Pantelis Thalassinos, songwriter / Παντελής Θαλασσινός λέει δικά του

Beauty is not sung
songs, give me a thousand
a song is the meeting
in the eyes and on the lips.

I do not sing to my stars
if I am far away from you,
songs with my hands
I create in your embrace.

Only the wind,
which blew on your right side,
can sing the music
which is worthy of you,
the wind which blew
and made your hair fly.

Beauty is not sung
and the sweetness of honey,
drops in your eyes
which the angels let fall.

Only the wind,
which blew on your right side,
can sing the music
which is worthy of you,
the wind which blew
and made your hair fly.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

There are times, god as my witness
That I need you so
that I cry
seas and open seas

Send me a letter,a single syllable
If you believe in god!
for I hang from your lips
and I am at your mercy

Curse you, you have no sympathy for me
that I am burning and melting away
for you have made me love you
and now I wither away

My thoughts have been locked
in the cellars of my mind
oh! I want to tell you so many things
but there are no words left for me to speak

Curse you, you have no sympathy for me
that I am burning and melting away
for you have made me love you
and now I wither away

Ανάθεμά σε δε με λυπάσαι
που καίγομαι και λιώνω
που μ’ έκανες και σ’ αγαπώ
και τώρα μαραζώνω

We will build palaces in the sand
who takes into account the waves and the weather
and if we step on our heart, on the ground
we call that destiny
and if we step on our heart, on the ground
we call that destiny

We are ships that throw themselves into the waves
which have in their blood salt and rust
for us, death and the great shame
is to remain tied to the shore

We scatter life in love
the “I love you” we make an aim
they sing it, at night, the lost
and their dream is a fresh wound
they sing it, at night, the lost
and their dream is a fresh wound

We are ships that throw themselves into the waves
which have in their blood salt and rust
for us, death and the great shame
is to remain tied to the shore

(translation: Eva Johanos)

My own God
doesn’t smell of frankincense
he wears no crown
and has black hair.

He stands as a white lighthouse
in my little harbor
he washes my body with light
and embraces me.

My own God
does not fit into icons,
does not fit into rules,
does not wear gold.

It is only his shining
which warms the winters
his hot breath
when it is blowing outside.

My own God
has charcoal eyes
and two pure white horses
with the wings of angels.

If you look at night
at the signs in the sky
you will see us flying
with our hands open.

My own God
loves laughter,
loves color,
loves the rain.

I find him in the sea,
in the drop of rain.
I search for him in you
who have been lost for years. . .

(translation: Eva Johanos)

I asked for a cigarette
I didn’t ask for company
I’ve grown tired, I’ve gotten bored
with nice talk.

I who didn’t smoke
I want a cigarette
but I ask you, please
let me smoke alone.

I asked for a cigarette
I don’t need fire [a light], I have [one]
I have been burning for fifty years
I have been hanging on for fifty years.

I have been burning for fifty years
I have been running for fifty years.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

I walked for you
the streets of the moon
I went as down as your underworld
just to be with you.

I hated you many times
for loving you so
Anytime I wanted you
you made me bleed.

I spent for you
all my innocent years
I had your darkness as a life
and dressed it in words.

I hated you many times
for loving you so
Anytime I wanted you
you made me bleed.

Deep breaths
like knocks on my cell
your words, my good woman
in this noise.

Deep breaths
breaths of the desert
small white candle of mine
your flame I watch.

I close my eyelashes my eyes open
I take deep breaths from your life
they run like horses, the years, with wings
and I am holding on to your breath.

Deep breaths
angel’s balsam of mine
in this gallop of mine
a hidden prayer.

Deep breaths
all your “I love you”s
on your face
like lights in the rain.

I close my eyelashes my eyes open
I take deep breaths from your life
they run like horses, the years, with wings
and I am holding on to your breath.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

My arms lay down
to sleep deeply
on my suffering breast
that they might find rest

At night they grew wings
and came to embrace you
in your velvet hair
to nest

Don’t wake me, who love you
and I have songs to sing you

My eyes have shut
to sleep sweetly
to sleep they vowed
not to remember you

But they saw you again
they cried at your departure
and a little carnation
bloomed at your throat

Don’t wake me, who love you
and I have songs to sing you

(translation: Eva Johanos)

If you were a stone you would break
and a little flower would come out
from the crack

For me to bend down and smell
to feel that I daze
from a sweet glance

But you are a heartless pain
a hidden wound

Tell me if the pain can crack one open
if the kiss can be forgotten
if the the lonely one can be consoled
he who has loved very much

If you were a stone you would melt
and you would become old on my body
like a clean cloth

To have you in order to be warm
to appear in your eyes
like a moon on the water

But you are a heartless pain
a hidden wound

Tell me if the pain can crack one open
if the kiss can be forgotten
if the the lonely one can be consoled
he who has loved very much

In magic and in dreams
lyrics: Ilias Katsoulis
music & vocals: Pantelis Thalassinos

In magic and in dreams I built my life
and I planted a flower in my breath
you cut it, you smelled its fragrance; you left and did not return

In the sun and in the wind I tied my soul
with a thread and in the light I measured my endurance
you cut it, you broke it; you left and forgot me

In magic and in dreams I searched for years, my light
the word which is not written in the dictionaries of the world
you whispered it to me; you left and did not return

In magic and in dreams I built my life
and I planted a song in my breath
you heard it, your eyes filled with tears; now you left me alone

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Lemon tree of paradise,
a branch of oblivion
put aside for me too
put aside for me too

