Paolo Conte - Diavolo Rosso

Artist: Paolo Conte

Song: Diavolo Rosso

Album: Appunti di Viaggio (1982)

 

Today begins a series of posts about heroes of italian cycling; their sportive exploits are told in Italian. And so all comments below.

 "Diavolo rosso" di Paolo Conte, dall'album "Appunti di viaggio" (1982), dedicata al leggendario Giovanni Gerbi. Si tratta di un omaggio del grande cantautore astigiano al suo concittadino pioniere del ciclismo e autore di imprese eroiche.

La leggenda narra che il soprannome gli venne affibbiato quando, durante una fuga, capitò nel bel mezzo di una processione. Il parroco, vedendo questo "diau" ("diavolo", in piemontese), vestito con la sua tradizionale maglia da corsa rossa, lo investì con questo epiteto.

La canzone Diavolo rosso è letteralmente trascinante, una delle più ispirate di Conte.

 

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Quelle bambine bionde
con quegli anellini alle orecchie
tutte spose che partoriranno
uomini grossi come alberi
che quando cercherai di convincerli
allora lo vedi che sono proprio di legno

Diavolo rosso
dimentica la strada
vieni qui con noi
a bere un'aranciata
contro luce tutto il tempo
se ne va...

Guarda le notti più alte
di questo nord-ovest bardato di stelle
e le piste dei carri gelate
come gli sguardi dei francesi
un valzer di vento e di paglia
la morte contadine
che risale le risaie
e fa il verso delle rane
e tutto ha
arriva sulle aie bianche
come le falciatrici di raccolto

Voci dal sole altre voci,
da questa campagna altri abissi di luci
e di terra e di anima niente
più che il cavallo è il chinino
e voci e bisbiglio d'albergo:
amanti di pianura
regine di corrieri e paracarri
la loro, la loro discrezione antica
è acqua e miele...

Diavolo rosso
dimentica la strada
vieni qui con noi
a bere un'aranciata
contro luce tutto il tempo
se ne va...

Girano le lucciole
nei cerchi della notte...
questo buio sa di fieno e di lontano
e la canzone forse sa di ratafià...

 

 

Pink Floyd - Bike

Artist: Pink Floyd

Song: Bike

Album: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)

 

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is Pink Floyd's debut album and the only one made under Syd Barrett's leadership, although he made some contributions to the follow-up, A Saucerful of Secrets. It has been regarded as one of the most influential albums ever made, being a tremendous influence on the psychedelic rock scene of the time and much of what followed.

The album has whimsical lyrics about space, scarecrows, gnomes, bicycles and fairytales, along with psychedelic instrumental passages.

 

The album concludes with the whimsical "Bike" (also left off the original US vinyl release in favor of "See Emily Play") which then turns into a collage of sound effects and duck-call noises. "Bike" was originally entitled "The Bike Song", and it was recorded on 21 May 1967.

 

Bike is absolutely out of this world because it's so magical, the absolute raw energy spitting out of Barrett's mouth is wonerously beutiful and rising intense sound effects seem to spiral all over the place.'I know a mouse and he has'nt got a house i don't know why i call him Gerald' and 'I've got a clan of gingerbread men, take a couple if you wish they're on the dish' are just a sample of the wizards magic it seems as if Syd's mind is a magical wand that can cast any spell he desires and inflicts it upon the musical world filling it with curious amounts of magic, pure brilliance. Bike poseses a speedy tempo and the way Barrett sings it along with Masons drums creating pauses after each verse it feels like a nursery rhyme that we can all sing along to.

 

… “Bike” split the difference between quirky pop songs and explorations of the nightmarish found-sound fringe, setting a twisted template for countless acts to come. By 1980's The Wall, Pink Floyd had become sterile and solipsistic. At this auspicious start, Pink Floyd were thrilling. Anything was possible.

 

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I've got a bike.
You can ride it if you like.
It's got a basket, a bell that rings,
and things to make it look good.
I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, everything, if you want things.

