Persian Teardrop Lyrics

I had someone post a comment on my Persian Teardrop post looking for the lyrics to the song. What could potentially make it tricky for someone to find those lyrics is that it's actually a mash-up of two songs (something that it took me a while to figure out and even longer to accept), and one of the songs is in Persian. But here are the lyrics to "Teardrop" by Massive Attack (with Elizabeth Fraser) and "Persian Love Song" by Dead Can Dance, along with the English translation of the latter.

Massive Attack's "Teardrop":

Love, love is a verb
Love is a doing word
Fearless on my breath
Gentle impulsions
Shakes me makes me lighter
Fearless on my breath

Teardrop on the fire
Fearless on my breath

Nine, night of matter
Black flowers blossom
Fearless on my breath
Black flowers blossom
Fearless on my breath

Teardrop on the fire
Fearless on my...

Water is my eye
Most faithful mirror
Fearless on my breath
Teardrop on the fire of a confession
Fearless on my breath
Most faithful mirror
Fearless on my breath

Teardrop on the fire
Fearless on my breath

You're stumbling in the dark
You're stumbling in the dark

Dead Can Dance's "Persian Love Song":

Migan asbet rafighe rooze jange
Mo migooyom azoo behtar tofange
Svaare bi tofang ghodrat nadaare
Svaar vaghti tofang daare svaare

Tofange daste noghream raa forookhtam
Baraaye del ghabaaye terme dookhtam
Ferestaadom baraayom pas ferestaad
Tofange daste noghream daad-o-bidaad

English translation of "Persian Love Song":

They say your charger is your pal on the day of battle
I say even better is the gun
A cavalryman without a gun is without vigour
A cavalryman is one when he has got a gun

I sold my silver-stock gun
Sewed a Termeh* frock for my love
She returned it to me when I sent her the frock
Oh alas my silver-stock gun...
The very last phrase "daad-o-bidaad" is impossible to translate, it expresses deep regret for something lost

*Termeh is a Persian textile

A Curious Birthday

For those of you who don't know this, today is my birthday *pauses while waiting for the cheering and applauding to subside*. Well, I got a nice little birthday surprise from one of my MySpace friends: a very talented singer whose name is Curious (yes, that's her real name). She gave me a song. She told me to pick my favourite song of hers and she would email me the mp3. So I picked "Rain" ("Goodbye" is another of my faves, but I'm planning on buying the single for that one) and she sent it to me and I've been listening to it ever since. If you want to hear it, check out her profile player. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

A Twin Peaks Trance

I was on hold while calling a place of business when the dreaded muzak came on… but it wasn't muzak, it was actual music! And it was the theme from Twin Peaks, that fabulous 90's TV series by David Lynch. Do you remember that music? I loved it; it always gave me chills. The theme was composed by Angelo Badalamenti, who was once quoted as saying: "My world is a little bit dark. . . a little bit off-center. I think of it as tragically beautiful. That is how I would describe what I love best: tragically beautiful."

David Lynch then wrote lyrics to that theme (for the song "Falling" that you can listen to in the widget below) and to some other Badalamenti music and those songs were sung by Julee Cruise (who sang all of the songs used in Twin Peaks) and released on an album called Floating into the Night:

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I used to have that album but that was almost 20 years ago now, so I have no idea where it might be (it was on cassette anyway which I don't listen to anymore anyway). But I still have part of a review that was written about the Julee Cruise album way back then:

"The link between the songs is love — a kind of sick, obsessive love that's both chilling and beautiful, and pure Lynch in its graphic paranoia."
~ Kim Hughes, NOW Magazine, November 15-21, 1990.

Now I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty damn cool review!

Greg Neufeld

I thought it might be time to get to know each of the Idols a little better. I'm starting with Greg Neufeld even though he's already been eliminated, because I think there are a lot of people (including me) who believe Canada messed up and Greg should really still be on the show. I'll do similar posts on the remaining Idols over the next couple of weeks.

Stuff that you can find out over at the CTV Idol site: Greg Neufeld is a 23 year old singer/songwriter and house framer from Abbotsford, BC... plus more generic biographical information.

Stuff that you can find out at The Abbotsford News site: He would love to meet Dave Matthews, his first CD was "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor and he describes himself as weird, spontaneous, chill.... plus more trivia.

Watch Greg's first audition for Canadian Idol in 2006.

Check out Di Marco, Greg's band, on the Di Marco site or their MySpace site. And speaking of MySpace, there's a site just for Greg, too.

And if you want to try to help Di Marco get the attention of a record company, there's a petition that you can sign at: http://www.petitiononline.com/recorddm/petition.html

Hope you guys enjoy these links. I'll try to come up with some stuff on the remaining idols soon. (And if anyone has any links or suggestions, please let me know.)

Updates: For those of you that don't read the comments, you can find a collection of Greg's Idol performances and a few mp3 downloads at gregneufeld.blogspot.com. Thanks to the anonymous commenter who left that link! I've now uploaded one of those mp3s to My Music Box in the sidebar for your listening pleasure: "False Accusatins" by Di Marco.

Also, there's a good article about Greg's reaction to the elimination posted over at Idol Stalker.

Persian Teardrop

I posted about this on my personal blog before I had this music blog up and running but never received any response to it. I'm hoping that the readership over on this blog might be able to provide more help.

Some time ago, I downloaded a song that was entitled "Persian Teardrop" (currently added to My Music Box) but it turned out to be a brilliant mix of "Persian Love Song" by Dead Can Dance and "Teardrop" by Massive Attack with Elizabeth Fraser (of the Cocteau Twins). I had assumed it was a remix that was available on a CD somewhere but I've had no luck finding it. I'm now beginning to think it's a homemade remix that has just been circulating on the internet. I posted on the Massive Attack forums hoping someone there might know for certain, but no joy. So I figured I would try posting on my blog on the off chance that someone might stumble across it and know if (and where) I can find a legitimate copy of this remix.

