Monday 1 July 2024

People are stupid so, you know, they'll buy anything

Disclaimer: this post was written in December 2023, and scheduled for future posting. Its contents may no longer be accurate or appropriate.

If I've got my dates right, Wimbledon starts today. A fortnight of sporting excellence and perhaps the best event of its type in the world. I'm crossing my fingers that Katie, Emma and Andy all make it into the second week, but that seems slightly optimistic written, as this is, in the middle of December. Anyway, it seems like a good time to share a video that might have passed you by if Wimbledon is the only tennis you watch all year. Lots of detail in this to enjoy.

And so, with a tenuous tennis link, this is La Electricidad by Spanish band McEnroe. After spending much time pasting text into Google Translate, I can tell you that McEnroe are from Getxo, a little town just north of Bilbao, and have been recording off and on since 2004 (although currently they seem to be on hiatus). Main man Ricardo Lezón seems to have a competing solo career, from what I can make out, and publishes poetry too. Anyway, La Electricidad opens side two of McEnroe's 2015 album Rugen Las Flores (The Flowers Roar) and sounds like this:

Here are the original lyrics, and a rough translation, with all apologies to Spanish speakers everywhere:

La ElectricidadElectricity
Acuérda te de mi, cuando pises algún charco
Cuando escuches algún pája ro cantar
Acuérda te de mi, cuando veas algún rayo
Agrietando todo el cielo como un cristal

No dejes de buscar, incluso en la hora más oscura
Puede apa recer de pronto la electricidad
Yo estaré por aquí, escondido en algún recuerdo
O en el leve movimiento de sentir

Y cabe la po si bi lidad
De que te vuelva a encontrar, en algún incendio
Y cabe la po si bi lidad
De que te vuelva a encontrar, en algún incendio

Me acordaré de ti, parado en algún semáforo
O afinando justo antes de salir
Estás por aquí, escondida en alguna frase
O en el leve movimiento de vivir

Y cabe la po si bi lidad
De que te pueda olvidar, en algún momento
Y cabe la po si bi lidad
De que te pueda olvidar, en este momento
Remember me, when you step in some puddle
When you hear some bird sing
Remember me, when you see some lightning
Cracking the whole sky like glass

Don't stop looking, even in the darkest hour
Electricity can suddenly appear
I'll be here, hidden in some memory
Or in the slight movement of feeling

And there's a chance
That I may find you again, in some fire
And there is the possibility
That I'll find you again, in some fire

I will remember you, stopped at some traffic light
Or tuning up just before I go out
You're around here somewhere, hidden in some sentence
Or in the slight movement of living

And there's a chance
That I can forget you, at some point
And there is the possibility
That I can forget you, at this moment

So there's a first for New Amusements, a Spanish language track. Bastante buena, en mi opinión. ¿Qué te parece?

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2 comments:

  1. It's been many years it's been since I saw any tennis, so I only recognised a couple of the faces in the mockumentary, but it was brilliantly done. Fantastic deadpan performances all round. I actually had to pause at the bit with the guy pre-recording his grunts (ah-ehhhh, ah-ehhhh) because I was laughing so hard. Marvellous stuff.

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    Replies
    1. Very good, isn't it? There are some unused scenes and bloopers from this on YouTube too.

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