I've got a cloak, it's a bit of a joke.
There's a tear up the front, it's red and black,
I've had it for months.
If you think it could look good then I guess it should.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world
I'll give you anything, everything, if you want things

I know a mouse and he hasn't got a house.
I don't know why I call him Gerald.
He's getting rather old but he's a good mouse.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, everything, if you want things.

I've got a clan of gingerbread men.
Here a man, there a man, lots of gingerbread men.
Take a couple if you wish, they're on the dish.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, everything, if you want things

I know a room of musical tunes.
Some rhyme, some ching, most of them are clockwork.

Let's go into the other room and make them work.

Bruce Springsteen - Girls In Their Summer Clothes

Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Titolo: Girls In Their Summer Clothes

Album: Magic (2007)

Several songs in Magic express disillusionment with the state of American society in 2007 in particular; “Girls In Their Summer Clothes” matched with a pop-oriented melody, Springsteen's full-throated singing, and a "pop-orchestral arrangement"; the lyric portrays a series of warm small town vignettes; this song has been cited as a singularly "breezy" song on the album, though A. O. Scott of The New York Times notes that not even this track is "untouched by melancholy. Its narrator, after all, stands and watches as the girls of the title 'pass me by.”

Jay Lustig of The Star-Ledger writes that the song "unfolds gradually and at its own eccentric pace, with the music, and Springsteen's vocals, getting progressively more intense”. 

This is the only song in which the Boss appointed the bike!

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Well the street lights shine
Down on Blessing Avenue
Lovers they walk by
Holdin’ hands two by two

A breeze crosses the porch
Bicycle spokes spin ’round
Jacket’s on, I’m out the door
Tonight I’m gonna burn this town down

And the girls in their summer clothes
In the cool of the evening light
The girls in their summer clothes
Pass me by

Kid’s rubber ball smacks
Off the gutter ‘neath the lamp light
Big bank clock chimes
Off go the sleepy front porch lights

Downtown the store’s alive
As the evening’s underway
Things been a little tight
But I know they’re gonna turn my way

And the girls in their summer clothes
In the cool of the evening light
The girls in their summer clothes
Pass me by

Frankie’s Diner’s
Over on the edge of town
Neon sign spinnin’ round
Like a cross over the lost and found

Fluorescent lights
Flicker above Bob’s Grill
Shaniqua brings a coffee and asks “fill?”
And says “penny for your thoughts now my poor Bill”

She went away
She cut me like a knife
Had a beautiful thing
Maybe you just saved my life

In just a glance
Down here on Magic Street
Love’s a fool’s dance
I ain’t got no sense but I still got my feet

And the girls in their summer clothes
In the cool of the evening light
The girls in their summer clothes
Pass me by

And the girls in their summer clothes
In the cool of the evening light
The girls in their summer clothes
Pass me by

La la la la, la la la la la la la
La la la la, la la la la la la la
La la la la, la la la la la la la
La la la la, la la la la la la la

They Might Be Giants - Narrow Your Eyes

Artist: They Might Be Giants
Titolo: Narrow Your Eyes

Album: Apollo 18 (1992)

more about Apollo 18

"Narrow Your Eyes," is a touching breakup song that pays vocal tribute to the Beatles and the Four Seasons, exemplifies the Giants' masterful creative grip.

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 I don't want to change your mind

I don't want to think about your mind

They say love is blind

I don't think you're blind

You don't want to understand

I don't want to shake your father's hand

And walk in the sand

And act like a man

I get on the bus

Ride past our stop

And though I'm late

I can't get off

I just can't bear to tell you some lies

And narrow your eyes

Narrow your eyes

We'll take back every thing we said

Split up all the things and move ahead

Forgot how you said

We'll split the side off the bed

I get on my bike

Ride down our block

Ride through the world

Through the green lights

But when I think of all your advice

I narrow my eyes

Narrow my eyes

I don't want to change your mind

I don't want to think about your mind

They say love is blind

I don't think you're blind

I get on the bus

Ride past our stop

And though I'm late

I can't get off

I just can't bear to tell you some lies

And narrow your eyes

Narrow your eyes

Now let's toast the sad cold fact

Our love's never coming back

And we'll race to the bottom of a glass

So narrow your eyes

Narrow your eyes

Narrow your eyes

Narrow your eyes

Narrow your eyes

Narrow your eyes

 

