Un ballo prima dell’apocalisse ?
Sì.
Ma che sia breve ed intenso, un dolce e struggente volteggio sulle punte e non, di abbandono.
Di ricordi.
Di estasi.
Questo ed anche altro sulle emittenti stordenti di MTV ed affini, dove quel video clip di Dancing with Tears in My Eyes trovò quel singolare spazio tra le tante ( e diciamolo …) amenità musicali proposte all’epoca.
L’appuntamento con l’Apocalisse era fissato per la Mezzanotte, ma poteva essere diversamente, quello era ed è sempre stato l’orario ideale per questo genere di cose; Armageddon, vampiri risorti da fosse maleodoranti e lupi mannari americani trapiantati a Londra. Ma qui Ure & C. si superarono, si portarono dentro una valigetta in formato bignami tutta quella decadenza della letteratura di Edgar Allan Poe, l’immaginifico più cupo di Carl Theodor Dreyer, l’elegia romantica dei cugini disadattati androidi ed ex punk di Foxxiana memoria e con l'aggraziata mescola di tutti quei saporiti ingredienti si convertì il tutto alla fede più integralista e New Romantic.
Era proprio quel trasporto di ultimo desiderio, quel dolce calar del lenzuolo sulla propria esistenza. Ombre e polvere prima di sparire per sempre.
L’ attimo prima di scomparire in quel’ accecante bagliore bianco.
E ci siamo anche capiti che questo ultimo ballo era qualcosa di bello e strano. Un abbraccio forte prima di implodere con la follia del mondo attorno, non era certo la danza prima dei Corn Flakes e di tutti i giorni di Wang Chung e tantomeno The Politics of Dancing di Re-Flex . Gli 80’s, anni ambigui e perversi, l’insostenibile leggerezza dell’essere pop di Easy Lady, i fianchi ondeggianti e palestrati della Isla Bonita in infelice convivenza con l’esprit New Wave e decadente, che lento e tra ombre era lesto ad insinuarsi. Quella madeleine che aveva quel retro gusto agrodolce e che continuava a rotolare sull’emisfero pop dai tempi di Hiroshima Mon Amour.
Ma Lament è anche altro.
E’ una immersione profonda nella Stonehenge del Nord, in quel misticismo della copertina, che inizialmente doveva essere completamente nera. E invece per ricordare ancora la storia dell’ uomo prevalse la scelta di raffigurare quelle millenarie pietre erette sull’Isola di Lewis in Scozia, ribattezzate dagli abitanti come le pietre na fir bhrèige, ovvero i “falsi uomini” .
Mano nella mano, assaporando il passato, mentre beviamo questo dono per voi. Mano nella mano, assaporando il passato, mentre beviamo da tutto questo.
E’ visione di terre dimenticate, di divinità celtiche millenarie che spettrali si aggirano sugli scheletri di un’Europa che verrà presto saccheggiata della sua Bellezza. La strada verso i totalitarismi era stata appunto già tracciata, prendendo forza dalla distrazione delle masse, avvolte in tutta quella glassa patinata e oceani di pop corn. Ma c’è un filo di speranza, stiamo accanto alle Vecchie Pietre Noi ed una Dea celtica sta con noi. E piange per Noi e per le nostre agonie, ( lo dicono i testi! ).
Tutto l’incredibile spleen di questo album è ridotto all’essenza nella vibrante A Friend I Call Desire, brano portante e manifesto che farà scuola e fortuna di tutta una sbandata generazione di malinconici sintetici, pronipoti di Connie Plank , di algidi performer come Martin Gore che da questa generazione di originali cantastorie cyberpunk e col senno di poi new romantic coglieranno essenziali ispirazioni.
E quella corsa affannosa nella metropoli in spegnimento per raggiungere l’amata per l’ultima volta è tutta nel tappeto sonoro di cupissimi synth di A Friend I Call Desire, tra palazzi e strade che sono sul punto di imbiancarsi nel nulla, di sogni che stanno dissolvendosi per l’eternità, tra angeliche ed intrecciate femminili vocalità, abbiamo barattato la nostra ragione con i nostri desideri, il nostro intelletto con le nostre voglie, la nostra anima con miseri beni? E, meglio ancora, sappiamo almeno di aver perso qualcosa?
Insomma, questi anni 80 non sono stati proprio una passeggiata.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 White China (03:52)
When pale turns to pink
With a soft unnerving ease
And all you've built around
May just tumble to the ground
Will you stand or fall?
With your future in another's hands
Will you stand or fall?
When your life is not your own
When white turns to red
In the not too distant days
Will force and misery
Be the life you have to lead?
Will you stand or fall?
With your children in another's world
Will you stand or fall?