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I'm desperate to use this music in a short film that I'm in post-production on but without this information, I don't know who to contact to ask about the festival rights and I do not want to use it without permission. Both because that's risky for me but also because it's not fair to the artists. So if anyone can help me out with this, I would really appreciate it.

P.S. Due to popular demand, I've also posted the lyrics to Persian Teardrop here.

Athena Reich

"Her vocals are pure and full of heart, and her songs have
unexpected melodic twists that move me to new emotional levels
very different from your average or even good pop singer.
Mostly, Athena's lyrics combine story telling with a surprising hook
that pushes past cynicism and irony and spins your
typical love song on its ear." ~ Cynthia Daniels
A couple of years ago, on my other blog, I wrote a post entitled Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition about this amazing new talent that I'd just experienced: Athena Reich. At the time, I described her as being a cross between Ani DiFranco, Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson and Liza Minnelli. (Yes, just try to imagine that combination... it ain't easy.) What was so cool the next time I saw her was that she had these promo cards where she described her style as Cabaret Punk Pop. See, if I'd just added Sleater-Kinney to my list, I would have had all the bases covered!


Athena is currently working on her upcoming 5th CD, "Little Girl Dreams". Most of the songs are finished, and she's getting ready to go into the studio. She's particularly excited about this CD:

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After years of hard work, I feel I am finally connecting with key players in the industry. Cynthia Daniels (who is the Grammy & Emmy award winning producer/engineer of Chaka Khan, Sandra Bernhard, the Broadway musical "The Producers" and countless others) has fallen in love with my music and will be producing "Little Girl Dreams". I am in conversation with major labels, am being requested by numerous colleges and venues, and am signed to one of the top managers in North America, MGAM. I have been working hard at my craft by taking master classes with multi-platinum hit songwriter Lorraine Ferro in New York City and by paying my dues on rugged tours across North America. I am coming into my own as an artist, and have never had so much fun or felt so care-free about performing, or my life. "Little Girl Dreams", more than anything I have created in the past, has the real potential to radically catapult my career to a much higher level.

You can listen to demos of "Little Girl Dreams" on her website. To read the lyrics, go to her Music Page (which is listed in her Store drop down menu).

In an attempt to raise the money to finish the album (and lord knows these things aren't cheap), she's asked her fans to help out: by donating and getting a Thank You on the CD, by pre-ordering the CD (a signed copy, no less), plus there are T-shirts and posters and tickets, oh my! What you get depends on what level of support you choose. I opted for TRUE FAN ($30-50): Receive a signed copy of "Little Girl Dreams" upon release, special mention on the CD and website, if desired, and the glowing satisfaction of being a modern day patron of the arts. If you want to support this talented artist, you can do it through The Field, a very cool website that allows you to Sponsor Artists. Check out Athena's website for the details.

Every Little Thing They Do Is Magic

Speaking of music in the 80s, I'm sure most people are already aware that The Police are on tour again! Unfortunately, they're not coming to Calgary, just Edmonton on June 2, but I'm bloody tempted to make the trek for the concert. (If only it was the following weekend... I'm heading up there already for my cousin's wedding.)

I still remember the annual Police Picnics that they held in Toronto back in the 80's. I was lucky enough to go to the last one and even meet the band afterwards. They were great and they even signed my cast! (I'd gone to the concert with a broken arm.) I wanted to save the cast when it was taken off but it was just too gross. Fortunately, I did have their autographs on paper, too... but the cast would have been a really cool memento!

Ugly Side

Originally posted 1.25.2007 on Limes with Orange

I noticed that someone landed on my blog searching for the meaning of the Blue October song "Ugly Side." You can listen to sample from "Argue with a Tree", their live album — this is my favourite version — or stream the full version from "History for Sale" below.

Although on the one hand I think the general meaning is self-evident, I decided to write about it because the specific lyrics might seem a little odd to some people.

Ugly Side lyrics:

I must have sneezed
On knees I freeze
I mean I just choked up
Somehow I slept
I dream, I mean
I dreamt of nothing

Able to breathe
A sweet relief
Now that you're here with me
A northern degree
Dove into me
Now I'm recovering

[Chorus]
I only want you to see
My favorite part of me
And not my ugly side
Not my ugly side

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Hook up a C.B.
Wave a way
For conversation flow
I'm shoved in your cave,
to wage this rage
Don't let me go

A kick and a scream
is all that seems
To mean a lot thus far
I won't let you on
my stage, my page
You can't know
Yet you have to know

[Chorus]

So calm... and now it's dark
I look for you to light my heart
I'm in between the moon and where you are
I know... I can't be far

The most general interpretation is simply how hard it is to share your those parts of yourself that you don't like with someone that you actually want to share your whole self with. More specifically, I believe it relates to Justin Furstenfeld's history with drugs, his recovery and his ardent desire not to have to share that part of his past and himself with someone he's starting a new relationship with.

As for specific phrases that may or not make grammatical sense… I say don't analyze that stuff too deeply. It's poetry. It elicits an emotional reaction of confusion and melancholy and fear and love. In "Writing Down the Bones", Natalie Goldberg writes:

"The aim is to burn through to first thoughts... to the place where you are writing what your mind actually sees and feels, not what it thinks it should see and feel. It's a great opportunity to capture the oddities of your mind. Explore the rugged edge of thought."

I believe these lyrics are definitely the stuff of "first thoughts." Not to say that I don't have my ideas about what Justin means in certain phrases, but I'm more concerned with what he's feeling and how he makes me feel. So my advice is not to try to deconstruct the song, just feel it.