Belfast
Soldat d’une fois, d’une caste
Aurais-je la force envers et contre les miens
De trahir: tender un main

Si j’étais née blanche et riche à Johannesburg
Entre la pouvoir et la peur
Aurai-je entendu ce cris porté par le vent
Rien ne sera comme avant

On saura jamais c’qu’on a vraiment dans nos ventres
Caché derrière nos apparences
L’âme d’un brave ou d’n complice ou d’un bourreau?
Ou le pire ou plus beau?
Serions-nous de ceau qui résistant ou biens les moutons d’un troupeau
S’il fallait plus que ces mots?

Si j’étais né en 17 à Leidenstadt
Sur les ruines d’un chams de bataille
Aurias-je été meilleur ou pire que ces gens
Si j’avais été allemand?

Et qu’on nous épargne à toi et moi si possibles très longtemps
D’avoir à choisir un camp.

Translation

If I was born in 1917 in Leidenstadt,
On the ruins of a battlefield
Would I have been better or worse than its people
If I’d been German?

Brought up with humiliation, hatred and ignorance
Cutting my teeth on dreams of revenge
Would I have been improbably conscientious,
Tears in the midst of a flood?

If I’d grown up in the docklands of Belfast,
Soldier of one faith, one tribe,
Would I have had the strength to go around and against my own people,
To betray – reach out a hand?

If I’d been born white and rich in Johannesburg,
Living between power and fear,
Would I have heard the voices on the wind
Saying things would never be the same again?

We never know what’s in each other’s mind,
Hidden behind our appearances.
The soul of a brave, or a collaborator, or an executioner?
Or something better, or worse?
Would we be among those who resist, or else with the sheep in the flock
If more than words were needed?

If I was born in 1917 in Leidenstadt,
On the ruins of a battlefield
Would I have been better or worse than its people
If I’d been German?

And if you and I spare each other long enough,
We might not have to choose a side.

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You've got to hide your love away

Words and music by
JOHN LENNON AND PAUL McCARTNEY
Performed by THE BEATLES (1965)

John Lennon wrote this for the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein after he showed up bruised, having been beaten up by gay-bashers in London over the weekend. Perhaps it was also an apology for his having reduced Epstein to tears by calling him a "gay Jewboy".

Here I stand head in hand
Turn my face to the wall
If she's gone I can't go on
Feeling two foot small
Everywhere people stare
each and every day
I can see them laugh at me
And I hear them say

Hey you've got to hide your love away
Hey you've got to hide your love away

How can I even try?
I can never win
Hearing them, seeing them
In the state I'm in
How could she say to me
"Love will find a way?"
Gather round all you clowns
Let me hear you say

Hey you've got to hide your love away
Hey you've got to hide your love away

i treni di tozeur

WORDS and music by FRANCO BATTIATO,
ROSARIO COSENTINO and GIUSTO PIO
Performed by ALICE E BATTIATO

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This was the Italian entry for the 1984 Eurovision Song contest and, in my opinion, is one of the finest pop songs ever written. The lyrics are redolent of another time and another place - Tozeur is an oasis in the Tunisian Sahara. Lyrics from Mozart's The Magic Flute also turn up. Italian lyrics are below, English underneath.

Nei villaggi di frontiera guardano passar' i treni
le strade deserte di Tozeur
da una casa lontana tua madre mi vede
si ricorda di me delle mie abitudini.

E per un istante ritorna la voglia di vivere
a un'altra velocità
passano ancora lenti i treni per Tozeur.

Nelle chiese abbandonate si preparano rifugi
e nuove astronavi per viaggi interstellari
in una vecchia miniera distese di sale
si ricordo di me come un incantesimo

E per un istante ritorna la voglia di vivere
a un'altra velocità
passano ancora lenti i treni per Tozeur.


Nei villaggi di frontiera guardano passar'
i treni per Tozeur.



Translation:



In the villages on the border they watch
trains pass the deserted streets of Tozeur.
From a faraway house your mother watches me,
or so I remember, as I'm prone to doing

And for a moment the wish
to live at another speed returns -
he trains still pass slowly through Tozeur.

In abandoned churches,
There hideaways, and spacecraft for interstellar journeys
In an old mine bloated with salt
Or so I remember, as if I was under a spell.

And for a moment the wish
to live at another speed returns -
the trains still pass slowly through Tozeur.

In the villages on the border
They watch the trains for Tozeur.

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