não disse nada, mas há uma semana

pude rever o meu americano tranquilo

o regresso de um dos meus americanos tranquilos. tão bom.

no dia vinte e dois de fevereiro passado vi-o finalmente a tocar, num grande concerto no são jorge. sabia que ia ouvir sobretudo as canções mais recentes, mas confesso que tinha uma esperança de poder ouvir esta. fica para a próxima...

my grandfather died

a bowery bum

my grandfather died

the son of an irish man

on the bowery

oh the bowery

my father tried

to find his bone

to his trials i added my own

oh the bowery

oh the bowery

well, I’m new here

where can a fella eat

i’m new here, where can a fella sleep

i’m new here and i’ve got a pit in my gut

on the bowery

way down on the bowery

oh the bowery

my grandfather left

my father twice

second time

was on his wife’s advice

straight back to the bowery

and when he came up

off of the river of methadone

he took his last breath on the bowery

oh the bowery

(to philippa)

não deixou de me surpreender o meu americano tranquilo. 
mas foi um dos concertos que guardarei para sempre.

You used to take me up

I watched and learnt how to fly

No navigation system beyond our eyes

Watching

I always went wrong in the same place

Where the river splits towards the sea

That couldn’t possibly be you and me

Sometimes you sleep while I take us home

That’s when I know we really have a home

I never like to land

Getting back up seems impossibly grand

We do it with ease

Danger, I never think of danger

I really am a lucky man

I really am a lucky man

Flying this small plane

I like it when I take the controls from you

And when you take the controls from me

I really am a lucky man

I really am a lucky man

Flying this small plane

I scan the path

Ahead and all around

se há covers que são melhores que os originais, esta é uma delas.
bill callahan, em estado de graça, recria a canção de kath bloom
e esta torna-se numa outra coisa, maior que os sons que aqui estão.

I'd like to touch you, but I've forgotten how

And said I didn't need you, but look at me now

Sometime in the summer when we're lying in the breeze

The breeze will kill me

I tried to follow the path that you're on

Something in me is stubborn, I keep going wrong

If you can forgive me now, we'll meet up in another land

When the breeze has killed me

Sometime in the summer when we're lying in the grass

And the breeze, the breeze

Well my baby cries when he's tired

My puppy howls with the moon

You can never be sure of the people that you know

They don't want to show you their sadness

Yesterday I talked with my father

He said that we could never win

It's so hard to tell where I end and my father begins

So if you see me passing by

Please hold me deep in your heart

And just remember I want to help you, I don't want to hurt you

Just remember I want to help you, I don't want to hurt you

So don't tear it apart

Well my baby cries when he's tired

My puppy howls with the moon

não sei se um bar pode seduzir uma gaivota, 
não sei se a neve que derrete desagua num rio
não sei há quanto tempo viajo em círculos

A barroom may entice a seagull like me

Right off the sea, right off the sea

And into the barroom, the barroom

The barroom, barroom, barroom

And let go, yeah let go of the trapeze

And melt the snow of dream river

Dream river, dream river, river

Dream river, dream river, river

I wonder if I’ll ever wake up

I mean really wake up

Wake up and wake you too

First thing that I will do, I will wake you too

How long have I been gone?

How long have I been traveling?

And how tired have I been?

And how far have I got in circling and circling and circling?

With all the tolls we pay

We’ll own the highway someday

With all the tolls we pay

We’ll own the highway someday

And the weight of the world slips away, slips away
And the seagull falls back on the sea

outra pérola de bill callahan, ainda do tempo dos smog.

