It was called the Traitor. It was about the feeling we have of betraying some mission that we were mandated to fulfil and being unable to fulfil it and then coming to understand that the real mandate was not to fulfil it. The deeper courage was to stand guiltless in the predicament in which you found yourself.
– Leonard Cohen
A concert film that had a big impact on my appreciation of Leonard Cohen’s music was I’m Your Man (2005), which explores his life and career. It’s based on a January 2005 tribute show at the Sydney Opera House titled Came So Far for Beauty. For me – a new convert to Cohen’s work – it was enough to spark a deeper dive into his music. Today’s featured song,The Traitor by Martha Wainwright is taken from that show. Other Cohen songs from the concert have also appeared here, including Everybody Knows by Rufus Wainwright, Suzanne by Nick Cave and If It Be Your Will by Anthony.
The Traitor is both a haunting story of betrayal and a meditation on the nature of failure. In his own reflections prefacing this article, Cohen described the song as fundamentally positive, about the unavoidable predicament of failing in situations beyond one’s full control, and the importance of standing guiltless – accepting your circumstances without self-blame. For him, it was about not dwelling on the past, which cannot be changed, but meeting life’s inevitable defeats with dignity.
Heard without that guiding perspective, however, the song unfolds as a darker tale. It opens with serene, romantic imagery – a swan on an English river, a rose of high romance – only to have this beauty undercut by the protagonist’s actions and the harsh judgement of others. The foreshadowed “shabby ending,” along with “scarlet fever” and “sense of shame,” carries the weight of illness, guilt, and condemnation. His proud yet sorrowful claim of being “her finest lover,” followed by the blame for her decline, shows how love can destroy. His “idle duty” of touching and praising her beauty becomes less an act of affection than a quiet penance, revealing a man caught between acceptance and regret.
The Traitor is from Cohen’s sixth studio album called Recent Songs released in 1979. The album marked a return to Cohen’s acoustic folk music after the Phil Spector-driven experimentation of Death of a Ladies’ Man. The singer decided to produce the album himself with assistance from Henry Lewy, who had previously worked regularly with Joni Mitchell. The album had a Eastern-tinged flavor and was augmented by the singing of Jennifer Warnes and newcomer Sharon Robinson, who would go on to become one of Cohen’s favorite musical collaborators.
Martha Wainwright is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter who has has released seven studio albums. She is the younger sister of the aforementioned singer–composer Rufus Wainwright. The Wainwright family have more than just a close connection to Leonard Cohen. Not only did they perform five songs in his tribute concert, but in 2011 Rufus Wainwright, a gay man, announced the birth of his first child, Katherine Wainwright Cohen, conceived via sperm donation from his childhood friend Lorca Cohen, Leonard’s daughter.
Now the Swan it floated on the English river Ah, the Rose of High Romance, it opened wide A sun tanned woman yawned me through the summer And the judges watched us from the other side
I told my mother, “Mother, I must leave you Preserve my room but do not shed a tear Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you It was half my fault and half the atmosphere”
But the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever And the Swan I tempted with a sense of shame She said at last I was her finest lover And if she withered I would be to blame
The judges said you missed it by a fraction Rise up and brace your troops for the attack Ah, the dreamers ride against the men of action Oh, see the men of action falling back
But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still My falsity had stung me like a hornet The poison sank and it paralysed my will
I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers That they had been deserted from above So on battlefields from here to Barcelona I’m listed with the enemies of love
And long ago she said, “I must be leaving Ah, but keep my body here to lie upon You can move it up and down and when I’m sleeping Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan”
So daily I renew my idle duty I touch her here and there — I know my place I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty And people call me traitor to my face
There are very few Bob Dylan covers I prefer over the originals, but the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert (Live at Madison Square Garden, New York, October 1992) featured two exceptions: Lou Reed’s Foot of Pride and today’s song, Boots of Spanish Leather, performed by Nanci Griffith and Carolyn Hester. I would like to give a shout-out to Neil Young’s version of Just like Tom Thumb’s Blues which rocks, but Dylan’s version of Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues from his legendary 1966 Live Bootleg album pips it for mine. For more information on Bob’s covers you can read Rolling Stone’s list of The 80 Greatest Dylan Covers of All Time.
Dylan liked Griffith and Hester’s version at the concert enough that he added his own harmonica to Griffith’s magnificent studio version, released the next year, in 1993 on her signature covers record Other Voices, Other Rooms. Griffith plays ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’ completely straight, laying bare the song’s heartbreak and agony by letting the song speak for itself, praises the Rolling Stone magazine. There are a whole host of covers of Boots of Spanish Leather (including Richie Havens and Joan Baez) which you can read in more detail at the Untold Dylan blog site.
