PHOTOGRAPHY THROUGH SONGS

La Fotografia “riflessa” nella Canzone

“I heard your voice through a photograph”
  Otherside, Red Hot Chili Peppers

A Luigi Marcello

Anonimo, s.t., 2022

“Time it was, and what a time it was, it was

A time of innocence, A time of confidences

Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph

Preserve your memories; They’re all that’s left you”

Bookends Theme, Simon & Garfunkel

INDICAZIONI PER LA LETTURA

Il testo di questa ricerca è diviso in tre parti, per offrire altrettante (e diverse) opzioni di lettura:

1a) la prima parte è composta del solo testo dell’articolo di commento;

2a) la seconda parte è composta dal testo dell’articolo intervallato dai testi delle canzoni selezionate durante la ricerca;

3a) la terza parte è composta dai soli testi delle canzoni.

Si aggiunge, infine, che per quanto perfettibile, si tratta di un primo fronte di ricerca che, in prospettiva, potrebbe essere ulteriormente ampliato. Primo nucleo di una ricerca che ha richiesto diversi mesi di lavoro.

Buona lettura, dunque, e anche buon ascolto, nel caso si volesse usare come sottofondo l’omonima playlist che, come si riaccennerà più avanti, integra e completa il lavoro. Anch’essa intitolata “Photography through Songs” e disponibile al link: khttps://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBM3Pwe1OiqsHpkamxfEHcakBT1kBuhzD).

TESTO DELL’ARTICOLO

Le canzoni selezionate sono state raccolte in un’apposita playlist – composta, al momento, da n. 126 video musicali – che integra e completa il lavoro, immaginata anche come possibile sottofondo alla lettura proprio di questo stesso testo. Si tratta di una raccolta molto eterogenea, sia per la varietà dei generi presenti sia per quella degli interpreti.

Per fare solo qualche esempio, la playlist spazia: da Bob Dylan a Lady Gaga, da Claudio Baglioni ai R.E.M., da Lou Reed a Taylor Swift, da Alice in Chains a Nina Nesbitt, da Diamanda Galàs a Ed Sheeran, da Franco Battiato a Paul Simon, da Yonas a Holger Czukay, da The Who a David Sylvian, da The Last Goodnight alla Premiata Forneria Marconi e così via… I relativi testi spaziano anch’essi, da temi, più “leggeri” per così dire , ma mai banali a parere di chi scrive, a tematiche più “dense”, che spaziano a loro volta, per fare solo un esempio, dalle vicende di R. Capa al “manifesto” di Lou Reed e John Cale dedicato ad Andy Warhol e via proseguendo…

Una playlist, ovviamente ampliabile ulteriormente che intende offrire soltanto un “assaggio” di come, concretamente, la Fotografia si “rifletta” anche nella Canzone, con le relative suggestioni che ne possono eventualmente derivare. Una playlist che, per quanto sottinteso, non ha nessuna pretesa né di esautività né, tanto meno, di scientificità, ed è disponibile al seguente link: PHOTOGRAPHY through SONGS.

Più nello specifico, le canzoni che compongono questa raccolta sono state scelte perché i relativi testi contengono – anche indirettamente – riferimenti più o meno espliciti ed evidenti con il mondo della Fotografia. Fotografia più o meno “riflessa” in questi testi, benché, per quanto ovvio, lo sia in percentuali talora anche molto diverse da una canzone all’altra (cfr., in fondo, i testi completi delle canzoni scelte).

E questi riferimenti, a parere di chi scrive, rivestono un carattere di particolare importanza e un rilievo dati dal fatto che sono a loro volta una sorta di indicatore e, insieme, “specchio” di qualcos’altro, potendo la Canzone, così come la Musica, ben rappresentare anche l’insieme delle composizioni, ad esempio, di un’intera nazione, di un determinato periodo storico, di una cultura specifica, di un particolare autore, etc.

Un patrimonio espressivo che viene condiviso sempre senza particolari “interferenze” – fatta eccezione per qualche eventuale breve nota di accompagnamento – proponendo ogni testo, per intero o per frazioni, così come è stato estratto alla fonte. Si lascerà poi al lettore/ascoltatore/spettatore la libertà di associarlo eventualmente anche con le riflessioni relative alla Fotografia contenute in questo testo.

Ciascuna di queste canzoni, ognuna con il suo specifico patrimonio espressivo, come si potrà notare già a partire dal primo testo proposto (cfr. sempre, in fondo, i testi delle canzoni scelte), ci racconta, di norma, una storia.

E, attraverso questa narrazione, “alta” o ”bassa” che sembri, ognuna a suo modo veicola anche stili, tecniche, tradizioni e, più in generale – non solo con il supporto della voce umana – idee e orientamenti sul Mondo e, non ultimo, in una prospettiva metadiscorsiva, anche sugli stessi mezzi espressivi.

Tra i quali, per quel che qui più ci interessa, c’è, come accennato poc’anzi, anche la Fotografia, della quale si accennerà a più riprese.

Una Fotografia, definita un medium “bizzarro” da R. Barthes, che, anche nella dimensione social contemporanea, continua a presentarsi in un continuo e precario equilibrio tra l’apparente rappresentazione speculare del reale e un’altrettanto possibile astrazione intellettuale.

Un’ambivalenza enigmatica che può anch’essa “inquinare” l’eventuale funzione documentaria della Fotografia, esponendola alla potenziale relatività di qualunque lettura.

Mettendone, in tal modo, concretamente in discussione lo storico ruolo di testimone e, talora, persino di “agente di storia”, come può testimoniare il suo utilizzo anche in ore particolarmente drammatiche per il Mondo, nell’attualità del presente, cosi come in passato.

Ma, anche restando apparentemente distanti dalla linea del fronte, come sembra avvenga in queste righe, questa distanza è forse meno ampia di quel che in realtà può apparire, non ultimo, perché, evidenziando il ruolo e la visione della Fotografia sul Mondo.

Una visione condivisa nelle storie narrate tramite la Canzone, che , conseguentemente, rinvia alle scelte – implicite o esplicite che siano – e, più in generale, all’uso comunque “politico” della Fotografia da parte dei relativi autori.

Si, veri e propri atti politici – a partire dai testi apparentemente meno impegnati sino ad arrivare a quelli paradigmatici – attraverso e in esito ai quali, l’autore ha quindi deciso a priori cosa sia dentro e cosa resti fuori dalla relativa narrazione, compresa quella riguardante la Fotografia.

Suoni e voce, insieme, non hanno quindi mai smesso di attestare – anche in queste ore, nuovamente così drammatiche per il Mondo – che non sono affatto astratte e lontane dal Mondo stesso come potrebbe, invece, talora apparentemente sembrare.

Neanche quando – per lo meno in “superficie” – i testi sembrino meno impegnati o, parafrasando una fortunata espressione diventata popolarissima recentemente, addirittura… “leggerissimi”.

Tanto meno lo sono le frazioni di testo dedicate alla Fotografia qui proposte, perché la Canzone – in una prospettiva metadiscorsiva che comprende, come già accennato, anche una continua autoanalisi – ci racconta in ogni caso come l’Umanità “parli” sempre e, soprattutto, di sé stessa anche tramite altri media, Fotografia inclusa, s’intende.

Un’evidenza persino banale, considerando il fatto che non si sta parlando di un medium isolato, bensì di un ente trasversale, concretamente immerso in un costante rapporto simbiotico e di continua interdipendenza con altri media.

Questo medium intermedia, convivendo tra old e new media, contribuisce non poco anche nell’ambito del web a veicolare e, insieme, ridefinire incessantemente la nostra visione del Mondo e, così facendo, a rimodellare la percezione della nostra stessa identità.

Attraverso un flusso variegato e crescente e continuo di contributi ai processi di rappresentazione della realtà la Fotografia, anche con il contributo delle relative idee al riguardo veicolate per messo della Canzone è divenuto nel tempo, anche un popolare canale espressivo tra i più comuni e diffusi per la salvaguardia della memoria.

Una memoria, non solo personale, ma anche collettiva.

La Storia, in sostanza, anche tramite tracce apparentemente soltanto intime, personali.

La Fotografia, in solitaria o tramite l’intermediazione della Canzone, assume la funzione di mezzo strategico per una più ampia e completa “traduzione” del “proprio” Mondo: a partire da sè stessi all’ambiente sociale e naturale di riferimento.

Un immaginario collettivo che anche la Fotografia, grazie alla “voce” prestatagli di volta in volta dalla Canzone, contribuisce a rimodulare di continuo.

E la voce umana – con o senza l’ausilio della Musica – fungendo da ventriloquo della Fotografia, permette peraltro alle immagini, oltre che di interagire, anche di “parlare” in modo ancor più ampio e completo al/con il Mondo.

E, interagendovi continuamente, questa marea immensa e plurale di immagini visive e “sonore” concorre a creare anche un reale altro, differente da quello “concreto”.

Una sorta di dimensione parallela, certamente di secondo grado, percepita comunque come “reale”, con la quale s’interagisce, non solo simbolicamente, similmente alla “realtà” (tecnicamente) di primo grado.

Una “traccia” di questa possibile sinergia tra la Canzone e la Fotografia, potrebbe essere rappresentata dalle sinestesie variabili – sonore e visive – veicolate proprio dalla playlist “Photography through Songs” proposta con questo testo.

Una proposta certamente perfettibile, senza nessuna pretesa di scientificità né di esaustività, si diceva, e che va presa, pragmaticamente, per quel che può eventualmente offrire, a partire dall’utilizzo come possibile sottofondo alla lettura di questo testo.

E, tornando al complesso reticolo di interrelazioni accennato poc’anzi, si pensi, per fare un altro esempio in tema, alla miriade di file audio e video con le hit di tendenza del momento – che rappresentano gli universi simbolici di riferimento per i relativi autori ed interpreti – scambiati ogni giorno nell’ambito dei soli rapporti amicali e/o affettivi che popolano la dimensione multiforme e rizomatica della rete.

La Fotografia dunque, grazie alla “complicità” della Canzone, anche nella realtà rizomatica del web, sembra inoltre favorire il superamento dell’opposizione classica tra il vero e il falso, ridisegnandone continuamente i confini e i relativi rapporti di forza.

Amplificando, al tempo stesso, una visione sempre più simulata del reale.

La Canzone assume anch’essa, in tal modo, le vesti di una sorta di metamedium, ancor più efficace allorché è “rinforzata” dal supporto di altri media, quali video e, sempre riguardo a quel che più ci interessa in quest’occasione, la Fotografia.

