Sharing Favourite Lyrics / Help with Welsh Lyrics / All things Lyrics!

[tatjana]

Years ago I’ve listened to Radio Cardiff and the broadcast lead by Rachel Price who happened to host the band Futuretown. They had live session and played some of their songs. At that time they just re-established themselves with the singer who once was the member of the band already and he sang this song he wrote by himself for his just newborn son. The part of the song which touched me the most was this:

“… When you’re lost
Need a friend
I will give you my word
And you just have to trust
that I’ll be there
by your side
and I will keep on holding on to you …”

This alone might not be so very powerful but it touched me because I’ve promissed practically the same to my son when he was little fellow too. Every night when he got to sleep I said “Good night. Sleep well and dream something beautiful. Tomorrow is another day.” however due to turbulent times we’re living in just now I’ve always asked myself quietly “But would it really be another tomorrow?” Since we’re most of the day not together everyone on their own place due to work and school I afterwards (caused by these lyrics also) said to myself I’ll never give such promisess in the future again because there are times when you just can’t fulfill them.

[robscully]

Great choice Aran. Nick Cave is one of the best lyricists. At the same time loving, dark, wondrous and completely uncompromising

[robscully]

Having said that, my choice that springs immediately to mind (given the state of the world at present) is from Meinir Gwilym-

"Pan ti’n meddwl bo chdi’n gwbod, dyna pryd gei di ail ac mae o’n siglo dy sail… "

[AnthonyCusack]

Peter Sarstedt - Where do you go to my lovely?

“…I remember the back streets of Naples. Two children begging in rags…”

[mikeellwood]

The Windmills of Your Mind - The official Noel Harrison website -...

Round, like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel,
Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon,
Like a carousel that’s turning, running rings around the moon,
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face,
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space,
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind,

Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own,
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone,
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half-forgotten dream,
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream,
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face,
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind,

Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head,
Why did summer go so quickly? Was it something that you said?
Lovers walk along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand,
Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway or the fragment of a song,
Half-remembered names and faces but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware,
That the autumn leaves were turning to the colour of her hair,

A circle in a spiral, a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning, on an ever-spinning reel,
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find,
In the windmills of your mind

(Lyrics by Marilyn and AIan Bergman; music by Michel Le Grand)

Very “sixties”.

It’s about a love affair that’s over I suppose, what was, and what might have been.

[mikeellwood]

Michel Legrand again, this time in the “love theme” from the heartbreakingly beautiful “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg”:

http://www.letssingit.com/michel-legrand-lyrics-devant-le-garage-parapluies-de-cherbourg-wv9tgdm#axzz4QXyw6ExG

Michel Legrand Devant la garage

J’avais tellement peur de ne pas te trouver
je suis serieuse de avec toi
maintenant je rire parce-que je me raconte
combien je suis bete comme je suis toute seule
j’ai parle avec maman de notre marriage
elle m’a evidenemnt traite de folle
elle puis ce soir elle m’a interdit de te voir
tu comprends, j’ai eu si peur

J’aime mieux partir de oportune ne plus revoir maman
que tu de port
nous nous mariront en cachette

oh tu sais maintenant s’en ne plus de importance
nous avons meme de notre temps
ce matin j’ai recu et des feuilles de route
et je dois partir pour des armes

alors le marriage on de parlera plus tard
avec ce qui se passe a Algerie a ce moment
je ne reviendra pas d’ici longtemps

Mais je ne pourrai jamais vivre sans toi
Je ne pourrai pas, ne pars pas, j’en mourrai
Je te cacherai et je te garderai
mai mon amour me ne quittez pas

Tu sais bien que c’est ne pas possible
(je ne te quitterai pas)
mon amour il faudra pourtant que je partes
tu sonra que moi je n’en pensai que toi
mais je sais que toi tu m’e attendra

2 ans 2 ans de notre vie
ne pleurre pas je t’en supplis
2 ans non je ne pourrais pas
calme toi et nous reste si peux de temps
ce peux de temps mon amour qu il ne faut ne pas gacher
il faut que essayer notre feuille
il faut que nous gardions de nous dernier moment
un souvenir en peut de tous
un souvenir qui nous rappelera dans la vie

j’ai tellement peur comme je suis seule
ne nous retrouveront en nous se ronde femme
tu connaitrera d’autre femme et m’oubliras
je t’aimerais jusque a le fin de ma vie

Guilles je t’aime, me ne quittez pas

Mon amour… me ne laissez pas

Viens, viens, mon amour, mon amour

And how it was in the film:

(He has to go to serve in the army in the Algerian war; will he survive? Will their love survive?
At the end of the film, the answer appears to be clear, but there is a lingering doubt… I think the whole film is on Youtube if you want to see what I’m getting at).

[CatrinLliarJones]

I’m a big ffan of Lleuwen - there’s no denying her beautiful voice and she’s a particularly accomplished jazz singer in my opinion. Her music varies a lot and she’s not frightened of experimenting with different forms which I find refreshing.

This one is a particular favourite. The lyrics are simple and I find them quite touching…

[elizabeth_j_corbett_]

I would love a translation of the lyrics to Hyddgen by Plethyn. I think I understand the song but can’t find it written down anywhere. Anyone keen to help me?

[HuwJones]

Schiller’s Ode to Joy (with or without Beethoven’s uplifting setting in his 9th Symphony) means a lot to me especially in recent sad months. You can see the original and English translation here Ode to Joy / An die Freude

(I am also an atheist, but gods in the mythical sense (as here) or in the Terry Pratchett / Discworld sense are OK with me)

[Toffidil]

A two week holiday in Kenya at the age of 25 or 26, left me with a lifelong memory of a simple song that I have never listened to again, but the tune and words still ring around in my head and will never be forgotten.