For two years I have been suffering
with many sighs
my lips are locked
my lips are locked

Fill my body with myrrh and fragrances
the ones that resurrect hearts, my lemon tree
the ones that resurrect hearts, my lemon tree
the ones that make the pain stop

Send me your white flower with perfumes
before I fall and wither away in other bodies
before I fall and wither away in other bodies
before the third year begins

Lemon tree of paradise
hide the clothes of the murderer
in the closet of bitterness,
in the closet of bitterness

Those clothes all bloody and filthy
so that I can raise my wings again
the ones that love has broken
the ones that love has broken

Fill my body with myrrh and fragrances
the ones that resurrect hearts, my lemon tree
the ones that resurrect hearts, my lemon tree
the ones that make the pain stop

Send me your white flowers full of perfumes
before I fall and wither away in other bodies
before I fall and wither away in other bodies
before the third year begins

Your little mirror is old
and behind the dull surface
lies Smyrna with the Kordelio quarter
and Greece-that-used-to-be

The glass is tarnished
but behind it’s cloudiness
God can see Aivali
and his mind stands still

The songs from Smyrna
who taught them to you,
to sing them and cry,
you flowerbud of my heart

Your little mirror is old
and your mind is wandering
in what bar did have you been drinking
till you came out sozzled?

The glass is tarnished
but behind it’s cloudiness
God can see Aivali
and his mind stands still

The songs from Smyrna
who taught them to you,
to sing them and cry,
you flowerbud of my heart

Τα σμυρνέικα τραγούδια
ποιος σου τα ‘μαθε
να τα λες και να δακρύζεις
της καρδιάς μου ανθέ

I wanted to be the sense of touch at your fingertips
that any thing you touch might have something from me too
to be, at night, the voice of your lost friends,
singing old favourite songs

I wanted to be a ticket in your pocket
whenever your thoughts travel towards me
I wanted to be a ticket in your pocket
whenever your thoughts travel towards me

I wanted to be the shadow at the corner of your eyelashes
the one word in your rave
to be the first draw of your cigarette
and the last swallow of your drink

I wanted to be a ticket in your pocket
whenever your thoughts travel towards me
I wanted to be a ticket in your pocket
whenever your thoughts travel towards me

I wish I was the lightning extinguished in your gaze
the line of luck on your handpalm
to be a fever hidden in your blood
to wake the fires in your body

I wanted to be a ticket in your pocket
whenever your thoughts travel towards me
I wanted to be a ticket in your pocket
whenever your thoughts travel towards me

Hearts that love
have a language and speak,
they cast light into the darkness.
Iron bars and prisons
and the deep grooves of wrinkles
it vanquishes in an evening.

Come into the open seas of my heart
at night, with the ship of eros.
Hold me even tighter
so we two may love each other.

Hearts that love
find solid ground and walk,
find sky and breathe.
They throw color into the shadows,
they have thousands of embraces,
little harbors of the Aegean.

Come into the open seas of my heart
at night, with the ship of eros.
Hold me even tighter
so we two may love each other.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

She came to the places of the sea, by herself
She wore that filmy white dress of hers
She held in her eyes two clouds of rain
She beheld the horizon and sang softly.

My mother is on the island
My love is in the sea.
My destiny remained half
Of what I expected it to be.

She walked on the waves and resembled a fairy
As if the moons of August had created her form
I kept her image a secret deep inside of me
And I run each evening to hear her voice

If it was possible for me, just for a moment
to gather up the seas of the whole world
To find her love and to find the island
and to make them beads to decorate her white dress.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

E… The sweet full moon came out bearing silver,
but my heart is a wilted flower.
E… The stars have not come out and the candle burns to
an end
like my own body, which is dissolving day and night.

come and let’s make a celebration
I with the lute and you with the fiddle
to travel the earth
I with the paddle and you with the sail

E… The sweet full moon came out but she did not appear
sorrow burns in my breast, with fire and pyrofani*

come and let’s make a celebration
I with tsambouna** and you with the toumbi***
to travel the earth
I with the paddle and you with the sail

(translation: Eva Johanos
*pyrofani ~ instrument for night fishing which produces flames that attract the fish
**tsambouna ~ ancient Greek bagpipes or gainda
***toumbi ~ small drum; both of these instruments part of
the traditional ensemble of Greek island music)

In a moment, in one turn
into my life you came
the earth opens, the sky as well
eros, you are, my light, sudden.

The heart is caught in the eyes, on the lips it takes a stroll
sorrow becomes joy and turns on the lights
if you love me I will love you, a whole two more worlds
if you love me I will walk on the edge of a knife

Sweet eyes, deep eyes
In my heart I have wings
to fly where you fly;
blow, my soul, winds for us

The heart is caught in the eyes, on the lips it takes a stroll
sorrow becomes joy and turns on the lights
if you love me I will love you, a whole two more worlds
if you love me I will walk on the edge of a knife

Do love the mountains and the seas, do,
the familiar places and the unknown,
the birds, the flowers, the clouds,
and do love the people very much, do.

Do love the wild animals and the fierce ones,
the islands, the rivers, the stars, do.
And if ever they wound you in the heart,
friends, bad nights, white doves,

love them, do, forget, find joy
in your own peace and in all things
that light our mind with love
and sprout lilies that never fade.

ν’ αγαπάς, να ξεχνάς και να χαίρεσαι
τη δική σου γαλήνη και κείνα
που μ’ αγάπη το νου μας φωτίζουνε,
και βλασταίνουν αμάραντα κρίνα.