Le ulteriori sinergie alimentate dalla compresenza di fimati, fotografie, musica e testi favoriscono l’ulteriore radicarsi di una certa idea della Fotografia e il suo “riflettersi”, tra l’altro, anche nella dimensione magmatica, fluida e “liquida” della Canzone.

Un medium comunque “resistente”, la Fotografia, seppure con le sue possibili tare.

Un mezzo e uno strumento di espressione e comunicazione, tra l’altro, dato per “morto” in più di un’occasione.

Un medium che, invece, proseguendo una tradizione e un’eredità storica anch’essa dura a morire – anche tramite la forma Canzone – agisce concretamente alla ridefinizione dell’idea di reale, con un ruolo quanto meno di co-protagonista nella continua rimodulazione di questo universo simbolico di senso.

E la Canzone è tutt’altro che una semplice “ancella” al servizio di altre forme d’Arte, così come diceva a suo tempo della Fotografia il poeta Charles Baudelaire.

Protagonista indiretto anche lui – attraverso le modulazioni radicali della voce di Diamanda Galás, interprete di un testo del poeta francese dedicato ad un poema di Terenzio – di una delle frazioni che compongono la citata playlist che correda questo testo (cfr. sempre sotto).

Una interrelazione, quella della Fotografia “riflessa” nella Canzone che, ribaltando quella che in passato avrebbe potuto essere considerata un’illogica ingenuità, non sembra negare affatto che il relazionarsi con un ambiente simulato non condivida più delle analogie con la realtà concreta.

Non solo, ma si potrebbe aggiungere che l’interazione con l’ambiente nel quale la simulazione stessa avviene, richiede tendenzialmente proprio un comportamento analogo a quello che si terrebbe nella realtà concreta di primo grado.

In ogni caso, la possibilità che i “riflessi” della Fotografia che si riverberano nella Canzone possano rappresentare concretamente la realtà concreta di primo grado rimane, come più volte sottolineato anche in altre occasioni, sempre e soltanto in astratto, essendo l’immagine sempre qualcosa di diverso dal (s)oggetto d’origine.

Non ultimo, per l’ineluttabilità dello scarto temporale tra il momento nel quale accade un qualsiasi evento originario poi raffigurato in una qualunque immagine e la (sempre successiva rispetto al momento dell’accaduto) visione della stessa per mezzo di una fotografia da parte di un ipotetico spettatore.

Come, al riguardo, ci “testimoniano” emblematicamente ed incessantemente, ad esempio: la pubblicità e la moda, con e senza il supporto di testi e/o di musica.

Entrambe sono esemplificazioni paradigmatiche, sotto le fattezze di apparenze di “reale” di primo grado, di quella che, all’opposto, è proprio la sua concreta dissoluzione.

Attestando ulteriormente, nel caso ve ne fosse eventualmente ancora bisogno, che si tratta soltanto di rappresentazioni, di reinvenzioni e/o ricostruzioni fittizie, per lo meno di secondo grado, del mondo reale “concreto”. Una “realtà”, quella raffigurata e/o rappresentata in un’immagine, che, pur sembrando “vera”, tale, invece, non è sostanzialmente mai. Essendo, semmai, un eventuale copia, verosimilmente “aderente” al reale originario che “si accontenta” di rappresentare.

Come provocatoriamente avviene, ad esempio, in molte delle finzioni dell’autore e teorico spagnolo J. Fontcuberta.

Una sorta di virtualità ante litteram, tra l’altro, quella riguardante la dimensione concettuale veicolata dalla Fotografia. Un esito caratteristico del costante prevalere della sfera intellettuale del medium sugli aspetti formali. Il prevalere, anche per mezzo delle modulazioni vocali della Canzone, delle astrazioni della Fotografia sulla materialità stessa dell’opera.

Una propensione alla virtualità che da sempre connota anche la Canzone – per quanto “costituzionalmente” diversa – così come la Fotografia, nella sua relazione con il reale.

Anche mediante quel che ne “riflette” la Canzone, per la Fotografia si delinea un rapporto che, per un verso, non sembrerebbe comunque in grado di pregiudicare in assoluto la relazione con il suo referente originario, sebbene questa connessione sia ora mediata, ma non resa del tutto arbitraria, da una diversa tecnologia rispetto al passato.

Ciò detto, il tradizionale vecchio “credo” verista della Fotografia, benché in parte eroso da una accresciuta consapevolezza del tendenziale nichilismo contenuto in ogni immagine fotografica, anche nella Canzone continua ad alimentarsi, consolidando ulteriormente l’idea di una sua capacità di sostituire la realtà con una teoria di spettri, di simulacri visivi. Fantasmi che “resuscitando” il reale testimoniano, piuttosto, la vittoria del Tempo e della Morte sulla vita, continuando comunque ad assicurare alla Fotografia un ruolo da protagonista anche nell’era dei social network.

Nell’immaterialità della rete, così come nella concretezza tangibile offerta da un supporto materiale, la narrazione “fotografica” contenuta nella Canzone, analogamente a quella “incollata” in una vera e propria immagine, per acquisire senso deve sempre andare comunque a cercare il proprio significato “fuori” dall’imamgine stessa, oltre la semplice apparenza virtuale del (s)oggetto narrato nel testo della Canzone. Questa trasfersta “all’esterno” diventa ancor più palese e, quindi, obbligata, in tutti quei casi nei quali non è possibile contare sull’eventuale verosimiglianza del (s)oggetto “riflesso” nell’immagine virtuale descritta nel testo di una canzone con il suo eventuale referente originario.

In ogni caso, questo viaggio “al di fuori”, alla ricerca di un significato plausibile da trasferire e “appiccicare” dentro l’immagine – sia essa quella reale, concreta, come, ad esempio, una comune istantanea, così come una immaginaria, esistente soltanto nella narrazione di una canzone – è, comunque, sempre necessario. Altrimenti, anche l’immagine descritta in una canzone potrebbe, paradossalmente risultare “invisibile” o indecodificabile o, estremizzando ulteriormente l’ipotesi, persino “muta” in termini di senso. La ricerca di senso all’“esterno”, nel caso della Fotografia “contenuta” nel testo della Canzone, può tuttavia anche limitarsi solo ad una eventuale ricerca di senso nel perimetro formale del testo del brano. Confidando anche nel “rinforzo” e nell’aiuto offerto da euristiche che possono in qualche modo “indirizzare” l’interpretazione rivelatrice di quanto sia effettivamente mostrato/rappresentato nell’immagine “reale” o “inglobata” nel testo della forma Canzone. Ancor di più, per quanto ovvio, in situazioni connotate da particolari fattori di astrattezza e, quindi, di incertezza ed ambiguità interpretativa riguardo al (s)oggetto “impresso” nell’immagine, ovunque essa, in qualche modo, si manifesti.

In generale, nei “riflessi” della Fotografia riverberati dalla Canzone, così come nelle sue performance nella dimensione rizomatica della rete, persiste comunque una tenace aura realista che “vede”, in particolare nell’immagine fotografica, la totale partecipazione dell’entità originaria ritratta. L’immagine è complessivamente percepita, seppure con una maggiore dose di scetticismo rispetto al passato, sempre come una possibile, talora persino autentica duplicazione del reale, alimentando, in tal modo, l’idea concreta di una Fotografia intesa quale possibile “prolungamento” del soggetto originario, ovvero del reale, anziché di un simulacro, di un fantasma.

La disputa si alimenta della capacità delle immagini (ovviamente anche quelle) fotografiche – senza necessariamente irrigidirsi sugli estremi di un realismo ingenuo o, all’opposto, sul fronte di un annichilimento totale del reale, pur non essendo ovviamente mai possibile “possedere” completamente la realtà – di spaziare più o meno liberamente dal livello di apparente referente di un analogo concreto presente nella realtà originaria “duplicata” nell’immagine finale, ovvero da una sua versione dimensione puramente denotativa ad una elaborazione e astrazione completamente soggettiva, astratta dal reale e tipica della sfera interpretativa, connotativa.

Nel primo ambito, data la schiacciante referenzialità apparente delle immagini, si configurerebbe l’assenza di un vero e proprio linguaggio come potremmo invece suppore di avere, al contrario, nel caso di un contesto connotativo, dove interverrebbe un’eventuale manipolazione pratica o intellettuale del (s)oggetto, riconducibile, di norma, ad un “autore” motivato dall’intenzione di realizzare un’opera qualsiasi, tangibile o astratta che sia.

Del reale, anche le immagini fotografiche “riflesse” nelle canzoni sembrerebebro comunque poter offrire soltanto una sorta di “è stato”, una specie di certificazione di presenza istantanea del Mondo. Un’attestazione di “realtà” che prescinderebbe dalle dispute relative al suo essere eventualmente un (s)oggetto codificato in una prospettiva di “relatività semantica”, nella quale non esisterebbe alcuna realtà concreta, o, all’inverso, confermerebbe, invece, la sua eventuale natura di copia effettiva, analogica del reale.

Un’anima inafferrabile e tendente all’indeterminatezza, quindi, anche quella della Fotografia veicolata per mezzo della Canzone, costantemente propensa a offrirci una materia per nulla o, quanto meno, non del tutto lavorata e, pertanto, da ridefinire e “completare” di volta in volta a cura del destinatario finale dell’immagine materiale, concreta, e/o del suo “riflesso” canoro all’interno della forma Canzone.

La Fotografia, come si è già accennato in precedenza, ha compiuto un percorso inizialmente tortuoso e in salita, segnato poi da una progressiva maggiore autorevolezza conquistata nel tempo.

Un’evoluzione che l’ha portata dal cennato astio baudelaireano degli esordi, che la considerava la negazione assoluta dell’arte – definendola, piuttosto, la “vendetta imbecille” dell’industria – poiché appariva capace di imitare specularmente la natura, all’affermarsi, in tempi successivi, quale potenziale quintessenza dell’arte contemporanea. In un momento storico in cui, più che mai, la Fotografia sembra esemplificare in modo sempre più condiviso, consapevole e assoluto, l’induplicabilità del reale.