You may have noticed that Girl From the North Country and Boots of Spanish Leather are very similar because they link strongly to the traditional song “Scarborough Fair“. Dylan drew upon it for aspects of the melody and lyrics especially Girl from the North Country, including the refrain, “Remember me to one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine”. Ewan MacColl who featured here only recently with The Shoals Of Herring, first made the Scarborough Fair better known to contemporary audiences in 1947. Bob credited both Martin Carthy and Bob Davenport with helping him discover and understand the implications of these English folk songs.
Most of the following was abridged from the Wikipedia reference below:
Bob wrote Boots off Spanish Leather in 1963 and released it in 1964 on The Times They Are a-Changin’ whose title track appeared here just 4 days ago. It takes the form of a dialogue between two lovers, one of whom is going away on a long journey with the first six stanzas alternating between the two and the last three stanzas are given by the lover who has been left behind. She writes, asking whether her lover would like any gift and he refuses, stating that he only wants her back. Towards the end it becomes clear that she is not returning, and she finally writes saying she may never come back. Her lover comes to realize what has happened and finally gives her a material request: “Spanish boots of Spanish leather“. It has been described as a “restless, forlorn ballad for the ages and sages—a classic Dylan tale of two lovers, a crossroads, and the open sea“
[Verse 1] Oh, I’m sailin’ away, my own true love I’m a-sailin’ away in the mornin’ Is there somethin’ I can send you from across the sea From the place that I’ll be landin’?
[Verse 2] No, there’s nothin’ you can send me, my own true love There’s nothin’ I’m a-wishing to be ownin’ Just a-carry yourself back to me unspoiled From across that lonesome ocean
[Verse 3] Ah, but I just thought you might want somethin’ fine Made of silver or of golden Either from the mountains of Madrid Or from the coast of Barcelona
[Verse 4] But if I had the stars of the darkest night And the diamonds from the deepest ocean I’d forsake them all for your sweet kiss For that’s all I’m wishin’ to be ownin’
[Verse 5] Well, I might be gone a long old time And it’s only that I’m asking Is there somethin’ I can send you to remember me by To make your time more easy passin’?
[Verse 6] Oh, how can, how can you ask me again? It only brings me sorrow The same thing I would want today I would want again tomorrow
[Verse 7] Oh, I got a letter on a lonesome day It was from her ship a-sailin’ Sayin’, “I don’t know when I’ll be comin’ back again It depends on how I’m a-feelin'”
[Verse 8] If a-you, my love, must think that-a-way I’m sure your mind is a-roamin’ I’m sure your thoughts are not with me But with the country to where you’re goin’
[Verse 9] So, take heed, take heed of the western winds Take heed of the stormy weather And, yes, there’s somethin’ you can send back to me Spanish boots of Spanish leather
When God gets tired of listening to the angels and their harps, I am convinced he puts on Alison Krauss…
– Anonymous
There are certain female voices that, the moment I hear them, make my eyes go a little glassy – Christina Perri, Marcela Gandara, and now, Alison Krauss. I first heard Alison thanks to Christian’s Music Musings, where she was accompanying Jerry Douglas on I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby. It was love at first listen. She has that wholesome, girl-next-door beauty, can play a mean fiddle, and when she sings it feels like home – the whole package. That adoration hasn’t faded – in fact I can now declare she has hands down my favourite female country voice. Oh, and she also has 27 Grammys.
I first came across James Taylor’s Carolina in My Mind many moons ago – it’s one of his signature songs. It was around the same time I first heard his criminally underrated Never Die Young, which still sits firmly as my “Desert Island” track from him. Fast forward to my recent deep dive into Alison Krauss’ music, and YouTube blessed me with her and Jerry Douglas’ gorgeous tribute version of Carolina in My Mind. Yippee. They performed it at the 2006 A Musicares Person of the Year Tribute honoring James Taylor. Once again, I was floored by Krauss’ soft, pillowy voice, and Douglas’ lap steel guitar brought a timeless, atmospheric glow to the song. Krauss and Douglas go way back – both steeped in the traditions of bluegrass and Americana. Together, they’re just a class act.
As for the originalCarolina in My Mind, James Taylor wrote it in 1968 while homesick in London, recording it with members of The Beatles’ inner circle – Paul McCartney and George Harrison even contributed bass and backing vocals. It’s been a touchstone of his career ever since. Released as a single in 1969, the song earned critical praise but not commercial success. Carolina in My Mind is one of the most covered contemporary folk songs of all time, including covers by American singer-songwriter John Denver and American rock music duo the Everly Brothers.
