Teenage (1996)
Recensione di Barbara Giambartolomei (29/09/97)
Chi
si ricorda di Donovan? E se mettessimo insieme lui e John Lennon? E
anche la mano di Peter Gabriel? Teenage e' l'album della maturita' del
cantautore di Belfast, un luogo, piu' che un disco, dove s'incontrano
molte cose, suoni, persone e altri luoghi. "Scene di strada dal
mio cuore" diceva nel disco precedente e forse si puo' descrivere
Teenage proprio cosi': una mappa del cuore dove i ricordi sono segnati
con disegni da bambini. La carriera di Andy White inizia nel 1986, con
un disco ispirato in tutto e per tutto -perfino la copertina- a Dylan,
"Rave on". Seguono altri cinque album che mostrano via via
un cambiamento lieve ma costante di rotta. Fino a quest'ultimo che puo'
considerarsi il seguito di "Destination:beautiful" in quanto
musicalmente segue la stessa linea mentre i testi si fanno piu` intimistici.
Forse proprio a differenza del titolo, in alcuni brani sembra di sentire
un'addio a quest'eta', una sorta di leggero velatissimo rimpianto, che
non inficia pero' l'inclinazione sostanzialmente gioiosa di tutto l'album.
Per questo mi viene in mente Donovan, la sua semplicita' e anche qualche
suono rubato a John Lennon (nel disco precedente diceva chiaramente:
I wanna be like John, not Yoko or Sean). In Teenage c'e' anche la mano
dell'onnipresente Gabriel e nella scrittura di "Whole thing"
Il brano che chiude il disco sia nel fatto che in parte e' stato registrato
negli studi della Real World. E' difficile dire quali siano i brani
migliori. Forse ad un primo ascolto possono anche dare l'impressione
di sostanziale somiglianza. Magari ascoltandolo bene emergono piano
piano dalla nebbia ognuno con il suo carattere: "It's gonna be
like this in all the time", "Between a man and a woman",
"My gay cousin". E poi, visto che spesso fa un giretto per
i nostri locali, andatelo a sentire. Tutta l'incanto della chitarra
acustica, dell'Irlanda, della gioia di vivere sono lì, per voi.
why don't you play
it on your acoustic guitar?
why don't you play it on your acoustic guitar?
the cold rush of loneliness
the power & the poverty of pure poetry
a girl I once knew now invisible
the cold rush of poetry
the power & the poverty of loneliness
the woman I know now me and her indivisible
why don't you play it on your acoustic guitar?
why don't you play it on your acoustic guitar?
it doesn't matter who you are
you only have to play things as they are
why don't you play it on your acoustic guitar?
dark sunglasses not dark enough
I got riots in my head and all that stuff
vulnerability that's more my scene
thoughts of the heart if you know what I mean
why don't you play it on your acoustic guitar?
why don't you play it on your acoustic guitar?
it doesn't matter who you are
you only have to play things as they are
why don't you play it on your acoustic guitar?
everyone who's ever been in love knows about waiting
everyone who's ever been in love finds it frustrating
why don't you play it on your acoustic guitar?
hedgehogs in the headlights
banners on the streetlights
la-la-la-lasting peace is a permanent phase
the test explodes while you're combing your hair
the room's revolving but you don't know where
why don't you play it on your acoustic guitar?
why don't you play it on your acoustic guitar?
it doesn't matter who you are
why don't you just play it on your acoustic guitar?