Ovvero “quel“ difetto che, combinazione, l’avrebbe accomunata, da sempre, proprio all’ambito artistico. Una riflessione alla quale ha contribuito, lasciando tracce indelebili, il percorso delle c.d. Avanguardie storiche, con tutto il loro rivoluzionario bagaglio intellettuale riguardante sia la rivisitazione del ruolo dell’arte sia quello della figura stessa dell’autore. Evoluzioni storiche e paradigmatiche, esemplarmente sintetizzate e estremizzate nella radicalità dei famosi e ormai mitici ready made duchampiani.

La Fotografia tradizionale, così come quella evocata da una Canzone che ne parli, sembrano quindi riconfermare ancora una volta la loro capacità di fare leva sulla sfera motivazionale dei loro destinatari e sulle relative relazioni sociali veicolando anche nuove forme di percezione dello Spazio, del Tempo e degli universi valoriali di riferimento, con effetti rilevanti, “a valle”, anche sul fronte dell’orientamento finale all’azione. Una conclusione che, a ben vedere, non sorprende affatto, considerando la forza d’urto emotiva e la valenza simbolica da sempre insita e veicolata da qualunque immagine, materiale o astratta che sia. Quale che sia, quindi, la loro dimensione, quella materiale, piuttosto che virtuale, come nel caso di “gemella” sonora, si conferma anche la loro potenziale centralità strategica nei moderni processi di comunicazione contemporanei.

Una dimensione nella quale non sarebbe comunque verosimilmente più concepibile una sua limitazione d’utilizzo soltanto in funzione di mero e meccanico strumento di riproduzione iconografica del (s)oggetto reale originario.

Nella selva di relazioni del mondo contemporaneo la Fotografia, anche qualora sia intermediata da altri media, come nel caso della Canzone, si conferma, inoltre, come una componente nodale nella costruzione dell’immaginario collettivo. Tanto pervasiva e onnipresente quanto – ed è questo uno degli aspetti potenzialmente più critici – apparentemente ancora poco percepita come tale e, pertanto, paradossalmente altrettanto ancora poco temuta per la potenzialità degli effetti motivazioni e di spinta all’azione che, invece, potrebbe eventualmente comunque generare. Si pensi, ad esempio, all’eventualità di un utilizzo anche “soltanto” inconsapevolmente distorto, ovvero colposo, così come, all’opposto, ad un uso intenzionalmente malevolo di una qualsiasi istantanea riverberata o meno che sia in una altrettanto qualsiasi canzone e alle relative conseguenze dovute ad un’errata interpretazione del suo reale contenuto in termini di senso, valori, etc.

In questa prospettiva, anche alla luce della diffusione e della massificazione planetaria dei new media, l’alto potenziale motivazionale delle canzoni, così come quello delle immagini fotografiche, con tutto il relativo carico di pathos che possono eventualmente veicolare e trasmettere, sembra persino suggerire l’urgenza di ulteriori forme di (ri)alfabetizzazione all’ascolto, così come alla visione, volte a diffondere e consolidare un uso più consapevole di questi come di altri media.

Una (ri)alfabetizzazione che, in ogni occasione utile, evidenzi l’esistenza costante di un pericolo interpretativo sia di fronte ad un “testo” visivo sia di un suo omologo canoro – ma non solo, pensando, ovviamente anche ad altri media – e alla necessità, “a valle” di questa eventuale errata lettura distorta, di disporre di strumenti interpretativi (tecnici, ma, soprattutto, culturali) correttivi o per lo meno di contenimento del relativo gradiente di rischio dovuto all’errata decodifica del messaggio contenuto e veicolato da qualsiasi immagine, materiale o astratta che sia: un’istantanea, un quadro, così come, più in generale, un’… idea.

Un pericolo che, oggettivamente, è ovviamente immanente nella natura stessa dell’atto di “traduzione” di significati veicolati da qualsiasi messaggio, a prescindere dai canali, dai media di riferimento. Pericolo tanto più insidioso allorché ci si trovi di fronte a due avversari già temibili in solitaria, quali la Fotografia e la Canzone, ancor più temibili qualora l’una si allei e eventualmente si “rispecchi” addirittura nell’altra, “rinforzandola” ulteriormente. Una circostanza ancor più temibile, considerando la subdola patente di autenticità che, anche inconsapevolmente, la Canzone, in questi casi, può eventualmente ”incollare” su una qualsiasi immagine che si “rispecchi” nel suo testo. Non è quindi mai eccessivo e/o superfluo insistere su tali questioni. In particolare, sull’eternamente discussa capacità o meno di “duplicare” il reale, non solo dei media visivi, e dei relativi automatismi produttivi di senso. Senza dimenticare l’azione di rielaborazione del Tempo e dello Spazio e, non ultima, la propensione simulatoria di qualsiasi media.

La Fotografia, dunque, anche all’ombra della Canzone, prosegue, incessante, la sua azione di strategico agente di intermediazione della “realtà”, perennemente in equilibrio precario e oscillante tra le dimensioni di natura e artificio.

Una connotazione che condivide, come ridetto, oltre che con la Canzone, con l’intero complesso sistema dei – molto meno mass e sempre più personal – media contemporanei.

Conseguentemente, anche la Canzone, analogamente alla Fotografia, sembra affermarsi sempre più, anche e non solo in rete, come un emblematico medium intermedia.

Roma, 8 Marzo 2022

G. Regnani

gerardo.regnani@gmail.com

TESTI DELLE CANZONI NEL TESTO DELL’ARTICOLO

La Musica, come la definisce il vocabolario Treccani, è l’arte di creare suoni che possono variare per altezza, intensità e qualità, per mezzo di strumenti e/o della voce umana. Quest’ultima, nella sua forma canora, assume la denominazione formale di Canzone, una composione che può prevedere anche un accompagnamento musicale. Ed è proprio di una serie di canzoni e, in particolare, del loro rapporto con la Fotografia che si occuperà questo testo. Le canzoni selezionate sono state raccolte in un’apposita playlist – composta, al momento, da n. 126 video musicali – che integra e completa il lavoro, immaginata anche come possibile sottofondo alla lettura proprio di questo stesso testo. Si tratta di una raccolta molto eterogenea, sia per la varietà dei generi presenti sia per quella degli interpreti. Per fare solo qualche esempio, la playlist spazia da: da Bob Dylan a Lady Gaga, da Claudio Baglioni ai R.E.M., da Lou Reed a Taylor Swift, da Alice in Chains a Nina Nesbitt, da Diamanda Galàs a Ed Sheeran, da Franco Battiato a Paul Simon, da Yonas a Holger Czukay, da The Who a David Sylvian, da The Last Goodnight alla Premiata Forneria Marconi e così via…

Un sorriso dentro al pianto, Ornella Vanoni

E adesso che dovrei posare per l’ennesima fotografia

Sai dirmi tu per caso la migliore inquadratura quale sia?

Ormai che con un selfie fai vedere tutto a tutti e così sia

Ce la incorniciamo?

O la butto via?…

Testo: Francesco Gabbani

“Looking through a photograph

Giving everybody fun

Facing the locality

Images melting into one

Fun is the key to your health

Turning pictures to your heart

Facing the locality

Images melting into one

And there are you

A mirror reflection

And I don’t know

I’m smiling

And there are you

A mirror reflection

And I don’t know

I’m smiling

Frozen to the bone

Older than a stone

Waves and water getting calm

Images melt into one

Looking through a photograph

Giving everybody fun

Facing the locality

Images melting into one

Fun is the key to your health

Turning pictures to your heart

Facing the locality

Images melting into one

And there are you

A mirror reflection

And I don’t know

I’m smiling

Frozen to the bone

Older than a stone

Waves and water getting calm

Images melt into one”

The Photo Song, Holger Czukay

Una playlist ovviamente ampliabile ulteriormente che intende offrire soltanto un “assaggio” di come, concretamente, la Fotografia si “rifletta” anche nella Canzone, con le relative suggestioni che ne possono eventualmente derivare. Una playlist che, per quanto sottinteso, non ha nessuna pretesa né di esautività né, tanto meno, di scientificità, ed è disponibile al seguente link: PHOTOGRAPHY through SONGS

“When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school

It’s a wonder I can think at all

And though my lack of education hasn’t hurt me none

I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome

They give us those nice bright colors

Give us the greens of summers

Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah

I got a Nikon camera

I love to take a photograph

So mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

If you took all the girls I knew when I was single

And brought ‘em all together for one night

I know they’d never match my sweet imagination

Everything looks worse in black and white

Kodachrome

They give us those nice bright colors

They give us the greens of summers

Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah

I got a Nikon camera

I love to take a photograph

So mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome

Leave your boy so far from home

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away”

Kodachrome, Paul Simon

“Kodachrome” is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the lead single from his third studio album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973), released on Columbia Records. The song is named after Kodak’s now-discontinued reversal film brand Kodachrome.

playlist

PHOTOGRAPHY through SONGS

“This is the clock up on the wall

This is the story of us all

This is the first sound of a new born child before he starts to crawl

This is the war that’s never won

This is the soldier and his gun

This is the mother waiting by the phone praying for her son

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

All upon your wall for the world to see

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

Remind us all of what we used to be

There is a drug that cures it all

Blocked by the governmental wall

We are the scientists inside the lab just waiting for the call

This earthquake weather has got me shaking

Inside I’m high up and dry

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

All upon your wall for the world to see

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

Remind us all of what we used to be

‘Cause there’s still me

Every secret moment

Every stolen promise you’ve been lead

Confess to me

All that lies between us

All that lies between you and me

We are the boxers in the ring

We are the bells that never sing

There is a title we cant win no matter how hard we must swing

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

All upon your wall for the world to see

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

Remind us all of what we could have been

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

All upon your wall for the world to see

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

Remind us all of what we could have been

What could have been

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

Remind us all of what we could have been

What could have been

We could have been”

Pictures of You, The Last Goodnight

Fotografia più o meno “riflessa” in questi brani, benché, per quanto ovvio, lo sia in percentuali talora anche molto diverse da una canzone all’altra.

“This is not a photograph – no

(This is not a photograph)

And these are not the Elysian Fields

(This is not a photograph)

This is not a bigot’s head, no

(This is not a photograph)

This is just a perpendicular line to the grain

(This is not a photograph)

This wants to be outside the cage of the age

(This is not a photograph)

This is not a bigot’s leg

(This is not a photograph)

(This is not a photograph)”

This is Not a Photograph, The Mission of Burma

The Mission of Burma Story is a 2006 documentary about the band Mission of Burma and their 2002 “Inexplicable” tour, which saw the band reunite after a 19 year hiatus. The film premiered at the Independent Film Festival Boston on April 22, 2006.The documentary features interviews with Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, Moby (who covered the song “That’s When I Reach for My Revolver” for his album Animal Rights) Minutemen’s Mike Watt, and Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander. Rehearsal and concert footage of their 2002 tour are included in the film.

