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TRACCE / SENTIERI

Langston Hughes, Nina Simone      

Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Just who do think I am
You raise my taxes, freeze my wages
And send my son to Vietnam

You give me second class houses
And second class schools
Do you think that alla colored folks
Are just second class fools
Mr. Backlash, I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues

When I try to find a job
To earn a little cash
All you got to offer
Is your mean old white backlash
But the world is big
Big and bright and round
And it's full of folks like me
Who are black, yellow, beige and brown
Mr. Backlash, I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues

Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Just what do you think I got to lose
I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues
You're the one will have the blues
Not me, just wait and see

(1964) Gloria Caldwell, Sol Marcus, Bennie Benjamin      

Baby you understand me now
If sometimes you see I'm mad
Doncha know that no one alive can always be an angel?
When everything goes wrong you see some bad

Well I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

Ya know sometimes baby I'm so carefree
with a joy that's hard to hide
Then sometimes it seems again that all I have is worry
And then you burn to see my other side

But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

If I seem edgy
I want you to know
I never meant to take it out on you
Life has its problems
and I get more than my share
but that's me one thing I never mean to do

Cos I love you
Oh baby
I'm just human
Don't you know I have faults like anyone?

Sometimes I find myself alone regretting
some little fooling thing
some simple thing that I've done

I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

I try so hard
So don't let me be misunderstood

Nina Simone      

My skin is black
My arms are long
My hair is wooly
My back is strong
Strong enough to take the pain
It's been inflicted again and again
What do they call me
My name is AUNT SARAH
My name is Aunt Sarah

My skin is yellow
My hair is long
Between two worlds
I do belong
My father was rich and white
He forced my mother late one night
What do they call me
My name is SIFFRONIA
My name is Siffronia

My skin is tan
My hair's alright, it's fine
My hips invite you
And my lips are like wine
Whose little girl am I?
Well yours if you have some money to buy
What do they call me
My name is SWEET THING
My name is Sweet Thing

My skin is brown
And my manner is tough
I'll kill the first mother I see
Cos my life has been too rough
I'm awfully bitter these days
because my parents were slaves
What do they call me
My
name
is
PEACHES

Bob Dylan      

I take
just like a woman
Yes I do
And I make love
just like a woman
and I ache
just like a woman
but I break
like a little girl

Nobody here feels any pain
tonight as I stand inside the rain
And no one has to guess
that baby's got new clothes
Lately I see her ribbons and her bows
and the problems
from her curls

REFRAIN
I take
just like a woman...

It was raining from the first
and I was dying her of thirst
That's why I came here
and a long time's curse
and what's worse
is this pain in here
I can't stay in here
Ain't it clear
Ain't it clear

I must admit
I believe it's time for me to quit
And until we meet again
bein' introduced as friends
please don't let on
that you knew me when
I was hungry
and it was your world

REFRAIN
I take
just like a woman....

James Shelton      

I lost myself on a cool damp night
Gave myself in that misty light
Was hypnotized by a strange delight
Under a lilac tree
I made wine from the lilac tree
Put my heart in its recipe
It makes me see what I want to see...
And be what I want to be
When I think more than I want to think
Do things I never should do
I drink much more that I ought to drink
Because I brings me back you...

Lilac wine is sweet and heady, like my love
Lilac wine, I feel unsteady, like my love
Listen to me... I cannot see clearly
Isn't that she coming to me nearly here?

Lilac wine is sweet and heady where's my love?
Lilac wine, I feel unsteady, where's my love?

Listen to me, why is everything so hazy?
Isn't that she, or am I just going crazy, dear?

Lilac Wine, I feel unready for my love...

(1928) Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn      

Love me or leave me and let me be lonely
You won't believe me but I love you only
I'd rather be lonley than happy with somebody else

You might find the night time the right time for kissing
Night time is my time for just reminiscing
Regretting instead of forgetting with somebody else

There'll be no one unless that someone is you
I intended to be independently blue

I want you love, don't wanna borrow
Have it today to give back tomorrow
Your love is my love
There's no love for nobody else

Say, love me or leave me and let me be lonely
You won't believe me but I love you only
I'd rather be lonley than happy with somebody else

You might find the night time the right time for kissing
Night time is my time for just reminiscing
Regretting instead of forgetting with somebody else