[Chorus] In my mind, I’m gone to Carolina Can’t you see the sunshine? Now can’t you just feel the moonshine? And ain’t it just like a friend of mine to hit me from behind? Yes, I’m gone to Carolina in my mind
[Verse 1] Karin, she’s a silver sun You best walk her way and watch it shine Watch her watch the morning come A silver tear appearing now I’m crying, ain’t I? I’m gone to Carolina in my mind
[Verse 2] There ain’t no doubt in no one’s mind That love’s the finest thing around Whisper something soft and kind And hey, babe, the sky’s on fire, I’m dying, ain’t I? I’m gone to Carolina in my mind
[Chorus]
[Verse 3] Dark and silent late last night I think I might have heard the highway call Geese in flight and dogs that bite And signs that might be omens say I’m going, going Gone to Carolina in my mind
[Bridge] Now with a holy host of others standing ’round me, no no Still I’m on the dark side of the moon And it looks like it goes on like this forever You must forgive me If I’m up and
Here is Johnny going all gangster…singing a song about murder and cocaine inside a prison…to thunderous applause. “I thought I was her daddy but she had five more.” Gotta love that line…..
Also, is there a better way for a prison song to end than the emcee (in this case Hugh Cherry) announcing visitations for selected inmates? Then an inmate asks Johnny – ‘Will that be on the album‘? And Johnny responds, “I doubt that.” Yet here it is – uncut and in all its glory – on one of the most infamous, nearly-uncensored, and celebrated live shows in contemporary music history.
Fun fact – Merle Haggard was serving time in prison and saw Johnny Cash perform but that was an inmate at San Quentin State Prison in California. He recalled the event, stating that Cash performed for the inmates on New Year’s Day 1958. Haggard has consistently spoken about this experience, crediting it as a pivotal moment that inspired him to turn his life around and pursue a career in music.
My appreciation for Cash came to me gradually, through literature and film – especially his role in influencing and shaping Dylan’s career mid-to-late ’60s, through Cash: The Autobiography (1997), and later, the 2005 biopic Walk The Line. I first heard today’s featured song Cocaine Blues in the rendition here performed by Joaquin Phoenix in that movie. Cash’s music would also appear with some frequency in other colleagues’ music blogs here at WordPress.
Background (mostly from the Wikipedia article below)
Cocaine Blues is a Western swing song written by Troy Junius Arnall, a reworking of the traditional song “Little Sadie.” Roy Hogsed recorded a well known version of the Cocaine Blues in 1947 and is definitely worth a listen.
The song is the tale of a man, Willy Lee, who murders his unfaithful girlfriend while under the influence of whiskey and cocaine. He flees to Mexico and works as a musician to fund his continued drug use. Willy is apprehended by a sheriff from Jericho Hill, tried, and promptly sentenced to “ninety-nine years in the San Quentin Pen“. The song ends with Willy imploring the listener: Come all, you’ve got to listen unto me.
Come on you hypes listen unto me, lay off that whiskey, and let that cocaine be.
Johnny changes the above lyrics in his show to refer to Folsom State Prison and also ‘Come all, you’ve got to listen unto me‘. He also used the then-provocative lyric “I can’t forget the day I shot that bad bitch down.” Cash chose not to use the word “bitch” in some later versions. He can be heard coughing occasionally; later in the concert recording, he can be heard noting that singing the song nearly did his voice in.
[Verse 1] Early one morning, while making the rounds I took a shot of cocaine, and I shot my woman down I went right home, and I went to bed I stuck that loving .44 beneath my head Got up next morning, and I grabbed that gun Took a shot of cocaine, and away I run Made a good run, but I run too slow They overtook me down in Juarez, Mexico
[Verse 2] Laid in the hot joints, taking the pills In walked the Sheriff from Jericho Hill He said, “Willy Lee, your name is not Jack Brown You’re the dirty hack that shot your woman down” “Yes, oh yes, my name is Willy Lee If you’ve got a warrant, just a-read it to me Shot her down because she made me slow I thought I was her daddy, but she had five more”
[Verse 3] When I was arrested I was dressed in black They put me on a train, and they took me back Had no friend for to go my bail They slapped my dried up carcass in that county jail Early next morning, ’bout a half past nine I spied a Sheriff coming down the line Hocked and he coughed as he cleared his throat He said, “Come on you dirty hack into that district court”
[Verse 4] Into the courtroom, my trial began Where I was handled by twelve honest men Just before the jury started out I saw that little judge commence to look about In about five minutes, in walked a man Holding the verdict in his right hand The verdict read, “In the first degree…” I hollered, “Lordy, Lordy, have mercy on me” The judge, he smiled as he picked up his pen Ninety-nine years in the Folsom Pen Ninety-nine years underneath that ground I can’t forget the day I shot that bad bitch down
[Outro] Come all, you’ve got to listen unto me Lay off that whiskey, and let that cocaine be
[Spoken Word: Hugh Cherry, Inmate & Johnny Cash] “These men have receptions Matlock A50632, and Batshelter A39879 They have receptions” Is that gonna be on the album? Yeah I doubt that
Since studying political science and the Russian Revolution at University, I have had a penchant for learning about Russian history and culture.