“Ricorderò e comunque anche se non vorrai

Ti sposerò perché non te l’ho detto mai

Come fa male cercare, trovarti poco dopo

E nell’ansia che ti perdo ti scatterò una foto

Ti scatterò una foto

Ricorderò e comunque e so che non vorrai

Ti chiamerò perché tanto non risponderai

Come fa ridere adesso pensarti come a un gioco

E capendo che ti ho perso

Ti scatto un’altra foto

Perché piccola potresti andartene dalle mie mani

Ed i giorni dapprima lontani saranno anni

E ti scorderai di me

Quando piove i profili e le case ricordano te

E sarà bellissimo

Perché gioia e dolore han lo stesso sapore con te

Io vorrei soltanto che la notte ora velocemente andasse

E tutto ciò che hai di me di colpo non tornasse

E voglio amore e tutte le attenzioni che sai dare

E voglio indifferenza se mai mi vorrai ferire

E riconobbi il tuo sguardo in quello di un passante

Ma pure avendoti qui ti sentirei distante

Cosa può significare sentirsi piccolo

Quando sei il più grande sogno, il più grande incubo

Siamo figli di mondi diversi una sola memoria

Che cancella e disegna distratta la stessa storia

E ti scorderai di me

Quando piove i profili e le case ricordano te

E sarà bellissimo

Perché gioia e dolore han lo stesso sapore con te

Io vorrei soltanto che la notte ora velocemente andasse

E tutto ciò che hai di me di colpo non tornasse

E voglio amore e tutte le attenzioni che sai dare

E voglio indifferenza semmai mi vorrai ferire

Non basta più il ricordo

Ora voglio il tuo ritorno

E sarà bellissimo

Perché gioia e dolore han lo stesso sapore

Lo stesso sapore con te

Io vorrei soltanto che la notte ora velocemente andasse

E tutto ciò che hai di me di colpo non tornasse

E voglio amore e tutte le attenzioni che sai dare

E voglio indifferenza semmai mi vorrai ferire

E voglio indifferenza semmai mi vorrai ferire”

Ti scatterò una foto, Tiziano Ferro

da Nessuno è solo, 2006

“Everything went from bad to worse, money never changed a thing

Death kept followin’, trackin’ us down, at least I heard your bluebird sing

Now somebody’s got to show their hand, time is an enemy

I know you’re long gone

I guess it must be up to me

If I’d thought about it I never would’ve done it, I guess I would’ve let it slide

If I’d pay attention to what others were thinkin’, the heart inside me would’ve died

Well, I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity

Someone had to reach for the risin’ star

I guess it was up to me

Oh, the Union Central is pullin’ out, the orchids are in bloom

I’ve only got me one good shirt left and it smells of stale perfume

In 14 months I’ve only smiled once and I didn’t do it consciously

Somebody’s got to find your trail

I guess it must be up to me

It was like a revelation when you betrayed me with your touch

I’d just about convinced myself, nothin’ had changed that much

The old Rounder in the iron mask, he slipped me the master key

Somebody had to unlock your heart

He said it was up to me

Now, I watched you slowly disappear down into the officer’s club

I would’ve followed you in the door but I didn’t have a ticket stub

So I waited all night ‘til the break of day, hopin’ one of us could get free

Ho, when the dawn came over the river bridge

I knew it was up to me

The only decent thing I did when I worked as a postal clerk

Was to haul your picture down off the wall near the cage where I used to work

Was I a fool or not to protect your real identity?

You looked a little burned out, my friend

I thought it might be up to me

I met somebody face to face, I had to remove my hat

She’s everything I need and love but I can’t be swayed by that

It frightens me, the awful truth of how sweet life can be

But she ain’t gonna make a move

I guess it must be up to me

Now, we heard the Sermon on the Mount and I knew it was too complex

It didn’t amount to anything more than what the broken glass reflects

When you bite off more than you can chew, you got to pay the penalty

Somebody’s got to tell the tale

I guess it must be up to me

Dupree came in pimpin’ tonight to the Thunderbird Cafe

Crystal wanted to talk to him, I had to look the other way

Now, I just can’t rest without you, love, I need your company

But you ain’t a-gonna cross the line

I guess it must be up to me

There’s a note left in the bottle, you can give it to Estelle

She’s the one you been wonderin’ about, but there’s really nothin’ much to tell

We both heard voices for a while, now the rest is history

Somebody’s got to cry some tears

I guess it must be up to me

So go on, boys, and play your hands, life is a pantomime

The ringleaders from the county seat say you don’t have all that much time

And the girl with me behind the shades, she ain’t my property

One of us has got to hit the road

I guess it must be up to me

If we never meet again, baby, remember me

How my lone guitar played sweet for you that old-time melody

And the harmonica around my neck, I blew it for you, free

No one else could play that tune

You know it was up to me”

Up to Me (Take 2, Remake), Bob Dylan

Il brano fa parte di Biograph, una raccolta di Bob Dylan pubblicata dalla Columbia Records il 7 novembre 1985. L’album ripercorre la carriera di Dylan dagli esordi nel 1961 all’album Shot of Love del 1981.

Ciascuna di queste canzoni, ognuna con il suo specifico patrimonio espressivo, come si potrà notare già a partire dal primo testo proposto all’inizio, ci racconta di norma una storia.

“I hold an image of the ashtray girl

Of cigarette burns on my chest

I wrote a poem that described her world

And put our friendship to the test

And late at night whilst on all fours

She used to watch me kiss the floor

What’s wrong with this picture?

Farewell the ashtray girl

Forbidden snowflake

Beware this troubled world

Watch out for earthquakes

Goodbye to open sores

To broken semaphore

You know we miss her

We miss her picture

Sometimes it’s fated

Disintegrate it

For fear of growing old

Sometimes it’s fated

Assassinated

For fear of growing old

Farewell the ashtray girl

Angelic fruitcake

Beware this troubled world

Control your intake

Goodbye to open sores

Goodbye and furthermore

You know we miss her

We miss her picture

Sometimes it’s fated

Disintegrate it

For fear of growing old

Sometimes it’s fated

Assassinated

For fear of growing old

Hang on

Though we try

It’s gone

Hang on

Though we try

It’s gone

Sometimes it’s fated

Disintegrate it

For fear of growing old

Sometimes it’s fated

Assassinated

For fear of growing old

Can’t stop growing old

Can’t stop growing old”

This Picture, Placebo

E, tramite questa narrazione, “alta” o ”bassa” che sembri, ognuna a suo modo veicola anche stili, tecniche, tradizioni e, più in generale – non solo con il supporto della voce umana – idee e orientamenti sul Mondo e, non ultimo, in una prospettiva metadiscorsiva, anche sugli stessi mezzi espressivi.

“State the obvious, I didn’t get my perfect fantasy

I realize you love yourself more than you could ever love me

So go and tell your friends that I’m obsessive and crazy

That’s fine, you won’t mind if I say

By the way

I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

As far as I’m concerned, you’re just another picture to burn

There’s no time for tears

I’m just sitting here planning my revenge

There’s nothing stopping me

From going out with all of your best friends

And if you come around saying sorry to me

My daddy’s gonna show you how sorry you’ll be

‘Cause I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

As far as I’m concerned, you’re just another picture to burn

And if you’re missing me, you’d better keep it to yourself

‘Cause coming back around here would be bad for your health

‘Cause I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

In case you haven’t heard, I really, really hate that

Stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

As far as I’m concerned, you’re just another picture to burn

Burn, burn, burn, baby, burn

Just another picture to burn

Baby, burn”

Picture To Burn, Taylor Swift

Tra i quali, per quel che qui più ci interessa, c’è, come accennato poc’anzi, anche la Fotografia, della quale si accennerà a più riprese tra le varie frazioni di testi delle canzoni che saranno via via proposte.

“Hermit crabs and cowry shells

Crush beneath his feet as he comes towards you

He’s waving at you

Lift him up to see what you can see

He begins his focusing

He’s aiming at you

And now he has cutaways from memories

And close-ups of anything that

He has seen or even dreamed

And now he’s finished focusing

He’s imagining lightning

Striking sea sickness

Away from here

Look who’s laughing now that you’ve wasted

How many years and you’ve barely even tasted

Anything remotely close to

Everything you’ve boasted about

Look who’s crying now

Driftwood floats, after years of erosion

Incoming tide touches roots to expose them

Quicksand steals my shoes

Clouds bring the f-stop blues

Look who’s laughing now that you’ve wasted

How many years and you’ve barely even tasted

Anything remotely close to

Everything you’ve boasted about

Look who’s crying now”

Jack Johnson, F-Stop Blues

“I have a secret I want to tell you

Each time that I close my eyes

I can feel you

I run away with my imagination

And I am blinded by your light

You fill up the room

Ooh whoa oh

I have a secret I need to tell you

Exquisite visions fill up my mind

Do you remember me?

Taking pictures of you as the light came through

You were running away

And I asked you for a place to stay

Do you remember me, taking pictures of you

Taking pictures of you

Now, I have a secret I need to tell you

I have been true, and I needed no clue

We live in such extraordinary times

Exquisite visions fill up my mind

Do you remember me?

Taking pictures of you as the light came through

You were running away

And you asked me for a place to stay

Do you remember me?

Taking pictures of you

Such a wonderful thing to do”

Taking Pictures Of You, The Kooks

Un’ambivalenza enigmatica che può anch’essa “inquinare” l’eventuale funzione documentaria della Fotografia, esponendola alla potenziale relatività di qualunque lettura.

“A white house, a white room

The program of today

Lights on, switch on

Your eyes are far away

The map represents you

And the tape is your voice

Follow all along you

Till you recognize the choice

I take pictures

Photographic pictures

Bright light, dark room

I said I’d write a letter

But I never got the time

And looking to the day

I mesmerize the light

The years I spend just thinking

Of a moment we both knew

A second boss looking into

It seems it can’t be true

I take pictures

Photographic pictures

Bright light, dark room

Bright light, dark room”

Photographic, Depeche Mode

“Indochina, Capa jumps Jeep

Two feet creep up the road

To photo, to record, meat lumps and war

They advance as does his chance, ohh

Very yellow-white flash

A violent wrench grips mass

Rips light, tears limbs like rags

Burst so high, finally Capa lands

Mine is a watery pit

Painless with immense distance

From medic, from colleague, friend, enemy, foe

Him five yards from his leg

From you Taro, oh

Do not spray into eyes

I have sprayed you into my eyes

3:10 p.m.

