Michalis Genitsaris / Μιχάλης Γενίτσαρης

I seemed a tough guy
I would become from when I was a little kid
I liked what seemed clever
and I learned the little bouzouki.

Instead of school I went
into Karaiskaki
I drank different kinds of drinks
in order to learn the little bouzouki.

My relatives told me
to drop it
that naughty bouzouki
to not seem to become decadent.

However, I never left it
to be missing from near me,
that naughty bouzouki
that was my companion.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

They’re jealous, they hate to see me all dressed up
they want to see me like a bum, that ‘s what will make them happy

I will jump, I will jump, their spare tire I will grab

But I always manage, cause I am jumping
on some German’s car and I always escape

I will jump, I will jump, their spare tire I will grab

Benzine and diesel is what we chase after because
the real money is in them and we sure have fun enjoying it

Jump, drop that spare tire, run away, disappear

The Germans are hunting us, but we don’t care to listen
we’ll be jumping for it until we get killed

I will jump, I will jump, their spare tire I will grab

(note: Desperate life on the sidelines, during the years of Nazi occupied Athens. Survival was hard and life was cheap and this thief was determined to get his share of life, to look good and well dressed, even if that all meant getting killed by a German bullet trying to steal that spare tire…)