There'll be no one unless that someone is you
I intended to be independently blue

Say I want your love, don't wanna borrow
Have it today to give back tomorrow
Your love is my love
My love is your love
There's no love for nobody else

(1963) Nina Simone

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Can't you see it
Can't you feel it
It's all in the air
I can't stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

This is a show tune
But the show hasn't been written for it, yet

Hound dogs on my trail
School children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day's gonna be my last

Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
I don't belong here
I don't belong there
I've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me
I tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying "Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Washing the windows
"do it slow"
Picking the cotton
"do it slow"
You're just plain rotten
"do it slow"
You're too damn lazy
"do it slow"
The thinking's crazy
"do it slow"
Where am I going
What am I doing
I don't know
I don't know

Just try to do your very best
Stand up be counted with all the rest
For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

I made you thought I was kiddin' didn't we

Picket lines
School boy cots
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
for my sister my brother my people and me

Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying "Go slow!"
"Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Desegregation
"do it slow"
Mass participation
"do it slow"
Reunification
"do it slow"
Do things gradually
"do it slow"
But bring more tragedy
"do it slow"
Why don't you see it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know

You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

That's it!

(1928) Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson      

My baby don't care for shows
My baby don't care for clothes
My baby just cares for me
My baby don't care for cars and races
My baby don't care for high-tone places

Liz Taylor is not his style
And even Lana Turner's smile
Is somethin' he can't see
My baby don't care who knows
My baby just cares for me

Baby, my baby don't care for shows
And he don't even care for clothes
He cares for me
My baby don't care
For cars and races
My baby don't care for
He don't care for high-tone places

Liz Taylor is not his style
And even Liberace's smile
Is something he can't see
Is something he can't see
I wonder what's wrong with baby
My baby just cares for
My baby just cares for
My baby just cares for me


Original lyrics

My baby don't care for shows
My baby don't care for clothes
My baby just cares for me
My baby don't care for cars and races
My baby don't care for high-tone places

Liz Taylor is not his style
And even Lana Turner's smile
is somethin' he can't see

My baby don't care who knows it
My baby just cares for me

My baby don't care for shows
And he don't even care for clothes
My baby just cares for me

My baby don't care for cars and races
My baby don't care for
he don't care for high-tone places

I wonder what's wrong with baby
My baby just cares for
Just says his prayers for
My baby just cares for me

(1957) Dimitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington      

Love me love me love me
Say you do
Let me fly away
with you
For my love is like
the wind
And wild is the wind

Give me more
than one caress
Satisfy this
hungriness
Let the wind
blow through your heart
For wild is the wind

You...
touch me...
I hear the sound
of mandolins
You...
kiss me...
With your kiss
my life begins
You're spring to me
All things
to me

Don't you know you're
life itself
Like a leaf clings
to a tree
Oh my darling,
cling to me
For we're creatures
of the wind
And wild is the wind
So wild is the wind

Wild is the wind
Wild is the wind

Non mi lasciare
bisogna dimenticare
si può dimenticare ogni cosa
che già fugge via
dimenticare il tempo
dei malintesi
e il tempo perso
a chiedersi come
dimenticare queste ore
che uccidevano a volte
a colpi di perché
il cuore della felicità
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare

io ti offrirò
perle di pioggia
venute da quei paesi
in cui non piove
scaverei la terra
fino alla mia morte
per ricoprire il tuo corpo
d'oro e di luce
creerò un regno
dove l'amore sarà re
dove l'amore sarà legge
dove tu sarai regina
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare

non mi lasciare
inventerò per te
delle parole senza senso
che tu capirai
ti parlerò
di quegli amanti
che hanno visto due volte
i loro cuori prendere fuoco
ti racconterò
la storia di quel re
morto per non averti
potuto incontrare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciaresi è visto spesso
riaccendersi il fuoco
del vulcano antico
che si credeva troppo vecchio
si sono viste
terre bruciate
dare molto più grano
del migliore aprile
e quando viene sera
perchè un cielo prenda fuoco
il rosso e il nero
non si sposano mai
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non piangerò più
non parlerò più
mi nasconderò lì
a guardarti
danzare e sorridere
e ad ascoltarti
cantare e poi ridere
lasciami diventare
l'ombra della tua ombra
l'ombra della tua mano
l'ombra del tuo cane
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare
non mi lasciare