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A Pair of Brown Eyes

The Pogues
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OriginalVersione italiana di Kiocciolina
A PAIR OF BROWN EYESUN PAIO DI OCCHI CASTANI
  
One summer evening drunk to hellUna sera d'estate ubriaco perso
I stood there nearly lifelessStavo lì quasi senza vita
An old man in the corner sangUn vecchio nell'angolo cantava
Where the water lilies grow(1)"Dove crescono i gigli d'acqua"
And on the jukebox Johnny(2) sangE dal jukebox Johnny cantava
About a thing called loveDi una cosa chiamata amore
And it's how are you kid and what's your nameEd è "come stai, ragazzo?" e "Come ti chiami?"
And how would you bloody know?E "Come diavolo sai?"
In blood and death 'neath a screaming skyNel sangue e la morte sotto un cielo urlante
I lay down on the groundGiaccio a terra
And the arms and legs of other menE le braccia e le gambe di altri uomini
Were scattered all aroundMi sono tutto intorno
Some cursed, some prayed, some prayed then cursedalcuni bestemmiavano, altri pregavano, altri pregavano e poi bestemmiavano
Then prayed and bled some morePoi pregavano vomitavano ancora
And the only thing that I could seeE la sola cosa che riuscivo a vedere
Was a pair of brown eyes that was looking at meErano un paio di occhi castani che mi fissavano
But when we got back, labeled parts one to threeMa quando tornammo
There was no pair of brown eyes waiting for meNon c'era alcun paio di occhi castani che mi aspettavano
  
And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll goE itinerando itinerando itinerando andrò
For a pair of brown eyesCercando un paio di occhi castani
  
I looked at him he looked at meL'ho guardato e lui mi ha guardato
All I could do was hate himTutto ciò che riuscivo a fare era odiarlo
While Ray and Philomena sang(3)Mentre Ray e Philomena cantavano
Of my elusive dreamDel mio sogno inafferrabile
I saw the streams, the rolling hillsHo visto ruscelli, le colline
Where his brown eyes were waitingDove i suoi occhi castani stavano aspettando
And I thought about a pair of brown eyesE ho pensato ad un paio di occhi castani
That waited once for meChe un tempo aspettavano me
So drunk to hell I left the placeCosì ubriaco a pezza ho abbandonato il posto
Sometimes crawling sometimes walkingUn po' strisciando, un po' camminando
A hungry sound came across the breezeUn suono famelico giunse con la brezza
So I gave the walls a talkingPerciò ho scambiato una chiacchiera con i muri
And I heard the sounds of long agoEd ho ascoltato i suoni di tanto tempo fa
From the old canalDal vecchio canale
And the birds were whistling in the treesE gli uccelli stavano fischiando sugli alberi
Where the wind was gently laughingDove il vento stava gentilmente ridendo
  
And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll goE itinerando itinerando itinerando andrò
For a pair of brown eyesCercando un paio di occhi castani
(1) This might be a stretch, but "Where the water lillies grow" is the chorus to the 19th century ballad "Agnes by the River.

(2) "Johnny" might refer to Johnny McEvoy (a country artist who came to prominence on the Irish music scene in the 1960s, and was likened to an "Irish Bob Dylan") since among his hits were a version of "Muirshin Durkin" and a tune called "Those Brown Eyes." However in an interview Shane says it refers to the "Man in Black," Mr. Johnny Cash. Cash recorded an album and song (released in 1972) called "A Thing Called Love":
"It's just about a guy getting pissed at a bar round here," says Shane nonchalantly. "He's getting pissed because he's broken up with this bird and... you know how it is when you just go into a pub on your own to drink and it's really quiet and you get this old nutter who comes over and starts rambling on you. So this old guy starts on about how he came back from the war, the First World War. Or the Second. One of them anyway. And he tells him about the ship he had out there and how he got out and came back and this girl had fucked off with someone else, a girl with a pair of brown eyes. Which is the same situation as the young guy sitting there listening to all this rubbish and the juke box playing Johnny Cash and ...


(3)
Ray Lyman [sic] and Philomena Begley, classic London juke box tracks. And in the end he gets to the stage where he says fuck it, and he goes stumbling out of the pub and he walks along the canal and starts feeling really bad, on the verge of tears, and he starts realising that the old guy has had a whole fucking lifetime of that feeling, going through the war and everything, but his original reaction is to hate him and despise him. I'm not saying he goes back and starts talking to him but you know...

Ray Lynam and The Hillbillies became a fixture on the Irish record charts in the late 1960s and one of the leading country music artists in Ireland. During the 1980s Lynam had a weekly gig at Dublin's Harcourt Hotel. He is still singing and touring throughout Ireland. Philomena Begley is also an active country artist in Ireland. Indeed, in January 2000 she was awarded the 'Millennium Inspirational Award' from Country Music Ireland at its inaugural awards ceremony.

Notes from Poguetry.com


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