so many lives were
lost
I've got a photograph
lying in my bed
we were the first and last
I was an only child
it happened in the past
and after all
I've got the photograph
it makes me want
to get back home
it makes me want to get back home
none of us were
there
though we can feel it now
and buy the video
and play it back and stare
we can try to do it
just like it used to be
when the world was young
and we could still be free
it makes me want
to get back home
it makes me want to get back home
well I really want
to know
how to get back home
I gotta get out I gotta get out of here
the future's growing clear
now you don't love
me
and I don't love you
and it makes me wonder why
what keeps the aeroplanes
hanging in the sky
well there's a time to laugh
and there's a time to cry
it makes me want
to get back home
it makes me want to get back home
get back home
I want to build
bridges with you on the edges
of cafés & forests and laugh at religious
intrusion by those who should know a bit better
than living in their lives and nobody else's
I want to paint
pictures with you of the evenings
of sunlight and coffee and hold tight it's coming
and walk past the houses of great architecture
and look up and find out it's happy ever after
I want to play chess
with you mornings in bed with you
lock up my heart and fly past to rescue you give me that
wonderful smile I believe in you
take me out friday and spend my whole life with you
I want to know all
that you carry inside of you
ski down the mountain and curl up beside you
visiting shops where you just got to go to
and cities that hold what they're frightened to show to you
I want to write
letters in upside down writing
from rivers and offices built for excitement
and carry them home with the colours of certainty
hanging from balconies and all that you give to me
tells me the world is a possible place
where when I look up I will see your face
and all of the things
I can bring I will bring to you
all of the things I can bring I will bring to you
I want to write
words like the street that's in front of me
staying up late with your teaspoons and crockery
playing the songs that we heard when you first met me
walking down sentences lying right next to me
I want to know everything
roll in your childhood
and slide down the bannister of your whole life I will
promise you afternoons lasting forever
like glasses of dark beer get drunk in December
the son will be gemini bring me the daughter
of poetry shining through novels of watery
history books which will stay on the shelf
until everyone works out that they're someone else
and all of the things
I can bring I will bring to you
all of the things I can bring I will bring to you
all of the things I can bring I can bring to you
all of the things I can bring to you
yesterday was the
last day of summer
no more sitting on the steps with you
the cloudless sky has gone to bed forever
the yellow moon is fading out of view
if you don't know
by now
if you don't know by now you'll never know it
if you don't know by now
if you don't know by now
today is the first
day of autumn
the wind has changed and the trees don't look the same
the fires have turned the hillside green to ochre
all because of the weather the weatherman couldn't explain
if you don't know
by now
if you don't know by now you'll never know it
if you don't know by now
if you don't know by now
this was the season
I started swimming
I was clinging close to the coast it's true
yeah I made up my melancholy reason
to be testing out my feelings for you
if you don't know
by now
if you don't know by now you'll never know it
if you don't know by now
if you don't know by now
we'll never understand
it
nothing ever turns out like we planned it
like we planned it
we'll never understand it
if you don't know
by now
sitting on the steps the last day of summer
clinging to the coast the last day of summer
how can we forget the last day of summer
It's gonna be like this all the time
it started off in
dublin in a basement by the sea
the very first big question I ever asked - will you marry me?
my head was full of flowers your cheek against my knee
lying on a bed of roses in a basement by the sea
just when you think
you got it all worked out
what's yours what's mine
you realise
it's gonna be like this all the time
suddenly we were
surrounded society felt so good
there was enough for everyone and the fridge was full of food
but like the first day of winter in a holiday resort I know
out of season friendship is a cold wind that blows
we headed up north
to the avenue lined with trees
all of my boyhood days coming running back to me
walking up & down arm in arm where the big cranes freeze
our boy was born another gemini & I knew one day he would want to
leave
just when you think
you got it all worked out
what's yours what's mine
you realise
it's gonna be like this all the time
we took a big fat
plane halfway round the world
I felt the power of the violet hour with my favourite girl
there was romance there was music - what more can I say?
