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Day: 15 November 2009

The Story of Sara Barabu (with a bit of Edith Piaf)

As you know now, I finally got to listen to Secret ‘s music much later than I should have done . About the same time I was already listening to Edith Piaf, and I first couldn’t believe my ears when I heard what sounded like an evident borrowing from the song Milord. Many years later, when I had the change to revisit both songs, I was entirely convinced that Piaf’s theme from Milord did feature in Sara Barabu.

In a distant haven of Timbuktu
There is a house of Sara Barabu.
Sara Barabu, Sara Barabu,
She has got a cow Moo.

And a scrawny, old marabu
Is living with Sara Barabu.
Sara Barabu, Sara Barabu,
Sara’s got a marabu.

The coconuts grow all over Timbuktu,
As well as nuts, pineapples, and apricots,
Around them hover butterflies and wasps,
And monkeys are munching on bananas
In the haven of Timbuktu.

And so this very marabu
From the house of Sara Barabu
Said “moo” all the time,
Said “moo” all the time,
And nobody knows, why.

So once Sara Barabu
Said thus to Moo and marabu:
“Quick, Marabu, become the cow Moo,
And you, the cow, become a marabu!”

The coconuts grow all over Timbuktu,
As well as nuts, pineapples, and apricots,
Around them hover butterflies and wasps,
And monkeys are munching on bananas
In the haven of Timbuktu.
(Milord‘s intermezzo).
In a distant haven of Timbuktu
There is a house of Sara Barabu.
Sara Barabu, Sara Barabu,
She has got a cow Moo – and marabu!
She has got a cow Moo – and marabu!
She has got a cow Moo!

The Beat Quartet Secret – One Thousand Vinyls

I still vividly remember how a clip “I Love Boogie-Woogie” by the Russian beat band, Secret , was coming up on TV, and my mother was switching channels despite my protests. I was deeply saddened… and years later, after injections of the Western rock-n-roll, I finally got my hands on an audio cassette with Secret‘s songs.

I’m not sure what I should better cite. “Better later than never“? Or “qui sera sera“? I guess both are fitting.

Making their entrance onto the Soviet musical stage in the 1980s, Secret was one of the first rock-n-roll “boy bands” to enjoy a massive popularity. I haven’t listened to their songs for 6 years, i.e. all the time I’ve been in the UK, and listening to them now I first and foremost note their distinctly well written texts. And good catchy tunes, of course. The band consisted of three guitarists and one drummer, and in their early videos from 1980s they were consciously exploiting parallels with The Beatles.

The song ‘1000 Vinyls‘ will undoubtedly be near and dear to the hearts of many music fans for all the right reasons. It’s also one of the songs I enjoy singing because of its fairly complex chorus.

In my house
There are one thousand vinyls.
The house is overwhelmed and weary.
One thousand vinyls in different styles.
One thousand vinyls of all times.
And among this
Thousand vinyls
One can find a cancan,
A disco, and a foxtrot.
I have no choice but
To play these vinyls
All day long.

Chorus:
One thousand vinyls!
I’m already angry!
I already cannot
Listen to you all!
One thousand vinyls!
Soon out of spite
I myself will begin
To play the music.

In my house
There are one thousand vinyls.
And I’m even playing them at night:
Either an old-fashioned rock-n-roll,
Or a hit in a ‘bubble-gum’ style.
Oh, I have no strength to see
This happening for days!
I wish I would take this
One thousand vinyls
And broke them into
One thousand pieces!

Chorus.

error: Sorry, no copying !!