Capa pends death, quivers, last rattles, last chokes

All colours and cares glaze to grey

Shriveled and stricken to dots

The left hand grasps what the body grasps not, ohh

Le photographe est mort

3.1415, alive no longer my amour

Faded for home May of ’54

Doors open like arms, my love

Painless with a great closeness

To Capa, to Capa Capa dark after nothing

Re-united with his leg

And with you, Taro, oh

Taro, ohh

Do not spray into eyes

I have sprayed you into my eyes

Hey, Taro!”

Traro, Alt-J

Taro fa riferimento a Gerda Taro, lo pseudonimo adottato da Gerda Pohorylle, un’ebrea polacca che fuggì dal nazismo, lasciando Parigi negli anni ’30. Legata a Endre Friedmann, fotografo freelance meglio conosciuto come Robert Capa. Muore a soli 26 anni, travolta da un carro armato. La canzone degli Alt-J inizia dalla fine, e cioè dalla morte di Robert Capa nel maggio 1954: Capa perse prima una gamba e pochi minuti dopo addirittura la vita a causa di una mina sulla quale saltò in aria durante un reportage sulla prima guerra d’Indocina.

“I used to wake up in the morning

I always feel so glad

I got so sick of having sleepless nights

I went and told my dad

He said, “Son, now here’s some little somethings

And stuck them on my wall

And now my nights ain’t quite so lonely

In fact I don’t feel bad at all (I don’t feel bad at all)

Pictures of Lily that make my life so wonderful

Pictures of Lily that let me sleep at night

Pictures of Lily that solved my childhood problem

Pictures of Lily, they make me feel alright

Pictures of Lily (pictures of Lily)

Pictures of Lily (Lily, oh Lily)

Pictures of Lily (pictures of Lily)

Pictures of Lily, pictures of Lily

And then one day things weren’t so fine

I fell in love with Lily

I asked my dad where Lily I could find

He said, “Don’t be silly”

“She’s been dead since 1929”

Oh, how I cried that night

If only I’d been born in Lily’s time

It would have been alright

There were always pictures of Lily to help me sleep at night

Pictures of Lily to help me feel alright

‘Cause me and Lily are together in my dreams (my mind)

And I was wonderin’, mister, have you ever seen?

Pictures of Lily to help you sleep at night

Pictures of Lily to help you feel alright

‘Cause me and Lily are together in my dreams

And I was wonderin’, mister, have you ever seen

Pictures of Lily?”

Pictures of Lily, The Who

Una visione condivisa tramite le storie narrate nella forma della Canzone, che rinvia, conseguentemente, alle scelte – implicite o esplicite che siano – e, più in generale, all’uso comunque “politico” della Fotografia da parte dei relativi autori.

“I think images are worth repeating

Images repeated from a painting

Images taken from a painting

From a photo worth re-seeing

Some say images have no feeling, I think there’s a deeper meaning

I love multiplicity of screenings

Things born anew display new meanings

I think images are worth repeating and repeating and repeating

I don’t think I’m old or modern, I don’t think I think I’m thinking

It doesn’t matter what I’m thinking

It’s the images that are worth repeating

Images

Those images

Images

Those images

If you’re looking for a deeper meaning, I’m as deep as this high ceiling

If you think technique is meaning, you might find me very simple

You might think that images boring

Cars and cans and chairs and flowers

I think that it bears repeating the images upon the ceiling

I love images worth repeating and repeating and repeating

Images

Those images

Images

Those images”

Images, Songs for Drella [Andy Warhol, N.d.R.], John Cale & Lou Reed

Songs for Drella è un concept album di Lou Reed e John Cale, entrambi ex componenti della storica rock band The Velvet Underground, pubblicato nel 1990 dalla Sire Records. È dedicato alla memoria dell’artista Andy Warhol, loro amico e mentore nonché produttore dell’album di debutto della band, che era da poco scomparso. Il nome Drella era uno dei suoi soprannomi, non molto amato dallo stesso Warhol in realtà, ottenuto dall’incrocio tra Dracula e Cenerentola (in inglese Cinderella), come riferimento scherzoso al forte polarismo caratteriale che lo contraddistingueva.

“I’ve seen you in the mirror

When the story began

And I fell in love with you.

I love yer mortal sin

Yer brains are locked away

But I love your company

I only ever leave you

When you got no money

I got no emotions for anybody else

You better understand

I’m in love with myself, myself

My beautiful self

I’ve no feeling, no feeling, no feeling

For anybody else

Hello and goodbye

And a run around Sue

You follow me around

Like a pretty pot of glue

I kick you in the head

You got nothing to say

Get out of the way

‘Cause I gotta get away

You never realize

I take the piss out of you

You come up and see me

And I’ll beat you black and blue okay

I’ll send you away

I got no feeling, no feeling, no feeling

For anybody else

Except for myself

My beautiful self-ish

There ain’t no moonlight

After midnight

I see you selling people

Out looking for delight

Well I’m so happy

I’m feeling so fine

I’m watching all the rubbish

You’re wasting my time

I look around your house

And there’s nothing to steal

I kick you in the brains

When you get down to kneel and pray

You pray to your God

I’ve no feeling, no feeling, I got no feeling

For anybody else

I’ve no feeling, no feeling, no feeling

For anybody else

Except for myself

Your daddy’s gone away

Be back another day

See his picture hanging on your wall”

No Feelings, Sex Pistols

“Guardo una foto di mia madre

era felice avrà avuto tre anni

stringeva al petto una bambola

il regalo più ambito

Era la festa del suo compleanno

un bianco e nero sbiadito

Guardo mia madre a quei tempi e rivedo

il mio stesso sorriso

E pensare a quante volte

l’ho sentita lontana

E pensare a quante volte…

Le avrei voluto parlare di me

chiederle almeno il perché

dei lunghi ed ostili silenzi

e momenti di noncuranza

puntualmente mi dimostravo inflessibile

inaccessibile e fiera

intimamente agguerrita

temendo una sciocca rivalità

Guardo una foto di mia madre

era felice avrà avuto vent’anni

capelli raccolti in un foulard di seta

ed una espressione svanita

Nitido scorcio degli anni sessanta

di una raggiante Catania

la scruto per filo e per segno e ritrovo

il mio stesso sguardo

E pensare a quante volte

l’ho sentita lontana

E pensare a quante volte…

Le avrei voluto parlare di me

chiederle almeno il perché

dei lunghi ed ostili silenzi

e di quella arbitraria indolenza

puntualmente mi dimostravo inflessibile

inaccessibile e fiera

intimamente agguerrita temendo

l’innata rivalità

Le avrei voluto parlare di me

chiederle almeno il perché……

Le avrei voluto parlare di me

chiederle almeno il perché ……”

Bianco E Nero, Carmen Consoli

“We are the crowd, we’re c-comin’ out

Got my flash on, it’s true

Need that picture of you, it’s so magical

We’d be so fantastical

Leather and jeans, garage glamorous

Not sure what it means

But this photo of us, it don’t have a price

Ready for those flashing lights

‘Cause you know that, baby, I

I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

Baby, there’s no other superstar, you know that I’ll be

Your papa-paparazzi

Promise I’ll be kind

But I won’t stop until that boy is mine

Baby, you’ll be famous, chase you down until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

I’ll be your girl backstage at your show

Velvet ropes and guitars

Yeah, ‘cause you’re my rock star in between the sets

Eyeliner and cigarettes

Shadow is burnt, yellow, dance and we turn

My lashes are dry

Purple teardrops I cry, it don’t have a price

Loving you is cherry pie

‘Cause you know that, baby,

I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

Baby, there’s no other superstar, you know that I’ll be

Your papa-paparazzi

Promise I’ll be kind

But I won’t stop until that boy is mine

Baby, you’ll be famous, chase you down until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

Real good, we dance in the studio

Snap, snap to that shit on the radio

Don’t stop for anyone

We’re plastic, but we still have fun!

I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

Baby, there’s no other superstar, you know that I’ll be

Your papa-paparazzi

Promise I’ll be kind

But I won’t stop until that boy is mine

Baby, you’ll be famous, chase you down until you love me

Papa-paparazzi”

Paparazzi, Lady Gaga

Paparazzi è un singolo di Lady Gaga del 2009. Quinto e ultimo singolo dell’album d’esordio The Fame.

Tanto meno lo sono le frazioni di testo qui proposte, perché la Canzone – in una prospettiva metadiscorsiva che comprende, come già accennato, anche una continua autoanalisi – ci racconta in ogni caso come l’Umanità “parli” sempre e, soprattutto, di sé stessa anche tramite altri media, Fotografia inclusa, s’intende.

“I found this photograph

Underneath the broken picture glass

Tender face of black and white

Beautiful, a haunting sight

Looked into an angel’s smile

Captivated all the while

From the hair and clothes she wore

I’d place her in between the wars

Was she willing when she sat

And posed the pretty photograph?

A big smile for the camera

How did she know?

The moment could be lost forever

Forever more

I found this photograph

Stashed between the old joist walls

In a place where time is lost

Lost behind, where all things fall

Broken books and calendars

Letters script in careful hand

Music too, a standard tune by

The television’s just a dream

The radio, the silver screen

A big smile for the camera

How did she know?

The moment could be lost forever”

Photograph, R.E.M.

R.E.M.with Natalie Merchant (Natalie Merchant, Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, Bill Berry). Born to Choose is a compilation album, released in 1993 on Rykodisc. It was released as a benefit album, with proceeds going to support NARAL, the Brooklyn Women’s Anti-Rape Exchange, and Women’s Health Action and Mobilization.

Un’evidenza persino banale, considerando il fatto che non si sta parlando di un meIdium isolato, bensì di un ente trasversale, concretamente immerso in un costante rapporto simbiotico e di continua interdipendenza con altri media.

“Oh brother, I can’t, I can’t get through

I’ve been trying hard to reach you ‘cause I don’ know what to do

Oh brother, I can’t believe it’s true

I’m so scared about the future, and I wanna talk to you

Oh, I wanna talk to you

You can take a picture of something you see

In the future where will I be?