When your town is not your own
White China
White China
When crimson takes a hold
The lights go down on all you've ever known
And all you'll ever do is worked out for you
Will you stand or fall?
When the thoughts you have are not your own
Will you stand or fall?
Oh, when the freedom slips away
White China
White China
White China
White China
White China
White China
02 One Small Day (04:33)
If the stack is high against you
And the hammer's coming down
And the time that's yours lies heavy in your hands
Oh my sentimental friend
The fast much reach an end
Lying face down on the cold stone
And they give their all to you
But their all is slipping through your hands
Oh my sentimental friend
Your time will come again
Chorus:
One day where I didn't die a thousand times
Where I could satisfy this life of mine
One small day
One day where every hour could be a joy to me
And live a life the way it's meant to be
One small day
How many times has it turned against you
How many times will they walk away
How many times have you let depression win the fight
Oh my sentimental friend
We'll walk as one again
(Chorus)
How many times has it turned against you
How many times will they walk away
One day where I didn't die a thousand times
Where I could satisfy this life of mine
One day where every hour could be a joy to me
And live a life the way it's meant to be
One day where I wouldn't feel my senses die
Where nothing made me hang my head and cry
One day where I could see myself as others do
Where I could feel the strength of love at hand
One day where I didn't die a thousand times
Where I could satisfy this life of mine
One day where every hour could by a joy to me
And live a life the way it's meant to be
03 Dancing With Tears in My Eyes (04:44)
Dancing with tears in my eyes
Weeping for the memory of a life gone by
Dancing with tears in my eyes
Living out a memory of a love that died
It's five and I'm driving home again
It's hard to believe that it's my last time
The man on the wireless cries again
It's over, it's over
Dancing with tears in my eyes
Weeping for the memory of a life gone by
Dancing with tears in my eyes
Living out a memory of a love that died
It's late and I'm with my love alone
We drink to forget the coming storm
We love to the sound of our favourite song
Over and over
Dancing with tears in my eyes
Living out a memory of a love that died
It's time and we're in each other's arms
It's time but I don't think we really care
Dancing with tears in my eyes
Weeping for the memory of a life gone by
Dancing with tears in my eyes
Weeping for the memory of a life gone by
Dancing with tears in my eyes
04 Lament (04:44)
And just as my eyes start seeing
After all the pain
The twist in my life starts healing
Just to twist again
In stillness, in sorrow
Returns that softly sighing lament
And just as the smile's returning
After all the pain
The fire inside stops burning
Just to burn again
In moments of madness
Returns that softly sighing lament
08 Heart of the Country (05:09)
I was young and not deceived then
I believed in the heart of the country
How the words sound, how the truth lies
I was moved by the heart of the country
Oh, oh, then I saw through
The charade, the facade,
Now I've had it all
When they ask you who deprives you
You reply your heart of the country
I am older, I am wiser
I despise the heart of the country
Oh, oh, then I felt it
All the tears and the grief
I believed it all
Taking bad times, by the handful
Do what you can for the heart of the country
They dish the dirt out too hard to swallow
Just to follow the heart of the country
Oh, oh, heed the words
And learn the lines
I'll be fine when I have it all
09 When the Time Comes (05:00)
So you think it's over
So you think that down's
The only way out
A sad excuse for lovers
With your head held high
And your heart still full of doubt
It's just like you to scorn
The only one who'll mourn
The day he doesn't love you
Chorus:
When the time comes I'll cry
On the day you cut the thread
When my heart tears I'll cry
So you gave up giving
And you sit and smile
When the awkward silence falls
Deny the life you're living
Just a fleeting love
That you only half recall
It's just like you to make
A passion turned to hate
The day he doesn't love you
(Chorus)
Still we're here together
Feeling helpless as our heaven turns to hell
The taker and the giver
Washed in anger
When we think how far we fell
It's just like you to take
The step than makes the break
The day he doesn't love you
When the time comes I'll cry
When the time comes I'll cry
When the time comes I'll cry
When the time comes I'll cry
10 A Friend I Call Desire (05:12)
Desire (4X)
You live for love, I long for it
You give for love, I take from it
This friend of mine, desire
This lover's crime, desire
Emotion driving all the time
A burning need for things not mine
Desire (3X)
You need your love, I walk from it
You fight for love, I run from it
My enemy, desire
Caressing me, desire
The torch I carried burnt my hand
I can't control what I can't stand
Desire (3X)
You live for love, I lie for it
You give for love, I shy from it
And the pain, and the lust
And the want, and the hurt
And the lies, and the fear
And the urge, and the feel
And the touch, and it's all
A friend I call desire
You live for love, I lie for it
You give for love, I shy from it
And the pain, and the lies
And the touch, and it's all
A friend I call desire
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