Jambo Bwana
Jambo, Jambo bwana,
Habari gani,
Mzuri sana.

Wageni, Wakaribishwa,
Kenya yetu Hakuna Matata.

Kenya nchi nzuri,
Hakuna Matata.

Nchi ya maajabu
Hakuna Matata.

Nchi yenye amani,
Hakuna Matata.

Hakuna Matata,
Hakuna Matata.

Watu wote,
Hakuna Matata,
Wakaribishwa,
Hakuna Matata.

Hakuna Matata,
Hakuna Matata

[Toffidil]

Is there link between Nana Miskouri’s C’est bon la vie and swnami’s Sebona fi. Oh mae bywyd mor braf!

If not there simply has to be a link between C’est bon la vie-mae bywyd mor braf and Sebona fi Swnami must have been toying with the French phrase when they wrote the lyrics, the song includes lots of of French related links to wine and grapes and other things.

[robbruce]

I feel like a bit of a train spotter here, but Sebona Fi is an Yws Gwynedd song. There’s a Sŵnami connection since Ifan Siôn who sings for Sŵnami also plays guitar in the Yws Gwynedd band, but Yws definitely wrote the song - Ifan Siôn doesn’t write lyrics even for Sŵnami. Have you tried asking Yws Gwynedd himself? He’s on Twitter.

[Toffidil]

Thanks for putting me right here - I have so much to learn about welsh music - I hear lots of things, but have no idea who is who etc and I guess I just assumed it was Swnami - maybe the guitar sound of Ifan Sion is distinctive. I’m not on Twitter or Facebook so would have to sign up and figure out how to use them.

[robbruce]

I’ll ask him.

[seren]

I feel like I’ve turned up at the end of the evening, but it’s such a great thread. I love the French singer Barbara and this is the best song I’ve ever heard that talks of the nostalgia we adults feel about our childhood, our lost paradise, and about that lonely feeling one gets when revisiting familiar places - when everything is just as we once left it, yet our friends are far away, we’ve lost so many people we loved, and we ourselves are changed, and there is no coming back. I think Angelina Wismes, however young, has interpreted it with great sensitivity.

J’ai eu tort, je suis revenue
dans cette ville loin perdue
ou j’avais passe mon enfance.
J’ai eu tort, j’ai voulu revoir
le coteau ou glissaient le soir
bleus et gris ombres de silence.
Et je retrouvais comme avant,
longtemps apres,
le coteau, l’arbre se dressant,
comme au passe.
J’ai marche les tempes brulantes,
croyant etouffer sous mes pas.
Les voies du passe qui nous hantent
et reviennent sonner le glas.
Et je me suis couchee sous l’arbre
et c’etaient les memes odeurs.
Et j’ai laisse couler mes pleurs,
mes pleurs.
J’ai mis mon dos nu a l’ecorce,
l’arbre m’a redonne des forces
tout comme au temps de mon enfance.
Et longtemps j’ai ferme les yeux,
je crois que j’ai prie un peu,
je retrouvais mon innocence.
Avant que le soir ne se pose
j’ai voulu voir
les maisons fleuries sous les roses,
j’ai voulu voir
le jardin ou nos cris d’enfants
jaillissaient comme source claire.
Jean-Claude, Regine, et puis Jean -
tout redevenait comme hier -
le parfum lourd des sauges rouges,
les dahlias fauves dans l’allee,
le puits, tout, j’ai tout retrouve.
Helas
La guerre nous avait jete la,
d’autres furent moins heureux, je crois,
au temps joli de leur enfance.
La guerre nous avait jetes la,
nous vivions comme hors la loi.
Et j’aimais cela. Quand j’y pense
ou mes printemps, ou mes soleils,
ou mes folles annees perdues,
ou mes quinze ans, ou mes merveilles -
que j’ai mal d’etre revenue -
ou les noix fraiches de septembre
et l’odeur des mures ecrasees,
c’est fou, tout, j’ai tout retrouve.
Helas
Il ne faut jamais revenir
aux temps caches des souvenirs
du temps beni de son enfance.
Car parmi tous les souvenirs
ceux de l’enfance sont les pires,
ceux de l’enfance nous dechirent.
Oh ma tres cherie, oh ma mere,
ou etes-vous donc aujourd’hui?
Vous dormez au chaud de la terre.
Et moi je suis venue ici
pour y retrouver votre rire,
vos coleres et votre jeunesse.
Et je suis seule avec ma detresse.
Helas
Pourquoi suis-je donc revenue
et seule au detour de ces rues?
J’ai froid, j’ai peur, le soir se penche.
Pourquoi suis-je venue ici,
ou mon passe me crucifie?
Elle dort a jamais mon enfance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAsJXTDKiF4

[robbruce]

Roughly translated:
"No, but odd that you mention it, my former French teacher thought that the words were “C’est mon avis”, namely “In my view”.

[Toffidil]

Diolch yn fawr iawn and very impressive response I must say

[AnthonyCusack]

I messaged him ages ago asking for a copy of the lyrics and he replied within the hour. Top man!

[Toffidil]

I’m still hoping to find something else to rival Sebona Fi in welsh and I haven’t found it yet. This is the only song in welsh that I have found, where my daughter knows the words and spontaneously jumps up and down every time she hears it. Plenty of good stuff out there that I personally like and I have thought that things by the Candelas and others might get some interest, but they just don’t seem to have that magic ingredient for kids.