It's my birthday again, but...

Let's get one thing straight! Beneath all the lies of my fleshly disguises, I'm still not old.


Here are the words:

The time has come, and I just don't know how
To sing of when it wouldn't ever be now
Go back against our wills in time
Remember when you were mine

'Cause if you gaze deep into my dark brown eyes
You're gonna see back behind a thousand lies:

I'm not old

I'm still a rock'n'roll star
I'm back in love with you
The fans are going wild
There's only one thing to do

Now that I'm not old

You say you're in a fit
You're getting ready to cry
You're such a nervous girl
There's only one thing to try

And that's the very same thing
I once did with you

Download "I'm Not Old"

I played this at my 50th birthday party, and I had a fun story about that in this old post.

Italian hit record covered by Francoise Hardy

Above you'll see two youtube videos, the top one being Mina's "Se Telefonando" and the exquisite Francoise Hardy doing a French cover of the same song with French lyrics.

My old friend Robert Hunt posted the Francoise Hardy song on facebook, which prompted me to post the lyrics and a my rough translation. So here's the Italian lyrics; the french lyrics can be found on the youtube page hosting the french video if you click on it.

Se Telefonando

Lo stupore della notte
spalancata
sul mar

(I don't know what the stupor of the night may be, but I like it) The stupor of the night is scattered across the sea.

ci sorprese che eravamo
sconosciuti
io e te.

We were surprised, you and I, that we didn't know each other.

Poi nel buio le tue mani
d'improvviso
sulle mie…cresciuto troppo in fretta
questo nostro amor…

Then in the dark your hands suddenly on mine… Grown too quickly, this our love…

Se telefonando
io potessi dirti addio
ti chiamerei…

(Those who know Italian might note that the chorus of this song is entirely in the subjunctive, a tricky tense in any Romance language, and one more suggestive of poetry and highfalutin sentiments than everyday speech) If I, when telephoning, could say goodbye, I would call you...

Se io rivedendoti
fossi certa che non soffri
ti rivedrei…

If I were to see you again, if I could be certain that you wouldn't suffer, I would see you again...

Se guardandoti negli occhi
sapessi dirti basta
ti guarderei…

If, as I was gazing into your eyes, I were to know how to say Enough! I would look at you...

Ma non so spiegarti
che il nostro amore appena nato
Ë giá finito…

But I don't know how to explain to you that this, our love, is already finished..

Then she repeats it from the top. I just love the relative strength of her voice compared to Hardy, but I love looking at Hardy and I do love her voice.