vendredi 29 avril 2011

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.

mercredi 27 avril 2011

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

dimanche 24 avril 2011

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

T
ransported

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)

 

vendredi 22 avril 2011

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

vendredi 15 avril 2011

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


mercredi 6 avril 2011

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)