I found this documentary at The People Profiles fascinating since I wasn’t familiar with the military legacy of General Georgy Zhukov. I learnt he was one of the few commanders in history who could almost claim never to have lost a major battle. His career went from the defeat of Japanese forces at Khalkhin Gol in 1939 — which secured the Soviet Far Eastern border — to stopping the Germans outside Moscow in the winter of 1941, when the city was close to falling, and leading the defence of Leningrad. These battles showed not only his great skill, but also his ability to work in very different kinds of wars.
Upcoming Movies
Here are three movie trailers for upcoming movies I’m most looking forward to:
Well it’s about Springsteen and that’s that. Elton John (Rocketman) and Bob Dylan (A Complete Unknown) had their recent biopics, now its Springsteen’s turn and this looks good! I like how it seems to focus mainly on one period of his life being the Nebraska record interspersed with childhood memories. The actor does seem to exude certain mannerisms and expressions of Bruce – he seems to ring true. The director Scott Cooper also did Crazy Heart which I thought was a great music – movie. Out in October! Giddyup.
This is Spinal Tap (1984) was Rob Reiner’s (Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men & Misery) directorial debut. It is arguably the greatest mockumentary ever made. Now we have Spinal Tap II: The End Continues – Forty-one years after the release of the of the original, the now estranged bandmates David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls (Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer) are forced to reunite for one final concert.
It also marks the resurrection of documentarian Marty Di Bergi (Rob Reiner), who once again tries to capture his favorite metal gods as they contemplate mortalit – and the hope that their 12th drummer doesn’t join them in The Great Beyond. It is joined by music royalty Paul McCartney and Elton John, Spinal Tap wrestles with their checkered past to put on a concert that they hope will solidify their place in the pantheon of rock ’n’ roll.
In this upcoming movie due out in late September we have Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio joining forces. I know right?… a match made in movie heaven! DiCaprio did turn down the lead role of Dirk Diggler in PTA’s 1997 film Boogie Nights to star in James Cameron’s Titanic. DiCaprio expressed regret over this choice, stating he loved the film. Paul Thomas Anderson is one of my favourite three directors of the last 3 decades along with Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers. He has featured here at ‘Friday’s Finest‘ – my movie segment with The Master and The Phantom Thread. And of course, Leonardo is up there on the acting front. One Battle After Another also features Oscar winners Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn.
If you can’t wait long enough until September, which I know I can’t, then there’s the recently released Weapons horror movie which people are raving about. Only yesterday my friend Bernie did a write-up on it – I Dare You to See ‘Weapons.
Just in time with the new Billy Joel documentary – And So It Goes on HBO; this is just a short snippet from an interview Joel did with Letterman (air date: 8/18/97) where he remarked on his exchange with Dylan and his daughter (who was a big fan of Joel) in the early eighties and another chat in Milan, Italy. The song Billy Joel is obviously referring to here is Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love written for his album Time Out of Mind (1997), but first released commercially by Billy Joel, under the title To Make You Feel My Love.
Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin describes how musician Tony Glover stopped by Dylan’s apartment in September 1963, picked up a page of the song Dylan was working on, and read a line from it: “Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call.” Turning to Dylan, Glover said, “What is this shit, man?” Dylan shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Well, you know, it seems to be what the people want to hear.”
The ashy, parched album cover of The Times They Are a-Changin’ signaled exactly where Dylan would take us on this record. It was his first album of entirely original compositions, filled with stark ballads about racism, poverty, and social change. More than any other Dylan record, this one shaped me as an impressionable teenager — it helped set my values and opened my eyes to what appeared the road less travelled.
This was the moment Dylan was being hailed as the spokesman of a generation and the poster boy for the folk movement. On his third studio album, and especially in the title track, he was at his most sermon-like — a cross-generational rallying cry worthy of a biblical mountaintop. He admitted in 1985 that he wrote the song deliberately to be an anthem for its time, saying, “The civil rights movement and the folk music movement were pretty close for a while and allied together at that time.”
The battle outside ragin’ Will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
When I got into the song in the mid-to-late ’80s, the world was very different from today — and, as Dylan put it, “Ah, but I was so much older then / I’m younger than that now.” That’s why I rarely revisit The Times in the 21st century. Those songs feel like they’ve been lifted from a time capsule, reflecting the urgent causes of their day — from Jim Crow laws to Cold War paranoia. After this album came Another Side of Bob Dylan, where he began drifting from the narrow idealism and pressure of the political left, including peers like Joan Baez and Pete Seeger. Nowhere is this clearer than in My Back Pages, where he seems to reject his earlier political preaching, admitting he had “become my own enemy in the instant that I preach.”
But the times are always changing. These days, other Dylan songs speak to me more — especially his Oscar-winning Things Have Changed, which I play often. Now it feels like the shoe’s on the other foot: the train of “progress” never stopped at the station, kept going full steam ahead, and in some ways has become more radical and uncompromising than the movements Dylan once championed.
