Boogie [English translation]

Two notes and the refrain was already beneath the skin of those two [dancers]:

Her body had an African scent, he resembled a crocodile,

The saxes pushed to the end as helper cyclists in a breakaway1,

And the song was going on, sinking deeper and deeper in the air.

Those two were still dancing, she emanated colonial body smells,

Coming to him as from those drugstores that used to be,

Which kept the door open just in front the Spring.

Someone began to sneeze, somewhere,

The fan was buzzing – enormous – by the ceiling – exhausted,

The saxes – hypnotized by her movements – spread

Noises of gum and paint, from him [came] leather ones.

The lights darted on the female cashier's Pekingese face

Smoking menthol cigarettes, others sneezed without malice.

And the song went on elegantly, the orchestra started, it took off.

The musicians were all one with the ceiling and floor,

Only the drummer – in the shadow – watched with a scowl

Those two who were dancing good, a new female cashier replaced the first one:

This one had she-wolf eyes and chewed alescane2 candies.

This music continued, it was a song that said-through3,

The orchestra was swaying like a palm tree in front of a worshipped sea:

Those two knew by heart where they wanted to get.

A fifth character hesitated before sneezing,

Then he sheltered in a nowhere land.

'Twas a grown-up world where you failed professionally.

1. in Italian, “helper cyclists” are called “gregari”, that means “in a group”. So, the juxtapossition creates an oximoron.2. Paolo Conte just made up the word: http://senzadedica.blogspot.de/2011/02/parole-le-caramelle-alascane-di-p...3. Most probably, Conte choose to adapt the term “vedo e non vedo”, meaning something opaque (for the sight) or “sheer” (if referred to lingerie). Hence, I choose to adapt the term “see-through” as “said-through” in order to express the same adaptation that Conte did in Italian.

• Artist:Paolo Conte