some things are meant to be some things you're told to throw away
just when you think
you got it got it got it got it
what's yours what's mine
you realise
it's gonna be like this all the time
I remember we talked
and talked and started to laugh
I remember it all like a photograph
what was said I haven't a clue
your hat flew off every time the wind blew
I know our love will see us through
now I'm in italy
playing for a million a day
drinking strong black coffee coming up to ascension day
and I wouldn't change a moment and I wouldn't change a mile
of everywhere we've travelled when we do it we do it in style
there were roses on the bed perfume in the air
I threw away my typewriter leaned back in my easy chair
you always think
tomorrow you can sit right down and analyse
you think it will be different
but then you realise
it's gonna be like this all of the time
I know
it's gonna be like this all of the time
I would have given
you all of my loving
for now and the rest of your lives
I would have given you all of my loving
but if you want to be like the other ones
if you want to be like the other ones
it's alright
they're burning
the cars in shankill tonight
all the petrolheads are here
outside your house they scorched the grass
you turned to me and you laughed about it
jacqui
you could make a man out of nothing at all
jacqui
sets me free
your family sits
round the table tonight
I can feel my troubles slipping away
the sea is splashing on the beach down the road
and you turned to me and you laughed about it
jacqui
you could make a man out of nothing at all
jacqui
sets me free
you're the one who's
prepared to help them
cos the t-shirt boys aren't so tough
they don't know how to love themselves
they turn to me and they laugh about it
jacqui
you could make a man out of nothing at all
jacqui
sets me free
and she said
I would have given
you all of my loving
for now and the rest of your lives
I would have given you all of my loving
but if you want to be like the other ones
if you want to be like the other ones
it's alright
when jacqui says
it's alright
jacqui sets me free
I got my bible I'm
not going back to london
I got my bible I'm not going back to london
I got my bible I'm
not going back to london
I left some things there that I should have forgotten
there's a cool breeze blowing my thoughts around
and if you really want to baby
we could even leave town
first she did it
because she had to
but now she does it only if she wants to
at first she did it because she needed to
but now she does it because she loves it
she loves it
I got my bible I'm
not going back to london
I got my Bible I'm not going back to london
we all gathered
to go walking on the beach
seagulls screaming flying out of reach
the long grass growing up past our knees
and if you really want to you can close your eyes and see
first she did it
because she had to
but now she does it only if she wants to
at first she did it because she needed to
but now she does it because she loves it
she loves it
she loves it
I hear the sound
of no sound
and I know it's the sound
of the world spinning round
for the first time
I hear the sound
of no sound
and I know it's the sound
of the world spinning round
for the first time
this part of the world
it seems possible
to me
though impossible to see
how all of us can agree
I saw a sign saying
peace in our time
and I know it's the sign
don't be afraid
don't be afraid
it seems possible
to me
though impossible to see
how all of us can agree
I hear the choice
comes from one voice
I saw a sign saying peace in our time
and I hear the sound of no sound
and I know it's the sound
of the world spinning round
for the first time
this part of the world
anything you wanna
do
and anything you wanna say
everything you wanna do
don't be afraid
don't be afraid
don't be afraid
don't be afraid
don't be afraid
my people
don't be afraid
my country
for you are a motherland
heartbroken
you send your children out into the world
and now it's time
to heal thyself
don't be afraid
don't be afraid
he stuck a canadian
flag on his backpack to say he wasn't american
bought a one-way ticket & went off to see the world
ripped off in bangkok he was headed for sydney australia
knowing all they ever wanted was a girl
I don't know what
you were going through
my gay cousin
it took a video
of torch song trilogy to tell his mother
and a letter fell out of a novel & told his Dad
sitting with a mobile phone in sydney australia
looking for a reason he never had
I don't know what
you were going through
my gay cousin
this is why I'm
singing
you need a song for yourself
till someone sings one just for you
this is why I'm singing for nobody else
cos nobody else will do
leafing through
a listings magazine in the middle of november
the one-way ticket goes from february to december
you'll be flying your plane high above british columbia
dreaming of a mobile phone
and a place to call home
in sydney australia
I don't know what
you are going through
my gay cousin