You can climb a ladder up to the sun

Or a write a song nobody has sung

Or do something that’s never been done

Are you lost or incomplete?

Do you feel like a puzzle, you can’t find your missing piece?

Tell me, how do you feel?

Well, I feel like they’re talking in a language I don’t speak

And they’re talking it to me

So you take a picture of something you see

In the future where will I be?

You can climb a ladder up to the sun

Or write a song nobody has sung

Or do something that’s never been done

So you don’t know where you’re going and you wanna talk

And you feel like you’re going where you’ve been before

You tell anyone who’ll listen, but you feel ignored

Nothing’s really making any sense at all, let’s talk

Let’s talk, let’s talk, let’s talk”

Talk, Coldplay

Questo medium intermedia, convivendo tra old e new media, contribuisce non poco anche nell’ambito del web a veicolare e, insieme, ridefinire incessantemente la nostra visione del Mondo e, così facendo, a rimodellare la percezione della nostra stessa identità.

“Chissà cosa mormora il vento stasera col suo lamento

Dietro la porta laggiù

Di già il caminetto s’è spento

Io chiudo gli occhi e rammento gli amori di gioventù

Di voi che resta, antichi amori, giorni di festa, teneri ardori

Solo una mesta foto ingiallita fra le mie dita

Di voi che resta, sguardi innocenti, lacrime e risa e giuramenti

Solo sepolto in un cassetto qualche biglietto

Sere d’aprile, sogni incantati, capelli al vento, baci rubati

Che resta dunque di tutto ciò, ditemi un po’

Rivedo un viso, mormoro un nome, ma non ricordo quando né come

Penso a un villaggio dove non so se tornerò

Mai più mano con mano nel buio

Stupiti d’essere due felici senza perché

Mai più fiori nascosti nel libro

Il cui profumo ci inebria ma presto evapora, ahimè

Di voi che resta, antichi amori, grandi segreti, complici cuori

Solo nel petto, male guarita una ferita

Di voi che resta, parole audaci, carezze caste, timide braci

Solo una cenere che più non fuma ma si consuma

Chiari di luna, dolci sentieri e tu perduta anima di ieri

Perché sparisti? Chi ti rubò? Dimmelo un po’

Solo un motivo risento ancora di un fuggitivo disco d’allora

E a un luogo penso dove non so se tornerò”

Che cosa resta, Franco Battiato (da Fleur 1999)

Attraverso un flusso variegato e crescente e continuo di contributi ai processi di rappresentazione della realtà la Fotografia, anche con il contributo delle relative idee al riguardo veicolate tramite la Canzone è divenuto nel tempo, anche un popolare canale espressivo tra i più comuni e diffusi per la salvaguardia della memoria.

“I couldn’t quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats

‘Cause it’s all been said before

Make the best out of the bad, just laugh it off, ha

You didn’t have to come here anyway

So remember, every picture tells a story, don’t it

Every picture tells a story, don’t it

Every picture tells a story, Rod Stewart

Una memoria, non solo personale, ma anche collettiva.

Black roses laced with silver

By a broken moon.

Ten million stars

And the whispered harmonies of leaves.

We werer these.

Beside a dried up fountain

Lie five dusty tomes

With faded pasted pictures

Of love’s reverie.

Across each cover is written,

“Herein are Photos of Ghosts”

Of ghosts, of ghosts,

Of the days we ran and the days we sang.

Photos of Ghosts, Premiata Forneria Marconi

La Storia, in sostanza, anche tramite tracce apparentemente soltanto intime, personali.

“Ain’t found a way to kill me yet

Eyes burn with stinging sweat

Seems every path leads me to nowhere

Army green was no safe bet

The bullets scream to me from somewhere

You know he ain’t gonna die

No, no, no, you know he ain’t gonna die

You know he ain’t gonna die

No, no, no, you know he ain’t gonna die

Walkin’ tall machine gun man

They spit on me in my homeland

Gloria sent me pictures of my boy

My Buddy’s breathin’ his dyin’ breath

Oh god, please won’t you help me make it through?

You know he ain’t gonna die

No, no, no you know he ain’t gonna die”

Rooster, Alice in Chains

Rooster è un singolo del gruppo musicale statunitense Alice in Chains, pubblicato il 22 febbraio 1993 come quarto estratto dal secondo album in studio Dirt. La canzone fu scritta dal chitarrista Jerry Cantrell per il padre, soprannominato appunto Rooster e che aveva combattuto la guerra del Vietnam.

playlist

PHOTOGRAPHY through SONGS

“My eyes are ready,

They’re focusing on you.

I’m watching every move and all you do.

I see you everywhere,

I’m here and now I’m there.

Nowhere you can hide, you’re still in view.

And when the shutter’s open,

Images on my screen,

Sent to the people waiting,

People you’ve never seen, ‘cause

I am a camera,

Looking at pictures of you.

I am a camera.

SMILE,

Now you see me, now you don’t.

I’m always working,

At night and in the day.

I’m your security, that’s what they say.

And if you think you’re free,

Then turn your back on me.

I’ll catch you as you look the other way.

And when the shutter’s open,

Images on my screen,

Sent to the people waiting,

People you’ve never seen, ‘cause

I am a camera,

Looking at pictures of you.

I am a camera.

SMILE,

Now you see me, now you don’t.”

I Am a Camera, Gentle Giant

Un immaginario collettivo che anche la Fotografia, grazie alla “voce” prestatagli di volta in volta dalla Canzone, contribuisce a rimodulare di continuo.

“There’s a photograph in a haunted room

Filled with memories that have gone too soon

And as i pass by everyday

I say why does it make me feel this way

There is life in the setting sun

And you know I think that it should go on

But as it turns around everyday

I say why does it make me feel this way

Why does it make me feel this way

Laughing sun and laughing moon

I think they should be

And i want to be too

But as it turns out i have to say

Why does it make me feel this way

Photograph, Mick Harvey

“One, two, three, four

A picture tells a thousand words, some of them were mine

Combing through the evidence, afraid of what we’ll find

The sun could lift us up, should this thunder ever stop

There’s no over, there’s no under, there’s no shame

Picture of love, we were a picture of love

The measure of our years, so deep and wide

Picture of hope, we were a picture of hope

Standing close together, side by side (yeah)

If we let the darkness of these times break us

Oh-ho-ho, that would truly be the crime

Did I cause the sadness in your eyes?

Oh, allow me, please, to ease your troubled mind

Picture of love, we were a picture of love

The measure of our years, so deep and wide

Picture of hope, we were a picture of hope

Standing close together, side by side

Strangers, they walk past with eyes of one-way glass

Thinkin’ what’s hidden will someday pass

Somewhere down below, the will to not let go

Our hearts fit together ‘cause they’re broken, whoa-oh

Picture of love, we were a picture of love

The measure of our years, so deep and wide

Picture of hope, we were a picture of hope

Standing close together, side by side, yeah

Picture of love, we were a picture of love

The measure of our years, so deep and wide

Picture of hope, we were a picture of hope

Standing close together, side by side

Yeah”

Picture, Edder Vedder ft. Elton John

Picture è un brano tratto da Earthling, il terzo album in studio del compositore e cantante americano Eddie Vedder. L’album è stato pubblicato l’11 Febbraio 2022 da Republic.

E, interagendovi continuamente, questa marea immensa e plurale di immagini visive e “sonore” concorre a creare anche un reale altro, differente da quello “concreto”.

“There she is among her children

Full of paintings

Going round and round the houses”

She Is Not, David Sylvian

Una sorta di dimensione parallela, certamente di secondo grado, percepita comunque come “reale”, con la quale s’interagisce, non solo simbolicamente, similmente alla “realtà” (tecnicamente) di primo grado.

“Sitting in my bedroom tonight

Thinking of how to change your mind

Since you walked out my life again

Yeah

So I strike a pose and tilt my chin

And hold the light to suit my skin

Your favorite t-shirt on again

Counting hours

Counting lies

Three, two, one

And I smile

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Taking pictures of myself, self self

Guess I’m reaching out to be assured

All I wanted was to be adored

Now you’re telling me I’m vain, vain, vain yeah

But you don’t feel my pain, pain, pain

Facing life upon the shelf, shelf, shelf

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Taking pictures of myself

Taking pictures of myself oh oh

I’ll post it up in black and white

With a depressing quote on my life

So that you see what I’m going through

Yeah

This is desperation at it’s best

A conversation to be left

But all my pride was burned by you

Counting days

Counting takes

Three, two, one

I’m awake

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Taking pictures of myself, self self

Guess I’m reaching out to be assured

All I wanted was to be adored

Now you’re telling me I’m vain, vain, vain yeah

But you don’t feel my pain, pain, pain

Facing life upon the shelf, shelf, shelf

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Taking pictures of myself

Taking pictures of myself oh oh

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Taking pictures of myself, self self

Guess I’m reaching out to be assured

All I wanted was to be adored

Now you’re telling me I’m vain, vain, vain yeah

But you don’t feel my pain, pain, pain

Facing life upon the shelf, shelf, shelf

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Hey, what you looking at?

Hey, what do you looking at?

Hey, what do you looking at? (Taking pictures of myself)

Hey, what you looking at? (Taking pictures of myself)

Taking pictures of myself

Taking pictures of myself oh”

Selfies, Nina Nesbitt

Una “traccia” di questa possibile sinergia tra la Canzone e la Fotografia, potrebbe essere rappresentata dalle sinestesie variabili – sonore e visive – veicolate proprio dalla

playlist

PHOTOGRAPHY through SONGS

proposta con questo testo.