People are crazy and times are strange I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range I used to care, but things have changed
Now back to The Times, most of which was abridged from the Wikipedia article below:
In 1985, he told Cameron Crowe, “This was definitely a song with a purpose. It was influenced of course by the Irish and Scottish ballads …’Come All Ye Bold Highway Men‘, ‘Come All Ye Tender Hearted Maidens‘. According to Dylan’s official website, he performed the song 633 times between 1963 and 2009, making it his 23rd most-performed song as of June 2023. The song was ranked number 59 on Rolling Stone‘s 2004 list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time“.
In January 1984, a young Steve Jobs recited the second verse of “The Times They Are a-Changin‘” in his opening of the 1984 Apple shareholders meeting, where he famously unveiled the Macintosh computer for the first time.
[Verse 1] Come gather ’round, people, wherever you roam And admit that the waters around you have grown And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth saving And you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone For the times, they are a-changin’
[Verse 2] Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide, the chance won’t come again And don’t speak too soon, for the wheel’s still in spin And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’ For the loser now will be later to win For the times, they are a-changin’
[Verse 3] Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled The battle outside ragin’ Will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls For the times, they are a-changin’
[Verse 4] Come mothers and fathers throughout the land And don’t criticize what you can’t understand Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command Your old road is rapidly agin’ Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand For the times, they are a-changin’
[Verse 5] The line, it is drawn, the curse, it is cast The slow one now will later be fast As the present now will later be past The order is rapidly fadin’ And the first one now will later be last For the times, they are a-changin’
A friend and I were listening to this song on the way home from seeing F1: the movie last night at the cinema. I kept remarking how much the shredding guitar sets the song apart, particularly the three “blasts” of guitar bringing in the chorus. The guitarist Jonny Greenwood performed it because he disliked how quiet the song felt. So he hit the guitar “really hard” as if the song was slashing its wrists. Fittingly so, since Creep has “obsessive” lyrics that depict the “self-lacerating rage” of an unrequited attraction.
Creep is a stellar exemplar of the allure of 90’s alt grunge music that swept the music world by storm in the early 90’s. In my new found independence of young adulthood, my league of friends and I burrowed our way into this scene with such fervor. In the CBD of Canberra, Australia, there existed these shabby dives (if you looked hard enough) where you could watch local garage bands emulate this ‘Seattle’ – alternative rock sound forged by groups like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Alice in Chains & Live. But every now and then across the pond a UK band would add their own potion to the melting pot. So here we are today with Creep from the English rock band – Radiohead which became very popular on American alternative rock radio before it ever became an international hit.
I’d always been curious about how and why Radiohead earned their reputation as such an influential and innovative band. I knew and liked their breakout hit Creep (the subject of today’s post) and had read that their album OK Computer was hailed by some as one of the greatest of all time. I wanted to know what I’d been missing — or at least get a taste of it. So I watched their documentary Radiohead: A Job That Slowly Kills You. It was my first real dive into the group, and their turbulent history proved absorbing and compelling. The film features excerpts from many of their songs, which I now need to explore further as part of my music journey. Maybe there are Radiohead fans here who can point me toward their favourites in the band’s vast discography.
Most of the following was abridged from the Wikipedia reference below: Creep was the band’s debut single and was included on Radiohead’s debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). They had not planned to release Creep, but recorded it at the suggestion of the producers. It was initially unsuccessful, but was reissued in 1993 and became an international hit, likened to alt-rock “slacker anthems” such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana and Loser by Beck. As the above documentary shows, Creep while launching the band into the stratosphere was in part to their detriment since they were still were at finding their feet and getting a handle on songs. They eventually departed from the style of “Creep” and grew weary of it, feeling it set narrow expectations of their music, and did not perform it for several years. Still it remains their most successful single.
In Creep, Radiohead took elements from the 1972 song The Air That I Breathe by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. Following legal action, Hammond and Hazlewood were credited as co-writers.
[Verse 1] When you were here before Couldn’t look you in the eye You’re just like an angel Your skin makes me cry You float like a feather In a beautiful world I wish I was special You’re so fuckin’ special
[Chorus] But I’m a creep I’m a weirdo What the hell am I doin’ here? I don’t belong here
[Verse 2] I don’t care if it hurts I wanna have control I want a perfect body I want a perfect soul I want you to notice When I’m not around You’re so fuckin’ special I wish I was special
[Chorus]
[Bridge] She’s runnin’ out the door She’s runnin’ out She run, run, run, run Run
[Verse 3] Whatever makes you happy Whatever you want You’re so fuckin’ special I wish I was special
Aprender a Amar (Learn to love) Winner – Best Rap/Hip Hop Song (2024) at the Latin Grammy Awards
Since most of my small readership are English speakers, I hope the video below of today’s rap and hip-hop track Aprender a Amar (Learn to Love) comes with English subtitles for you as it does for me (You may have to open it separately in You Tube).