I don't know what you are going through
my gay cousin
my gay cousin
when you're sitting
in your chair
wondering why the street's not there
reality's a place between a man and a woman
between a man and a woman
sunlight on the
garden wall
you promised not to cry at all
reality's the space between a man and a woman
between a man and a woman
between a man and a woman
the bedroom moon
has gone away
it's starless as the darkling day
I look into your holy eyes
and hold my breath and realise
the president is
counting seven
I'm upside down with babe in heaven
reality's the place between a man and a woman
between a man and a woman
the age of innocence
has gone
night on earth is still too long
reality is not just made in heaven
not just made in heaven
it's between a man
and a woman
between a man and a woman
if I had a car crash
I want to have it with you
and when I meet my maker I want you to be there too
I couldn't do it without you
if I was a sailor
no rimbaud me
I couldn't stand the silence looking out across the stormy sea
I couldn't do it without you
everybody tells
me at christ's age 33
everybody's talking about ways to feel a little more free
but the grass is never greener when you're living on the other side
I couldn't get to sleep living on my own for a while
I couldn't do it without you
nobody tells me
what to do
without you
I swing our boy
upon my knee
when he grows up will he be lucky to be
just like you just like me
nobody tells me what to do
without you
I couldn't do it without you
I couldn't do it without you
nobody tells me
what to do
nobody tells me
It's gonna be like this in the rain
Whole thing
each night in bed
my dreams take me over
each night in bed my dreams take me over
the whole thing
would still go on without you
and something would still be there to move me
my own thing is always to inspire you
the one that I love
I dream beside
the one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love is close as I can get
the one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love I dream beside
sometimes I can't remember
sometimes I can't forget
this whole thing
will still go on without you
and it's nothing to do with all of you
my own thing is always to protect you
the one that I love
I dream beside
the one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love is close as I can get
the one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love I dream beside
take the women and children away
our family has not been broken yet
each night in bed
my dreams take me over
each night in bed my dreams take me over
the whole thing
would still go on without you
and something would still be there to move me
my own thing is always to protect you
my own thing is always to inspire you
this whole world
still goes round without you
you are my whole
thing
you are my whole thing
Sitting on a cinnamon
sofa wearing CK
the fax sounds very different today
there's raisins in my tuigar
I don't know what to do
sitting on a cinnamon sofa with you
your oil paint perfume
is autumn brown
the stereo sings the blues are coming down
there's murder on the TV
I don't know what to do
sitting on a cinnamon sofa with you
fast foreign cars
flash by my window
the coffee cups are coming through
you hung out my washing on the window
the Style Section tells you what to do
sitting on a cinnamon sofa with you
I know you look
so beautiful today
I'm going to send my friends away
what else can you hope for
if you want it that's what to do
sitting on a cinnamon sofa with you
sitting on a cinnamon sofa with you
It can't be one
of us
it can't be one of us
it must be someone else
it's got to be someone good
who's going to be understood
after the ball is
over,
and there are couples
crying on the hard shoulder,
sleepless nights and shards of glass
tell me who's going to save you now?
it can't be one
of us
it can't be one of us
it must be someone else
it's got to be someone good
who's going to be understood
when the day breaks
on telephones ringing
bin lorry banging
and the politics of condemnation
let us remember
sleepless nights and shards of glass
who's going to save us now?
it can't be one
of us
it can't be one of us
it must be someone else
it's got to be someone good
who's going to be understood
we laughed then
we cried
and we kissed it all goodbye
we laughed & we cried
and we kissed it all goodbye
goodbye
goodbye
after the ball is
over,
and the sound of falling in love
is no longer to be heard
think of a tattered dress
and a couple crying
on the hard shoulder
and asking
who's gonna save us now?
it can't be one
of us
it can't be one of us
it must be someone else
it's got to be someone good
who's going to be understood
we laughed then
we cried
and we kissed it all goodbye
we laughed & we cried
and we kissed it all goodbye
goodbye
goodbye
we laughed we cried
now we kiss it all goodbye
goodbye
goodbye
we laughed and we
cried
now we kiss it all goodbye
goodbye
goodbye
Tutti i testi (c) Andy White 1996, pubblicati da Mushroom
Music, 1996