“I remember when the days were long

And the nights when the living room was on the lawn

Constant quarreling, the childish fits

And our clothes in a pile on the ottoman

All the slander and double-speak

Were only foolish attempts to show you did not mean

Anything but the blatant proof was

Your lips touching mine in the photobooth

And as the summer’s ending

The cool air will put your hard heart away

You were so condescending

And this is all that’s left

Scraping paper to document

I’ve packed a change of clothes and it’s time to move on

Cup your mouth to compress the sound

Skinny dipping with the kids from a nearby town

And everything that I said was true

As the flashes blinded us in the photobooth

Well, I lost track, and then those words were said

You took the wheel and you steered us into my bed

Soon we woke and I walked you home

And it was pretty clear that it was hardly love

And as the summer’s ending

The cool air will rush your hard heart away

You were so condescending

And this is all that’s left

Scraping paper to document

I’ve packed a change of clothes and it’s time to move on

And as the summer’s ending

The cool air will rush your hard heart away

You were so condescending

As the alcohol drained the days

And as the summer’s ending

The cool air will rush your hard heart away

You were so condescending

And this is all that’s left

The empty bottles, spent cigarettes

So pack a change of clothes, ‘cause it’s time to move on”

Photobooth, Death Cab for Cutie

“I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Yeah I’m scratching on a thermostat

Yeah I’m giving up on looking back

Yeah I’m letting go of what I had

Yeah I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Yeah I’m scratching on a thermostat

Yeah I’m letting go all of that I had

Yeah I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Feel the rain come down and you know now

Put the fire out, you’ll burn

Ever wonder how you can see now

That this landing ground is so

You know, you know, you know,

Yeah I’m waiting on my mum and dad

Yeah I’m swinging on a branch that’ll last

Yeah I’m going up then falling back

Yeah I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Feel the rain come down and you know now

Put the fire out, you’ll burn

Ever wonder how you can see now

At this landing ground and it’s all while you were sleeping

Yeah it’s all while you were

Yeah I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Yeah I’m scratching on a thermostat

Yeah I’m letting go of all that I had

Yeah I’m living now and living last

Yeah I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Yeah I’m scratching on a thermostat

Yeah I’m letting go of what I had

Yeah I’m living now and living loud

Itchin’ On A Photograph, Grouplove

“Lei fa “M’ama non m’ama” con un quadrifoglio (eh)

Noi testardi come onde su uno scoglio (si)

E tu vieni ma poi non rimani mai (eh)

Eravamo querce, mo’ siamo bonsai (eh)

Ascolto il ticchettio di pioggia sul tettino (si)

In lontananza di sirene: “Ni-no, ni-no” (eh) […]

Voglio un’ora d’aria ed una nuova serie

Fammi una foto e non vedere come viene

Ti dico “Ciao” sopra a un Ciao

Smezziamoci una margherita e usciamo a bere

Ho i tuoi occhi rossi in tasca sul rullino

Piango senza fare pezza in motorino

Ma tanto io e te, mai negativi, si

Usciamo fuori bene

Come una fotografia

Come una fotografia […]

Ho preso un disco solo per la copertina

Mille messaggi, sempre la stessa faccina

Ma se non usi i social nessuno si fida (ah)

La moda è bella, ma ci rende tutti uguali […]

Fammi una foto e non vedere come viene […]

Andiamo al cinema all’aperto con il cuore un po’ scoperto […]

E mentre non mi guardi ti scatto una foto

E quando poi ti sposti ti do un bacio a vuoto […]

Come una fotografia […]

Fotografia […]”

Fotografia, Francesca Michielin & Fabri Fibra feat. Carl Brave

“Yesterday I felt the wind blowing ‘round my shoulder

Feel like I’m getting older

Still I can’t forget your face

Separated by a million miles of ocean

My heart still feels emotion

Even in this lonely place

Old photographs and places I remember

Just like a dying ember

That’s burned into my soul

Even though we walk the diamond-studded highways

It’s the country lanes and byways

That makes us long for home

Lately I just find my mind has turned to dreamin’

Making plans and scheming

How I’m gonna get back home

But deep down inside I know it’s really hopeless

This road I’m on is endless

We climb our mountains all alone

That makes us long

For home

Old Photographs, Jim Capaldi

Amplificando, al tempo stesso, una visione sempre più simulata del reale.

Now there’s a girl about town

I’d like to know

I’d like to slip away with you

And if you said you love me

How could I mind?

Is there another side to everything you do?

Take in the country air, you’ll never win

Gentlemen take polaroids

They fall in love, they fall in love

Breathe life into me

Spin me around

And I’ll just sit and wonder why

It’s just a foreign town with a foreign mind

Why is everything so cut and dry?

The taste of country air, you’ll never know

Gentlemen take polaroids

They fall in love, they fall in love

Take in the country air, you’ll never win

Gentlemen take polaroids

They fall in love, they fall in love”

Gentlemen Take Polaroids, Japan

playlist

PHOTOGRAPHY through SONGS

“If you want it (ooh, ooh)

You can have it (ooh, ooh)

But you gotta learn to reach up there and grab it (ooh, ooh)

‘Cause everybody wants some love (oh baby)

Shootin’ from the stars above (oh baby)

And though my heart would break, it’s more than I can take

I can never get enough

If you need it (ooh, ooh)

You should show it (ooh, ooh)

‘Cause you might be so monastic that you blow it (ooh, ooh)

‘Cause everybody wants some hope (oh baby)

Something they can barely know (oh baby)

And though my heart would break, it’s more than I could take

I can never let it go

It’s in the photograph

It’s in the photograph of love

‘Cause everybody wants a dream (oh baby)

Something they can barely see (oh baby)

And though my heart would break, it’s more than I could take

I could never let it be

It’s in the photograph

It’s in the photograph of love

If you blew it (ooh, ooh)

Don’t reject it (ooh, ooh)

Just sit drawing up the plans and re-erect it

Just sit drawing up the plans and re-erect it”

Photograph, Weezer

“Uhe, no guarda la fotografia

Sembra neanche un ragazzino

Io, io son quello col vino

Lui, lui è quello senza motorino

Così adesso che è finito tutto e sono andati via

E la pioggia scherza con la saracinesca della lavanderia

No io aspetto solo che magari l’acqua non se lo lavi via

Quel segno del gesso di quel corpo che han portato via

E tu maresciallo che hai continuato a dire andate tutti via

Andate via che non c’è più niente da vedere niente da capire

Credo che ti sbagli perché un morto di soli tredici anni

è proprio da vedere perché la gente sai magari fa anche finta

Però le cose è meglio fargliele sapere.

Guarda la fotografia

Sembra neanche un ragazzino

Io son quello col vino

Lui è quello senza motorino

Era il solo a non voler capire d’esser stato sfortunato

Nascere in un paese dove i fiori han paura e il sole è avvelenato

E sapeva quanto poco fosse un gioco… la sua faccia nel mirino

La… ohi… la… da… daradan… daradan… daradan…

è finita la pioggia tutto il gesso se l’è portato via

Lo so che ti dispiace maresciallo, ma appoggiato alla lavanderia

Era il mio di figlio, e forse è tutta colpa mia perché

Perché come in certi malgoverni se in famiglia il padre ruba

Anche il figlio a un certo punto vola via

E così lui non era lì per caso no. Anche lui sparava e via

Ma forse il gioco era già stanco e non si è accorto neanche che moriva

Guarda la fotografia

Sembra neanche un ragazzino

Io son quello col vino

Lui è quello senza motorino

Guarda la fotografia

Sembra neanche un ragazzino

Io son quello col vino

Lui è quello senza motorino

La fotografia la fotografia la fotografia

Tutto il resto è facce false della pubbliciteria

Tutto il resto è brutta musica fatta solamente con la batteria

Tutto il resto è sporca guerra stile stile mafieria

La fotografia tu che sei famoso, firma firma per piacere la fotografia.”

Enzo Iannacci, La fotografia

Guarda la fotografia è il quindicesimo album in studio di Enzo Jannacci. Gli arrangiamenti sono stati curati da Celso Valli. È stato pubblicato dopo la sua seconda partecipazione al Festival di Sanremo, dove, con La fotografia, ha ottenuto il Premio della Critica: per l’abbinamento internazionale previsto dall’edizione del 1991, Jannacci scelse l’attrice tedesca Ute Lemper, la cui versione in lingua inglese chiude l’ascolto di questo stesso album.

Un medium comunque “resistente”, la Fotografia, seppure con le sue possibili tare.

“Hit her with a hammer

Teeth smashed in

Red tongues twitching

Look inside a skeleton

My fingers sting

Where I feel your fingers have been

Ghostly fingers

Moving my limbs

Oh God, I miss you

Daddy’s in the corner

Rattling his keys

Mummy’s in the doorway

Trying to leave

Nobody’s listening

Oh God, I miss you

Oh God, I miss you”

The Piano, PJ Harvey

Un mezzo e uno strumento di espressione e comunicazione, tra l’altro, dato per “morto” in più di un’occasione.

“Is there a part of you in my Photograph?

I think there is

Some part of you smiles out at me

I just want my life to be good

I must say you make me constantly aroused

It’s the way you’re always smiling

And your lips, they’re as smooth as oil

And your skin is always shining

My life’s so bent for ever

My mouth on your tongue, it goes away

And here I come

There’s something in the way you look at me

And the way you’re always smiling

And your lips, they’re as smooth as oil

And your skin is always shining

My life’s so bent for ever

My mouth on your tongue, it goes away

And here I come

So what if I carry

Your photo

Around with me everywhere?

I don’t care

It’s not such a bad thing to do

And so, I’ve tried

And I’ve tried to do

What you told me to do

I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve tried to forget about you

Oh, I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve trie-oh oh oh…”

Photograph, Eagle Seagull

“Remember that tanktop you bought me

You wrote “you’re gorgeous” on it

You took me to your rented motor car

And filmed me on the bonnet

You got me to hitch my knees up

And pulled my legs apart

You took an instamatic camera

And pulled my sleeves around my heart

Because you’re gorgeous

I’d do anything for you

Because you’re gorgeous

I know you’ll get me through

You said my clothes were sexy

You tore away my shirt

You rubbed an icecube on my chest

Snapped me till it hurt

You said I wasn’t cheap

You paid me 20 pounds

You promised to put me in a magazine

On every table in every lounge

Because you’re gorgeous

I’d do anything for you

Because you’re gorgeous

I know you’ll get me, know you’ll get me through

Know you’ll get me through

Know you’ll get me, know you’ll get me through

I know you’ll get me, know you’ll get me

Know you’ll get me through

Because you’re gorgeous

I’d do anything for you

Because you’re gorgeous

I know you’ll get me, know you’ll get me through

Know you’ll get me through”

You’re Gorgeous, Babybird

E la Canzone è tutt’altro che una semplice “ancella” al servizio di altre forme d’Arte, così come diceva a suo tempo della Fotografia il poeta Charles Baudelaire.

“Giacché la fotografia ci dà tutte le garanzie

d’esattezza che si possono desiderare

(credono questo, gli insensati!)

l’arte è la fotografia.”

Charles Baudelaire, Salon de 1859, 1859

“Je te frapperai sans colère

Et sans haine, comme un boucher,

Comme Moïse le rocher!