Eng: ‘You have to learn to love yourself, Bitch’
Spanish–Argentine artist Nathy Peluso is one of my favourite modern singer-songwriters for her knack for creating bold, inventive, and arresting music, paired with lyrics that are as compelling as they are biting. She’s actively reshaping the Latin music scene, blending hip-hop, bolero, cuplé, salsa, trap, and neo-soul — all delivered with theatrical flair and sharp, introspective writing that makes you think. Aprender a Amar is actually the tenth time she’s appeared here in just over a year.
Yesterday, while I was out, Aprender a Amar blasted through my earphones and I was hooked by the sound production alone. The way the beat and textures hit your ear feels like an event — it made everything I listened to earlier in the day sound second-rate. I understand Spanish well, so the play of words and phrasing against that relentless rhythm hit me even harder. I’m fascinated by it, just as I am with every track of hers I’ve featured. The song comes from Nathy’s 2024 album Grasa (Fat), which earned her three 3 Latin Grammy awards — including Best Rap/Hip-Hop Song for this very track.
Aprender a Amar isn’t just a rap banger — it’s a social statement. It holds up a mirror to us, warns where her generation is heading, and tries to course correct it. It’s bigger than it sounds on first listen. Sure, some might shrug and say, “That’s just Peluso being Peluso, mouthing off and being crass.” But under the surface there’s a whole lot more going on.
In these lyrics, Peluso pokes at the absurdity of taking politics too seriously — “Even if you add sugar to politics, it tastes like cement” — and then undercuts herself with “I’m almost a classic dumbass.” She takes aim at the pretension of the rich: You think money makes you smart? Think again, sunshine. She questions the shiny distractions of materialism, especially in her generation and in mainstream rap, where young people are pushed to be politically woke without really knowing what the hell they’re talking about — and also to idolise being filthy rich, dripping in gold chains, fancy cars, and “all ya bitches.” She calls for patience — nothing good comes from rushing, and nothing is achieved without discipline. There’s too much talk, she says, too much fakery. Plenty of laughs, plenty of “blessings” — but nobody keeps their promises. So shut up a minute, think, and above all… learn to love yourself, bitch!
The video that accompanies the single below sees Peluso sing in front of a mirror and then break the fourth wall and go directly to the viewer. The camera obeys Nathy’s movements, stirring when she pushes her and then following the rhythm of the track.
Below are English subtitles of the song:
I stay out, I stay out, but if I get into politics I am not followed, I am not recognised Because I always wear a little wig I am not weak, I am not obvious I am almost a classic dumbass The people who have money Stupid people have a lot of money
When the owner comes to the kitchen, he knows I am the best kneader I haven’t been home for a while. What are you looking at asshole, what is the matter with you Everything in life costs money Costs minutes costs vaseline Nothing good ever came from hurrying up
A lot of luxury but second rate Mucha labia, pero se te inunda A lot of talk but if it floods you A lot of talk, a lot of Milanese, a lot of paco and little mayonnaise Lots of laughter, lots of blessings, but no one keeps any promises
You have to learn to love yourself You gotta learn to love yourself, bitch You have to learn to love yourself You have to learn
I wear jewelry to be in the photo I skid my bike with the motorcycle helmet Chapter 40 does not need a pilot The capital fights and an earthquake is coming
Mamarracho burn yourself in the ashtray What a pistachio, everything here is worth money But how is 9 stupid lucas going to turn out? Even if you add sugar to politics, it tastes like cement
We all want the revolution but who gives it a moment? To hate you have to love, said Pity. It’s time to go through the fever of the city
For the rhythmically challenged among us, it’s always a blessing when the lyrics double as dance instructions, like it does in The Time Warp: “It’s just a jump to the left / And then a step to the right / Put your hands on your hips / Bring your knees in tight.” I first encountered this electrifyingly raunchy number on a school camp during my prepubescent years, where it blared repeatedly and we bopped along with joyous abandon. And when we all collapsed in unison at the end, like unplugged marionettes? Pure riot. Of all songs, The Time Warp demands to be danced in company. What’s interesting is that the choreography we did as kids during the refrain “Let’s do the Time Warp again” differs from what’s shown in the movie version below. The moves we followed are actually from the Australian version, which appears at the end of this post.
The Time Warp first appeared in the 1973 rock musical The Rocky Horror Show, and later in its now cult-classic film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). It was written by Richard O’Brien who also performed the song as the character Riff Raff (see image inset) in the original 1975 film. Now that’s a talented individual! I just love his darkly amusing and slightly nasal voice as he opens the number. The dance became one of the major audience participation activities during screenings of the 1975 film and is both an example and a parody of the dance song genre.
Despite the song receiving significant commercial success in 1980-81 (No. 3 in Australia, No. 13 UK and No. 29. US Billboard) and becoming wildly popular in my next of the woods (Australia) throughout the 1980’s and into the early 90’s, its zest and allure seems to have faded in recent decades. I haven’t heard it played commercially, nor has it cropped up in contemporary music fandom circles. I’m not sure why that is, because I still consider The Time Warp iconic for its music, its choreography, and its ability to ignite audience participation.
