On Chronic Pain

 

 Chronic pain is like having an abusive mate who rags on you all the time about not paying enough attention, not being affectionate, or about affairs you never had with other people. You know you're better than all of this, you know there's so much more you could be and do, but you just can't figure out how to get away from the son of a bitch.

times three

if they could live

three days what i live

perhaps i'd listen to them

just three weeks

and they would

pull their hair out by the roots

three years

and they would save

their pills in paper cups

three decades

no i will not live

three decades in this misery

they have nothing to say

they have nothing to say

they have nothing to say

Aucun express - Noir Désir et Alain Bashung

La reprise très anticipée de Noir Désir d'une chanson du grand Bashung and parolier Jean Fauque (sur "Tels Alain Bashung", l'album hommage de plusieurs artistes français, sorti 26 avril). Ça c'est la chanson finale à être enrégistrer du group Noir Désir après une longue carrière parsemée de tragédie. J'ai mis aussi le live de la "Tournée des grands espaces" de Bashung pour le bonheur, inconstant soit il....  L'album hommage me fait penser d'un vers de Brel que Bashung a chanté, "Je me vois déja..."

The much anticipated cover by Noir Désir of a song by the great Bashung and lyricist Jean Fauque (on "Tels Alain Bashung", the tribute album of several French artists, released April 26th).  This is the final song to be recorded by the group Noir Désir after a long career interspersed with tragedy. I have also put the live version from the "Tournée des grands espaces" of Bashung for happiness, inconsistant as it is... The tribute album makes me think of a line by Brel that Bashung also sang: "I've seen it all already..."






Alain Bashung Aucun Express by aureliendesbois


Aucun express

Words: Alain Bashung/Jean Fauque

Music: Alain Bashung

(translated by Laura Tattoo)

Aucun express ne n’emmènera vers la félicité

No express will lead toward happiness
Aucun tacot n’y accostera

No old car will dock there
Aucun Concorde n’aura ton envergure

No Concord will have your wingspan
Aucun navire n'y va

No ship goes there
Sinon toi

If not you

Aucun trolley ne me tiendra si haut perché

No trolley will keep me perched so high
Aucun vapeur ne me fera fondre

No steam will make me melt
Des escalators au chariot ailé

The escalators of the winged chariot
J’ai tout essayé

I've tried everything
J'ai tout essayé

I've tried everything

J’ai longé ton corps

I ran alongside your body
Epousé ses méandres

Adopted your meanderings
Je me suis emporté

I was carried away
Transporté
Transported
Par delà les abysses par dessus les vergers

Across the abysses, over the orchards

Délaissant les grands axes

Abandoning the main highways
J’ai pris la contre allée

I took  the side road
Je me suis emporté

I was carried away
Transporté
Transported

Aucun landau ne me laissera bouche bée

No baby carriage will leave me gaping
Aucun walhalla ne vaut le détour

No valhalla is worth the detour
Aucun astronef ne s’y attarde

No spaceship lingers there
Aucun navire n’y va

No ship goes there
Sinon toi

If not you

J’ai longé ton corps

I ran alongside your body
Epousé ses méandres

Adopted your meanderings
Je me suis emporté

I was carried away
Transporté
Transported
Par delà les abysses par dessus les vergers

Across the abysses, over the orchards

Délaissant les grands axes

Abandoning the main highways
J’ai pris la contre allée

I took the side road
Je me suis emporté

I was carried away

Transporté
Transported

Aucun express ne n’emmènera vers la félicité

No express will lead toward happiness
Aucun tacot n’y accostera

No old car will dock there
Aucun Concorde n’aura ton envergure

No Concord will have your wingspan
Aucun navire n'y va

No ship goes there
Aucun
None

J’ai longé ton corps

I ran alongside your body
Epousé ses méandres
Adopted your meanderings
Je me suis emporté
I was carried away
Transporté
Transported
Par delà les abysses par dessus les vergers Beyond the abysees, over the orchards
 
Délaissant les grands axes
Abandoning the main highways
J’ai pris la contre allée
I took the side road
Je me suis emporté
I was carried away
Transporté
Transported

Bashung and Noir Désir en duo for "Volontaire" (2000)

 

l'aube

tableau d'egon schiele

baisse les yeux

baisse-les

toi devant le miroir

de l'inconscient

sens les arbres

qui brûlent

dans la forêt

du temps

plus les années

avancent sur toi

plus une vague

avale ton nom

sache que

rien ne va rester

ni le sable doré

ni la terre dessous

ne pleure pas

de ta fin

pourquoi pleurer

devant l'inévitable

mieux dissiper

le sentiment d'unique

tout doit mourir

devant son miroir

last days

i'm losing my grip

just like these seagulls

circling my neighborhood

far from the ocean

perhaps oregon will

at last keep its promise

crumble into the sea

and take me with it

the last days of winter

fall in endless raindrops

from rusted gutters

the sound of insanity

i'm circling inside

my own head now

wondering when i stop

and when i go

the wind comes up

and carries the gulls

high upon airy waters

i'm stuck here on

the ground as usual

drowning in boredom

Walking with Crows

Words words

what good are they

when every day

just hurts too much

and there's nothing

left but the

rush of the drug

and crows that

descend outside

my window

Pecking at the

leftover crumbs

on the side of the road

leftover songs

that flood my soul

in spite of

the hopelessness

the black hopelessness

of crows?

Outside my door

they gather

those tremendous

black-winged wonders

witless survivors

of a winter sky

and a driving rain

until there is nothing

left to peck at when

the roads wash away

Yet still we

go walking

the crows weaving

in and out of the

trees above me

making circles

in this lonely

endless hungry

place of pain and

it doesn't matter that

we're going nowhere

What matters is

the moment of

power and glory

in the morning

when a certain drug

combination saves

my pain-filled body

fires the leaden

and brings it back

again to being

And to crows

and yet more crows

and a crow song

in my head

like a death threat

but blessed

because we're

still alive

and we're going

we're going somewhere

(February 22, 2000 - the day after my 43rd birthday)