Need

I don't need wise words. I don't need big words.

I just need a hug.

Memorias

Spring cleaning

I think I need to clean up my heart.

Caution, you might slip and disappear.

El dia

Tu no ho entens, però Sant Jordi és el dia més important per a mi. Oblida-te'n de Nadal i del Dimecres de Cendra. Sant Jordi és per a mi l'únic dia que espero amb desig. No ho entens i em fas mal per no entendre-ho.

I aquest any, per primera vegada, he estat lluny de la meva HomeTown. Molt lluny. Però, d'alguna manera, tot ha anat prou bé a pesar d'haver-me perdut un retrobat retorn al passat.
I així va ser el meu dia d'ahir.
Pel matí, a la feina, però això no és nou doncs ni a Casa és festa aquest dia. És extrany com el dia de la Hispanitat (tant a España com als Estats Units) és festa, i Saint George's Day no és festa a cap de les nacions de les que n'és patró. Ni a Casa ni a casa - ves, que em poso tonto amb les majúscules.
A la tarda a corre cuita cap al centre. Passo per l'estació i li demano a l'home que ven les flor alegrement a la cantonada que si em pot vendre una rosa, una de sola. Oh, i tant, si avui és Saint George. És clar que ho sé, si sóc català. Ah, doncs, això ho explica tot. Un llibre i una rosa. Aquesta va a compte de la casa, però quan us caseu, veniu a fer les flors amb mi. Thank you.
Arribo al meu destí. Un bar ple d'homes a la cantonada de Picadilly. Avui juga el Barça i el Manchester. És això el més proper a celebrar Sant Jordi? Well, sembla que sí.
Allí em trobo amb una amiga. Una de la Quinta Província, la que no existeix, la que volem. I al seu costat una letona (com la llet) i a l'altre una altra noia que ja coneixia, de ses illes. El valencià no ens acompanya, malauradament. Sí, sí, ja sé que Sant Jordi és tan sols de Catalunya, però, d'algun mode, la resta dels (whatever)parlants caminen amb nosaltres en els dies importants.
Li dono la rosa, li dono el llibre (Shakespeare, que va morir ahir), li dono un llençol (això no te res a veure) i li dono el meu recompilatori de Sant Jordi.

Futbol, que no m'agrada, que no m'interessa, però m'ho passo bé. Crido mentre pregunto què m'has dit que era un fora de joc?
Parlem en català, se'm pega el tortosí, se'm pega sa llengua mallorquina. El letó no el domino, però potser és moment de pujar uns quilòmetres més, no?
S'acaba el partit i cantem el Tot el camp. Molt fort perquè me'l sé (i no em se pas Els segadors).

Estic trist perquè no he passat Sant Jordi a casa. Estic trist perquè no hem guanyat. Però quan, tot baixant les escales plenes de gent, veig el coll del noi de davant, el coll de la camisa, de la samarreta del Barça que, a la part de darrera, du una petita Senyera. Per això, val la pena.

PS Al sortir, el millor missatge de la meva vida. Gràcies papá.

Escoltant, és clar, el Declare Independence de la Björk.

Aquest post es va quedar als Drafts per alguna raó.

The Way I Need

Sant Jordi arrived again and, what else could happen on the Lover's Day of Catalonia, but me releasing a new album (remember Valentine's Day and Sant Jordi 2007 and 2008: I'ts not me (it's you); It's not me: the B-Sides [español]; My Favorite Flavor [español] ).
This is the first album at Word Arranger and the third of the year. It is only April, I know. But this is also the last of the saga. A saga that started last year with the "I despise Valentine's Day" mood. But then I kind of liked it, I kind of liked the work in progress of releasing these albums.
They all have songs that cannot be considered 100% love or no-love, they even have songs that do not mean that at all. But, who knows what Love really is?

This time I wanted to do something very easy. This songs have been for a year in a playlist in my iTunes and I knew which I was going to use, actually. I tried not to use the songs or the artists that had been used in previous albums (including Serendipity, which wasn't released onto any of my blogs).
There are songs that I have "sung" in my blogs so many times. There are songs that are old and have been running around for so long. There are songs that are very new for me, even if they might be quite old as well. There are even two songs sung by the same person. But, especially, there are songs that make my heart to shrink.
Some of them have a name, most of them I would say. Some of them I wish they didn't have. But this is how things are, and this is how I feel right now. Because love is not something that changes from one day to another.

Anyway, here it is.

The Way I Need

1. Fistful of Love - Antony and the Johnsons
2. My Melody of Love - Bobby Vinton
3. Love Me - Cetu Javu
4. Everythings I Cannot See - Charlotte Gainsbourg
5. Fresh Feelings - Eels
6. I Hope that I don’t Fall in Love with You - Emilíana Torrini
7. It’s Good to Be in Love - Frou Frou
8. Bota pa la lambón - Gertrudis
9. I Am in Love with You - Imogen Heap
10. Falling for You - Jem
11. Sent la nit - Kabul Babà
12. Pass This On - The Knife
13. Amante bandido - Miguel Bosé & Alaska
14. Boig per tu - Novo
15. Meu cel colorit - Òscar Briz
16. Samson - Regina Spektor
17. The Origin of Love - Stephen Trask

Super Bonus Track

• One Word - Kelly Osbourne

You'll see that this time I didn't say no to more than one song in Catalan, but hey, Sant Jordi is the day all Catalan boys are giving ROSES to their girlfriends and they give them BOOKS back. So, what a better day than singing in their language? I am very much pleased with this. Although I am still looking for a Catalan singer with my own accent, (I am really not going to use Lax'n'Busto) as, again, Òscar Briz is Valencian, and Gertrudis, Kabul Babà, and Novo are from Barcelona, so no chance to pronounce like I do. Such an small country and so many diferences.
Also, you'll see that opposite to the previous albums, this has songs mostly in English (and Catalan, as said). No hebrew (but I wasn't going to use Ivri), no Polish (just few lines in one song). But still some French and Galician.