I love my mother

I love my father

I love my sisters too

I bought this guitar

To pledge my love

To pledge my love to you

I am a rock

Bottom riser

And I owe it all to you

I saw a gold ring

At the bottom of the river

Glinting

At my foolish heart

Oh my foolish heart

Had to go diving

Diving diving

Into the murk

And from the bottom of the river

I looked up for the sun

Which had shattered in the water

And the pieces were raining down

Like gold rings

That passed through my hands

As I thrashed and grabbed

I started rising rising

I left my mother

I left my father

Left my sisters too

Left them standing on the banks

And they pulled me out

Of this mighty mighty river

I am a rock

Bottom riser

And I owe it all to you

voltei a ouvir isto esta manhã e não me sai da cabeça. sabem como é.



One fine morning
I'm gonna ride out
Yeah, one fine morning
I'm gonna ride out

Just me and the skeleton crew
We're gonna ride out in a country kind of silence
We're gonna ride out in a country silence
Yeah one fine morning

Yeah it's all coming back to me now
My apocalypse, my apocalypse
The curtain rose and burned in the morning sun
Yeah the curtain rose and burned in the morning sun

And the mountains
And the mountains bowed down
In the morning sun
Like a ballet of the heart
Yeah the mountains bowed down
Like a ballet
In the morning sun

And the baby and we all lay in state
Yeah the baby and we all lay in state
And I say "Hey! no more drovering!"
I say "Hey! no more drovering!"

When the earth turns cold
And the earth turns black
Will I feel you riding on my back?
Yeah when the earth turns cold
And the earth turns black
Will I feel you riding on my back?

And for I am a part of the road
Yeah I am a part of the road
The hardest part
The hardest part

My apocalypse
DC 4 5 0
DC 4 5 0

é extraordinário o percurso deste americano tranquilo nascido no maryland, que acompanho desde os tempos dos smog. a sua maior virtude é talvez o ser-lhe tão fácil escrever assim, melodias simples apoiadas em progressões de acordes sempre repetidas, em que a sua voz de barítono parece sempre baça.
já aqui disse que depois de tom waits e j.j. cale só vejo bill callahan e kurt wagner com capacidade para prolongar essa invenção permanente das canções como seres vivos em nós.



It's never easy to say goodbye
To the faces
So rarely do we see another one
So close and so long

I asked the room if I'd said enough
No one really answered
They just said, "Don't go, don't go"
Well all this leaving is neverending

I kept hoping for one more question
Or for someone to say,
"Who do you think you are?"
So I could tell them

With intensity, the drop evaporates by law
In conclusion, leaving is easy
When you've got some place you need to be
I'm giving up this gig for another season

With the TV on mute
I'm listening back to the tapes
On the hotel bed
My my my apocalypse

I realized I had said very little about ways or wheels
Or riding for the feeling
Riding for the feeling
Is the fastest way to reach the shore

On water or land
Riding for the feeling

What if I had stood there at the end
And said again and again and again and again and again
An answer to every question
Riding for the feeling

Would that have been a suitable goodbye?

I am possessed by the conviction that I need you like blood needs a vein to get from one place to another.






Bill Callahan

reparei há pouco que ainda aqui não tinha falado deste senhor.
quando disse que tom waits e j. j. cale eram os meus últimos heróis, em bom rigor devia juntar-lhes bill callahan e kurt wagner (dos lambchop), refundadores permanentes de uma abordagem sempre original da música popular. 
de callahan poderia escolher muitas canções, mas lembrei-me desta, talvez por ser uma das minhas preferidas e não constar de nenhum dos seus discos.

I know (what do you know?) I remember

I see (what do you see?) I remember

I feel (what do you feel?) I remember

All of those days

Stretched out in a line

Vertebrae spools in a spine

I cry (why do you cry?) ‘cause I remember

I smile (why do you smile?) ‘cause I remember

All of those moods

Entangled and twined

What was once skin becomes rind

I speak (why do you speak?) ‘cause I remember

I scream (why do you scream?) ‘cause I remember

All of those lies

Compounding through time

Cortical clues to a crime

I fall (when do you fall?) when I remember

I fly (when do you fly?) when I remember

All of those skies

I'll never find

Circuits short out in my mind