 

The Jazz Butcher - Bicycle Kid

Artist: The Jazz Butcher
Titolo: Bicycle Kid

Album: Big Planet Scarey Planet (1989)

 

The Butcher says…

(about the album) This was a real "band" album by a touring unit which had become really quite ferocious. In choosing to work with John A. Rivers again we felt that we were sufficiently noisy and fierce to cope with any over- tidy production strokes he might pull. "Clean *that* up, then, ya bastard" was out declared policy in the group.

Of course, we under-rated him.I wanted to start to mess with the pretty traditional song structures we were using. We were all aware that music was changing, and, more out of interest than out of any spurious "career" concern, we wanted to see where we could take our pop songs using things like breakdowns, the mixing in of "found" voices (which we first heard NOT from Steinski or the Bryne/Brian Eno collaboration, but from John Stapleton, a DJ who scratched things in at early The Blue Aeroplanes, radical and unexpected changes of sounds - a series of sonic events rather than plain old verse/chorus structure. I probably did too much pre-production on my (new) 4-track at home, and the whole thing sounds a bit stillborn.

(about Bicycle Kid) One will appreciate that a few years have passed since this was written. He is Bicycle Bloke now. One day he will hear this tune and the Butcher will be toast: "Bicycle Kid - the jumped up B-side that ruined my life."

 

He's a bicycle kid, He's got his Mister T. slippers.
He's a bicycle kid, he's eleven years old.
Dog-faced spawn of a working class Tory,
Bicycle kid never does what he's told.
He's a bicycle kid and he wants to get a crossbow.
Bicycle kid had a rabbit that died:
Evil little fucker put his pet through the window,
The he ran to his mother and he cried, cried, cried.

Chorus:

So cry like an onion bicycle kid,
'Coz I'm gonna get your for the things that you did.
Cry like an onion bicycle kid,
You're just another sucker at heart.

Bicyle kid - extortion in the playground.
What does he do with all the money he made?
Bicyle kid in Kentucky Fried Chicken
And the WHAM-BAM-RAMBO machine arcade.
He's a bicycle kid, and his mother's on Valium.
He's a bicycle kid, and his dad's on the lump.
He's a bicycle kid, and his tea's in the micro.
He's a bicycle kid and he's on the dump.

Chorus

Bicycle kid shitting in a greenhouse.
Bicycle kid down at the aquadrome.
Bicycle kid in trouble with a policeman.
Bicycle kid "he's a good boy at home".
Bicycle kid grow up and get an Escort.
Bicycle kid grow up and get worse.
Bicycle kid forget to use a condom.
Bicycle kid! It's evolution in reverse!

Chorus

.
.
You're an evil mother fucker.
.
.
fade. 

The Decemberists - Apology Song

Artist: The Decemberists
Titolo: Apology Song

Album: 5 songs (Ep, 2003)

5 Songs is a six-track EP by The Decemberists initially self-released by the band in 2001. The artwork was produced by Portland, Oregon artist Carson Ellis. The misleading title is due to the fact that the final track, "Apology Song" (originally sung into the answering machine of a friend named Steven as a legitimate apology for the loss of a beloved bicycle named Madeline), was written after the original self-produced CD was released. Lead singer Colin Meloy liked it so much that it was added to the album when it was re-released by Hush Records in 2003.