[Verse 1: Riff Raff, Magenta, Both] It’s astounding Time is fleeting Madness takes its toll But listen closely Not for very much longer I’ve got to keep control I remember doing the Time Warp Drinking those moments when The blackness would hit me And the void would be calling
[Refrain: All] Let’s do the Time Warp again Let’s do the Time Warp again
[Chorus: All, The Criminologist] It’s just a jump to the left And then a step to the right With your hands on your hips You bring your knees in tight But it’s the pelvic thrust That really drives you insane
[Verse 2: Magenta, Riff Raff] It’s so dreamy Oh, fantasy free me So you can’t see me No, not at all In another dimension With voyeuristic intention Well secluded, I see all With a bit of a mind flip You’re into the time slip And nothing can ever be the same You’re spaced out on sensation Like you’re under sedation
[Verse 3: Columbia] Well I was walking down the street Just-a having a think When a snake of a guy gave me an evil wink He shook-a me up, he took me by surprise He had a pick up truck and the devil’s eyes He stared at me and I felt a change Time meant nothing, never would again
If you enjoy dabbling in books feel free to join me on Goodreads [here]. I’m currently reading All The Light We Cannot See (2014) by Anthony Doerr.
Picking up the Wednesday literature segment where we last left off with The Force of Circumstance (1924) – W. Somerset Maugham, today I bring to you another short story from my last read – The Penguin Book of Short Stories (image inset). This anthology features some of the most celebrated names in literature, including Dickens, Huxley, Joyce, Maugham, Wells, and Woolf. Its themes span the supernatural, colonialism, cultural and societal tensions, and madness – to name just a few.
Today’s featured story – The Gioconda Smile by Aldous Huxley is the last I will present here from the above collection of short stories. Huxley is an English writer and philosopher and best known for his dystopian classic about the dehumanising aspects of scientific progress- Brave New World (1932). I featured a two-part series here on that novel in December in 2020. Huxley’s bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems.
The Gioconda Smile is a sharp, dark little story with a twist towards the end to die-for. In just a few pages, Huxley creates a whole world full of quiet tension, dry humour, and characters who aren’t quite what they seem.
Mr. Hutton seems friendly and polished, but underneath, he’s careless. Miss Janet is smart and quiet, always noticing things. And Mrs. Hutton… you’ll find out. Every person in the story has more going on than you expect, and Huxley slowly reveals their true selves in a calm, clever way.
The tone shifts between light and unsettling. One moment I was enjoying the witty conversation, the next I felt uneasy, like something wasn’t right. And sure enough, something wasn’t. It’s about an hour long read, but it feels complete – like a whole novel squeezed into one strong shot.
If you like clever stories that are a little dark and a little twisted, The Gioconda Smile is worth your time. It’s a polite smile that hides something cold underneath – and it sticks with you. It reminded me a lot of Oscar Wilde’s book – The Picture of Dorian Gray which I featured here in a 4 part series in 2019. The hedonistic and amoral Lord Henry from The Picture of Dorian Gray shares much in common with Mr. Hutton, the flawed protagonist of The Gioconda Smile.
The extract below from The Gioconda Smile is my favourite part. It shows Mr. Hutton at his most honest and strangely likeable, even in all his weakness. After a lifetime of chasing pleasure and avoiding responsibility, something shifts – just for a moment. He hits a low point, sees how empty his life has become, and suddenly feels a kind of grace wash over him. He makes a promise to change – to live better, think deeper, and use his time wisely. And after seven days of trying, he finally gets what feels like a reward: seven and a half hours of sleep. A solid, peaceful rest — like a small redemption. But Huxley, with his sharp humour and dark honesty, doesn’t let that hope last long.
The story captures that bittersweet truth: sometimes even our best intentions dissolve in the light of day. This is a classic case of How Freud viewed the Main Conflicts of Man where we are driven more by our innate and natural aggression instincts and sexual urges. The rationalist conscious over-pinning barely just tinkers.
Extract from The Gioconda Smile
What had he? Nothing, nothing whatever. There were only Doris’s little breasts. What was the point of it all? Milton, the stars, death, and Emily in her grave, Doris and himself—always himself….
Oh, he was a futile and disgusting being. Everything convinced him of it. It was a solemn moment. He spoke aloud: “I will, I will.” The sound of his own voice in the darkness was appalling; it seemed to him that he had sworn that infernal oath which binds even the gods: “I will, I will.” There had been New Year’s days and solemn anniversaries in the past, when he had felt the same contritions and recorded similar resolutions. They had all thinned away, these resolutions, like smoke, into nothingness. But this was a greater moment and he had pronounced a more fearful oath. In the future it was to be different. Yes, he would live by reason, he would be industrious, he would curb his appetites, he would devote his life to some good purpose. It was resolved and it would be so.
