Leonidas Balafas / Λεωνίδας Μπαλάφας

They let me go at work
My wife separated from me
I lost to Chino on a loan and how will I give it
The rent flows, debts
My life is getting away from me
Countless bills and mistaken sums

And as if all of that wasn’t enough
In Attiki this afternoon
I got fined for a fire extinguisher 80 euros
And in my streak of bad luck
I go into a panic
I put my best clothes on, I take what I have, I go out and
I dance, I dance, whatever problems I have I set them aside
I take my mind off my worries, I gain momentum I go to the bar
I order tequila and drink and drink
For the moment for joy for comfort

Anxiety hits on the one side
And from the other the heart
With a slow heart I take pills for insomnia
In the film the revenue office pulls out a gun
I put my hands up I scream “murder”
I tell them I need time since I have been paying for years

And as if all of that wasn’t enough
In Attiki this afternoon
I got fined for a fire extinguisher 80 euros
And in my streak of bad luck
I go into a panic
I put my best clothes on, I take what I have, I go out and
I dance, I dance, whatever problems I have I set them aside
I take my mind off my worries, I gain momentum I go to the bar
I order tequila and drink and drink
For the moment for joy for comfort

And I dance, I dance, whatever problems I have I set them aside
I take my mind off my worries, I gain momentum I go to the bar
I order tequila and drink and drink
For the moment for joy for comfort

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Και χορεύω, χορεύω ό, τι προβλήματα έχω στην άκρη τ` αφήνω
Ξεδίνω, παίρνω φόρα πάω στο μπαρ
Βάζω τεκίλα και πίνω και πίνω
Για την στιγμή για την χαρά για την παρηγοριά

1) I want to build a little house
in the solitude and in the silence.
I know a green hilltop…
I will not build it there.

2) I know in the great land
the wealthy road which is wide,
with the palaces and the gardens…
I will not build it there.

3) I know the cheerful seashore,
which the waves are always kissing;
its sand is scattered with lilies…
I will not build it there.

4) One road continues, endless,
it tears across a spacious area of uncultivated land
the wild weather beats it hard
and the sirocco* hits it.

5) A road walked on by thousands of feet,
the horseman famished,
the thirsty sidewalk
buried in the dustcloud.

6) There my little house I will build
with a little fountain in the front yard;
always the corner will be smoking
and the gate will be open.

(translation: Eva Johanos
*λίβας ~ sirocco: a hot wind, often dusty or rainy, blowing from North Africa across the Mediterranean to southern Europe.
Verses sung by these artists:
1) Kyrios K.
2) Yiorgos Nikiforos Zervakis
3) Vassilis Rallis
4) Vassilis Papakonstantinou
5) Leonidas Balafas
6) Vassilis Skoulas)

I am like a place that has been bombed
with one little blurred verse
on the last school desk of life
like a bird in a strange land. . .

I am stubborn and have a strong stomach
like Pavlos* with a fake lyre
the love that I have given I did not take
that was the way fate wanted it. . .

Alright, I’ll stand on my own two feet
after being hit so many times
I have forgotten the steps
but it is not possible for me to say I can’t
I must enter the dance. . .

In the heartless world I grow
who truly gets what he deserves
I don’t want it but a complaint comes out of me
because the wheel does not turn. . .

(translation: Eva Johanos
*Pavlos Fyssas was a Greek anti-fascist rapper who was murdered on 17 September 2013 in the western Athens district of Keratsini. Golden Dawn member Giorgos Roupakias was arrested for his murder)