All these songs meen much to me. All of them are those that I never skip in my iPod. I am so happy with this compilation, I could cry - although I have already done so.

I wanted something simple. I knew that selecting the track list wasn't going to take me long, and it didn't. But the artwork took a while to come to my head. Kelly surprised me out of a sudden - she got the honourable place of SBT. "One Word" is what she says, and repeats. One word can change everything.
So suddenly the artwork appeared in my mind. I know very little about design and I am very bad at using my tools. But I am very happy with the result. Moreover, I had fun.

Nonetheless, even if I thought that was going to be easy, I had so much trouble with it. Somehow the files are bigger than what they normally are, that's why the artwork comes split.

Anyway, nothing much to say. I would like to talk about each song (I was hoping we'd done that for My Favorite Flavor), but I don't want to spoil anything.
But, please, take me to Gordon's Wine Bar, or let's share a mattress on the floor and we will talk about them. We will share an iPod, you'll get one earpiece and I'll get the other.

And this is it. This is the last of the 4 albums I had planned. I swear, nothing coming now, nothing in my mind. But if something does come up, it is not going to be about Love - or is it? (Because Love is Everything).

As usual:

Artwork and other files

BTW, happy Sant Jordi! Feliz San Jordi! Feliç Sant Jordi!

Infantesa portada a la realitat

Plou i fa sol,

les bruixes es pentinen.

Plou i fa sol,

les bruixes porten dol.

Diferente

Sí, claro, diferente, porque lo dices tú. Yo no he cambiado, siempre he sido igual. Eres tú, que ayer me miraste diferente. ¿Será eso? Yo espero que sí, y la verdad es que me di cuenta.

Especial, sí, sí, especial pero nada más.

Me lo paso bien contigo. Me gusta que hablemos de arte, de contemporáneo y moderno. Me gusta que nos peleemos, pero estoy un poco cansado de esta relación que tenemos. Más que nada porque tengo mucho miedo. Miedo de que suceda lo mismo que me ocurrió en un pasado lejanamente lejano.

Porque, me gustaría hablar con ella, pero es que estoy seguro que ella pensó "Mmm, ¿y no tienen sexo? Si es que son como un matrimonio." Y no me refiero como otros puedan pensar, me refiero a que nos peleamos como un matrimonio, porque las cosas nos son importantes como lo son para los matriomonios. Y lo hacemos en la calle, como los matrimonios, y luego nos reímos de ello como los matrimonios inteligentes hacen.

Pero es que también nos interrumpimos como lo hacen los matrimonios. Pero no es que me interrumpas y ya está, y yo me quede con las ganas, sino que tú acabas mis frases y yo las tuyas - para qué nos vamos a engañar, casi siempre soy yo quien te interrumpe. Y tú le explicas mis cosas y yo le explico las tuyas. Si es que al final de la noche ella me preguntaba por ti a mí y a la inversa. Si es que la chica esta no es tonta, será de tu país, pero de tonta no tiene un pelo.

Ya sabes, yo me llevo bien con la gente, y la gente confía en mí con rapidez. Ella me miraba con cara de "Bueno, y ¿aquí qué está pasando?" Como queriendo decirme, "Ya que él no me lo cuenta, ¿me lo vas a decir tú?" Pero es que, hija mía, no tengo ni idea. Tú lo viste, el abrazo fue diferente, diferente lo digo yo porque tú no los habías visto antes.

No, yo siempre he sido así. Pero, ¿quieres dejar de cerrarte?

No soy yo quién te lo dice, nos lo dice a todos Ms B, quien veremos la semana que viene - yo por segunda vez. Te lo digo y te lo repito, "let's open up, share!"

Innocence

Björk

I once had no fears

none at all

and then when

I had some

to my surprise

I grew to like both

scared or brave

without them

the thrill of fear

thought I'd never admit it

the thrill of fear

now greatly enjoyed with courage

when I once was

untouchable

innocence roared

still amazes

when I once was

innocent

it's still here

but in different places

neurosis

only

attaches

itself to

fertile

ground

where it can flourish

the thrill of fear

thought I'd never admit it

the thrill of fear

now greatly enjoyed with courage

when I once was

fearless

innocence roared

still amazes

untouchable

innocence

it's still here

but in different places

fear is a powerful drug

overcome it and

you think that you can do

anything!

should I

save myself

for later

or generously give?

fear of

losing

energy

is draining

it locks up your chest

shuts down the heart

miserly and stingy

let's open up : share!