In practice he saw himself spending his mornings in agricultural pursuits, riding round with the bailiff, seeing that his land was farmed in the best modern way—silos and artificial manures and continuous cropping, and all that. The remainder of the day should be devoted to serious study. There was that book he had been intending to write for so long—The Effect of Diseases on Civilisation.
Mr. Hutton went to bed humble and contrite, but with a sense that grace had entered into him. He slept for seven and a half hours, and woke to find the sun brilliantly shining. The emotions of the evening before had been transformed by a good night’s rest into his customary cheerfulness. It was not until a good many seconds after his return to conscious life that he remembered his resolution, his Stygian oath. Milton and death seemed somehow different in the sunlight. As for the stars, they were not there. But the resolutions were good; even in the daytime he could see that. He had his horse saddled after breakfast, and rode round the farm with the bailiff. After luncheon he read Thucydides on the plague at Athens. In the evening he made a few notes on malaria in Southern Italy. While he was undressing he remembered that there was a good anecdote in Skelton’s jest-book about the Sweating Sickness. He would have made a note of it if only he could have found a pencil.
On the sixth morning of his new life Mr. Hutton found among his correspondence an envelope addressed in that peculiarly vulgar handwriting which he knew to be Doris’s. He opened it, and began to read. She didn’t know what to say; words were so inadequate. His wife dying like that, and so suddenly—it was too terrible. Mr. Hutton sighed, but his interest revived somewhat as he read on:
“Death is so frightening, I never think of it when I can help it. But when something like this happens, or when I am feeling ill or depressed, then I can’t help remembering it is there so close, and I think about all the wicked things I have done and about you and me, and I wonder what will happen, and I am so frightened. I am so lonely, Teddy Bear, and so unhappy, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t get rid of the idea of dying, I am so wretched and helpless without you. I didn’t mean to write to you; I meant to wait till you were out of mourning and could come and see me again, but I was so lonely and miserable, Teddy Bear, I had to write. I couldn’t help it. Forgive me, I want you so much; I have nobody in the world but you. You are so good and gentle and understanding; there is nobody like you. I shall never forget how good and kind you have been to me, and you are so clever and know so much, I can t understand how you ever came to pay any attention to me, I am so dull and stupid, much less like me and love me, because you do love me a little, don’t you, Teddy Bear?”
Mr. Hutton was touched with shame and remorse. To be thanked like this, worshipped for having seduced the girl—it was too much. It had just been a piece of imbecile wantonness. Imbecile, idiotic: there was no other way to describe it. For, when all was said, he had derived very little pleasure from it. Taking all things together, he had probably been more bored than amused. Once upon a time he had believed himself to be a hedonist. But to be a hedonist implies a certain process of reasoning, a deliberate choice of known pleasures, a rejection of known pains. This had been done without reason, against it. For he knew beforehand—so well, so well—that there was no interest or pleasure to be derived from these wretched affairs. And yet each time the vague itch came upon him he succumbed, involving himself once more in the old stupidity. There had been Maggie, his wife’s maid, and Edith, the girl on the farm, and Mrs. Pringle, and the waitress in London, and others—there seemed to be dozens of them. It had all been so stale and boring. He knew it would be; he always knew. And yet, and yet…. Experience doesn’t teach.
Poor little Doris! He would write to her kindly, comfortingly, but he wouldn’t see her again. A servant came to tell him that his horse was saddled and waiting. He mounted and rode off. That morning the old bailiff was more irritating than usual.
Five days later Doris and Mr. Hutton ware sitting together on the pier at Southend; Doris, in white muslin with pink garnishings, radiated happiness; Mr. Hutton, legs outstretched and chair tilted, had pushed the panama back from his forehead, and was trying to feel like a tripper. That night, when Doris was asleep, breathing and warm by his side, he recaptured, in this moment of darkness and physical fatigue, the rather cosmic emotion which had possessed him that evening, not a fortnight ago, when he had made his great resolution. And so his solemn oath had already gone the way of so many other resolutions. Unreason had triumphed; at the first itch of desire he had given way. He was hopeless, hopeless.
For a long time he lay with closed eyes, ruminating his humiliation. The girl stirred in her sleep, Mr. Hutton turned over and looked in her direction. Enough faint light crept in between the half-drawn curtains to show her bare arm and shoulder, her neck, and the dark tangle of hair on the pillow. She was beautiful, desirable. Why did he lie there moaning over his sins? What did it matter? If he were hopeless, then so be it; he would make the best of his hopelessness. A glorious sense of irresponsibility suddenly filled him. He was free, magnificently free. In a kind of exaltation he drew the girl towards him. She woke, bewildered, almost frightened under his rough kisses.
The storm of his desire subsided into a kind of serene merriment. The whole atmosphere seemed to be quivering with enormous silent laughter.
“Could anyone love you as much as I do, Teddy Bear?” The question came faintly from distant worlds of love.
You can read the entire story here or listen to it below. Thanks for reading.
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