In 5 SONGS, which actually consists of six, Colin Meloy's uniquely wonderful vocals, masterful storytelling and intimidating vocabulary come to a head - and combined with accordionistas, violinists, and your standard guitar/percussion/bass, you'd be hardpressed to find indie folk rock that sounded fresher or more exciting than this.
The songs themselves are six different stories in the ever-eclectic yarn of the Decemberists, with subjects ranging from World War II love stories ("My Mother Was A Chinese Trapeze Artist") to a heartfelt apology (Apology Song) for losing a friend's bicycle… bicycle? I think if you listen closely the end reveals that not only was the bike stolen, but so was his girlfriend.

Apology song is a solid and cheerful song with the Decemberists' excellent combination of harmony, guitar, and organ.

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I'm really sorry Steven
But your bicycle's been stolen
I was watchin' it for you
'Til you came back in the fall
Guess I didn't do such a good job after all

I was feeling really sorry Steven
And I spent all morning grieving
And everybody's saying
That you'll take the news gracefully
Somehow I don't think I'll be getting off that easily

I meant her no harm
When I left her unlocked
Outside the Orange Street Food Farm
I was just running in
Didn't think I'd be that long
I came out, she was gone
And all that was there was some bored old dog
Leashed up to the place where your bicycle had been
Guess we'll never see poor Madeleine again

Let this be consolation, Steven
That all the while you were in England
I treated her with care and respect
And gave her lots of love
And I was usually pretty good 'bout locking her up

Where has she gone?
Well, I bet she's on the bottom of the Frenchtown Pond
Rudely abused on some hescher's joyride
So I wrote you this song
In the hopes that you'd forgive me
Even though it was wrong
Being so careless with a thing so great
And taking your poor Madeleine away, away

Ookla The Mok - Tandem Bike

Artist: Ookla The Mok
Titolo: Tandem Bike

Album: Super Secret (1998)

Ookla the Mok is the name of a filk band fronted by Rand Bellavia and Adam English. The band is named after a character from the Ruby-Spears Productions cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian, created by Steve Gerber. They utilise an irreverent mix of pop culture and rock music, notably in their album Smell No Evil (2001) - the world's first monkey rock opera. They provided the theme song to Disney's Fillmore!!, and scored the feature film Bite Me, Fanboy! They (or Rand and Adam) have won 3 Pegasus Awards, for excellence in filk music, and their music has twice been included on Dr. Demento compilations Mr. Potato Head, Master of Disguise! Guys fighting crime in their pajamas! Spies and Super Heroes abound on the album that put Ookla the Mok on the map. This album features the song that Disney purchased for use as the themesong to Fillmore!

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She came into my room at two o'clock in the afternoon

And she said that she had a desperate need

To talk about our relationship

and wasn't it time that we called it quits

But she cried when I said that I kind of agreed

I didn't know what to say

I began to wish I was dead

Crazy me crazy me

I thought that she meant what she said

She said she wanted to hear me say that I'd always want to be near her

I asked, "Well why isn't that what you said?"

She turned and cried some more and when she left she slammed the door

Then I sighed with relief and sat down on my bed

My jaw nearly hit the floor

I couldn't believe my eyes

Twenty minutes later when I opened the door

And she was standing right outside

I said, "Hey what the hell are you still doing here?"

and she said, "Well

I thought you were gonna come after me"

I rolled my eyes and told her, "You should really be acting older

You're thirty years old and I'm just twenty-three"

CHORUS:

Then she rode away

On a bicycle built for two

All alone

To make her leave was beyond my power so we hugged for half an hour

And I know for sure because I checked

My cowboy secret space detective super hero radioactive

Message decoding watch behind her neck

Two hours later she finally left

And this time she was really gone

I sat done immediately

And I began to write this song

I was out on New Year's Eve and as I was getting ready to leave

I saw her approach from across the bar

So I pretended I was plastered, she found out and called me a bastard

But she followed me home anyway in her car

We argued right outside my door

It was unbelievably cold

My toes were getting kind of numb

So I told her that I had to go

Now I live in fear every time I see her coming near

I try to hide but I can't get away

I'm sick of lies and compromises averting eyes and wearing disguises

She stalks me twenty-four hours a day

CHORUS