Et je ferai de ta paupière,

Pour abreuver mon Saharah,

Jaillir les eaux de la souffrance.

Mon désir gonflé d’espérance

Sur tes pleurs salés nagera

Comme un vaisseau qui prend le large,

Et dans mon cœur qu’ils soûleront

Tes chers sanglots retentiront

Comme un tambour qui bat la charge!

Ne suis-je pas un faux accord

Dans la divine symphonie,

Grâce à la vorace Ironie

Qui me secoue et qui me mord?

Elle est dans ma voix, la criarde!

C’est tout mon sang, ce poison noir!

Je suis le sinistre miroir

Où la mégère se regarde.

Je suis la plaie et le couteau!

Je suis le soufflet et la joue!

Je suis les membres et la roue,

Et la victime et le bourreau!

Je suis de mon cœur le vampire,

— Un de ces grands abandonnés

Au rire éternel condamnés,

Et qui ne peuvent plus sourire!”

L’héautontimorouménos, Diamanda Galás feat. Charles Baudelaire

“Living my life in a slow hell

Different girl every night at the hotel

I ain’t seen the sunshine in three damn days

Been fueling up on cocaine and whisky

I wish I had a good girl to miss me

Lord, I wonder if I’ll ever change my ways

I put your picture away

Sat down and cried today

I can’t look at you while I’m lying next to her

I put your picture away

Sat down and cried today

I can’t look at you while I’m lying next to her

I called you last night in the hotel

Everyone knows, but they won’t tell

But their half-hearted smiles tell me something just ain’t right

I’ve been waiting on you for a long time

Fueling up on heartaches and cheap wine

I ain’t heard from you in three damn nights

I put your picture away

I wonder where you’ve been

I can’t look at you while I’m lyin’ next to him

I put your picture away

I wonder where you’ve been

I can’t look at you while I’m lyin’ next to him

I saw you yesterday with an old friend

It was the same old same, how have you been?

Since you’ve been gone, my world’s been dark and grey

You reminded me of brighter days

I hoped you were coming home to stay

I was headed to church

I was off to drink you away

I thought about you for a long time

Can’t seem to get you off my mind

I can’t understand why we’re living life this way

I found your picture today

I swear I’ll change my ways

I just called to say I want you to come back home

I found your picture today

I swear I’ll change my ways

I just called to say I want you to come back home

I just called to say I love you

Come back home”

Picture, Kid Rock

“From the inside room when the front room greeting

Becomes your special book it was simple then

When the party lulls if we fall by the side

Will you be remembered? Will she be remembered?

Alone in a crowd a bartered lantern borrowed

If I’m to be your camera then who will be your face?

I fell by your bed once I didn’t want to tell you

I should keep myself in between the pages

Of the green light room if we fall by the side

From the inside room when the front room greeting

Becomes your special book, it was simple then

When the party lulls, if we fall by the side

I still like you, can you remember?”

Camera, R.E.M.

“If you crash your car into your best friends house

Would you be quiet as words came out of their mouths?

Stop, don’t do it, I have been waiting for it

Stop, I knew it would come

If you find a god next to your girlfriend’s bed

Would it be hard to sort out your spinning head?

Stop, don’t say that, dear, that you wanted him here

Stop, don’t give him a clear

Take a picture of them

If you are afraid don’t be, I have the whole thing planned

We’ll start in the ocean, baby, and when we find the land

We will be thankful to all of our friends

That they didn’t leave us as we got to the end

Take a picture of them

If you find your faith in your parents’ god

Don’t be so quick to point out the flaws in it

You’ve been around and you’ve seen the way that things work

But you need a compass to get around your house”

Pictures, Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Non ultimo, per l’ineluttabilità dello scarto temporale tra il momento nel quale accade un qualsiasi evento originario poi raffigurato in una qualunque immagine e la (sempre successiva rispetto al momento dell’accaduto) visione della stessa tramite una fotografia da parte di un ipotetico spettatore.

“They live a lifestyle that is comfortable

They travel far to keep their stomachs full

They make a living off of arts and crafts

The kind with seashells, driftwood and burlap

They make a deal when they would come to town

The Sunday swap meet is a battleground

She loves it more than she will ever know

He loves her more than he will ever show

Keeps his cigarettes close to his heart

Keeps her photographs close to her heart

Keeps the bitterness close to the heart

Swap Meet, Nirvana

Come, al riguardo, ci “testimoniano” emblematicamente ed incessantemente, ad esempio: la pubblicità e la moda, con e senza il supporto di testi e/o di musica.

“The feeling overcomes me fast

Afraid of how long this warmth will last

Lookin’ at a photograph

Thinkin’ ‘bout the times we had, yeah

Memories shatter like they’re glass

Lookin’ at a photograph

Lookin’ at a photograph (Hey)

Stare thru your lens (Yeah)

Blind from my flash (Ah)

Can’t make amends

I know you’re too attached

All of your friends I know they hate me bad

Call me again, so I know you’re still mad

I get my ego stuck on drama, I don’t mean to be the villain (Woah)

But I’d rather you be pissed as fuck than just indifferent with your feelings

I know my issues are the problem

I miss you every morning (Oh)

These memories alive in every picture of you

The feeling overcomes me fast

Afraid of how long this warmth will last

Lookin’ at a photograph

Thinkin ‘bout the times we had, yeah

Memories shatter like they’re glass

Lookin’ at a photograph

Yeah, yeah

She told me that she want me back

She told me that she miss our past

Hail Mary throw me off like Madden

Hail-Hail Mary I be me praying off like a pastor

Lil-lil boys growing up with no daddies like bastards

Lil-lil boy running on the track, I be faster

Photographs posted on my wall

They be plastered

All my feelings out up on the floor

Now they staggered

The feeling overcomes me fast

Afraid of how long this warmth will last

Lookin’ at a photograph

Thinkin’ ‘bout the times we had, yeah

Memories shatter like they’re glass

Lookin’ at a photograph

The feeling overcomes me fast

Afraid of how long this warmth will last

Looking at a photograph

Thinking ‘bout the times we had

Memories shatter like they glass

Looking at a photograph

Looking at a photograph (Yeah, yeah, yeah)

The feeling overcomes me fast (Ha)

Afraid of how long this warmth will last (Oh-woah)

Lookin’ at a photograph (Ooh)

Thinkin’ ‘bout the times we had (Hey)

Memories shatter like they’re glass (Glass)

Lookin’ at a photograph (Oh)

Lookin’ at a photograph (Hey!)”

Photograph, Cheeba Hawk & ill Nicky

Entrambe sono esemplificazioni paradigmatiche, sotto le fattezze di apparenze di “reale” di primo grado, di quella che, all’opposto, è proprio la sua concreta dissoluzione.

“Look at this photograph

Every time I do, it makes me laugh

How did our eyes get so red?

And what the hell is on Joey’s head?

And this is where I grew up

I think the present owner fixed it up

I never knew we’d ever went without

The second floor is hard for sneaking out

And this is where I went to school

Most of the time had better things to do

Criminal record says I broke in twice

I must have done it half a dozen times

I wonder if it’s too late

Should I go back and try to graduate?

Life’s better now than it was back then

If I was them, I wouldn’t let me in

Oh, whoa, whoa

Oh, God, I…

Every memory of looking out the back door

I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

Every memory of walking out the front door

I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

Goodbye

Remember the old arcade

Blew every dollar that we ever made

The cops hated us hangin’ out

They say, “Somebody went and burned it down”

We used to listen to the radio

And sing along with every song we know

We said, “Someday we’d find out how it feels

To sing to more than just the steering wheel”

Kim’s the first girl I kissed

I was so nervous that I nearly missed

She’s had a couple of kids since then

I haven’t seen her since God knows when

Oh, whoa, whoa

Oh, God, I…

Every memory of looking out the back door

I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

Every memory of walking out the front door

I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

I miss that town, I miss the faces

You can’t erase, you can’t replace it

I miss it now, I can’t believe it

So hard to stay, too hard to leave it

If I could relive those days

I know the one thing that would never change

Every memory of looking out the back door

I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

Every memory of walking out the front door

I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

Look at this photograph

Every time I do, it makes me laugh

Every time I do, it makes me…”

Photograph, Nickelback

“Tutto ciò che ho

Tutto ciò che ho

Vieni, andiamo

Più lontano

Ci tempesta la tempesta

E una marmotta

Fischia come un treno

Sopra il viso

Della gente

Passa un’onda

Passa un mare evanescente

Prendo il volo

Hai gli occhi come il cielo

Corre lungo il fiume

Una fotografia

E chi la prende la corrente

Se lo porta via

Con tutto ciò che resta

Nella fantasia

Fra sé e sé

Vieni e guarda

Più vicino

Voglio un bacio faccia a faccia

Col destino

Guarda che luna

E non si frantuma

Corre lungo il fiume

Una fotografia

E chi la prende la corrente

Se lo porta via

È tutto ciò che resta

Corre lungo il fiume

Una fotografia

E chi la prende la corrente

Se lo porta via

Con tutto ciò che resta

Nella fantasia

Fra sé e sé, eh

Fra sé e sé

Tutto ciò che ho

Tutto ciò che hai

Tutto ciò che ho

Tutto ciò che ho (tutto ciò che ho)

Tutto ciò che ho

Fra sé e sé

Tutto ciò che hai

Tutto ciò che ho

Tutto ciò che hai

Tutto ciò che ho

Tutto ciò che hai

Tutto ciò che hai”

Fotografia, Gianna Nannini

Come provocatoriamente avviene, ad esempio, in molte delle finzioni dell’autore e teorico spagnolo J. Fontcuberta. Una sorta di virtualità ante litteram, tra l’altro, quella riguardante la dimensione concettuale veicolata dalla Fotografia. Un esito caratteristico del costante prevalere della sfera intellettuale del medium sugli aspetti formali. Il prevalere, anche attraverso le modulazioni vocali della Canzone, delle astrazioni della Fotografia sulla materialità stessa dell’opera. Una propensione alla virtualità che da sempre connota anche la Canzone – per quanto “costituzionalmente” diversa – così come la Fotografia, nella sua relazione con il reale.

“Cada vez que yo me voy llevo a un lado de mi piel

Tus fotografías para verlas cada vez

Que tu ausencia me devora entero el corazón

Y yo no tengo remedio más que amarte

Y en la distancia te puedo ver

Cuando tus fotos me siento a ver

Y en las estrellas tus ojos ver

Cuando tus fotos me siento a ver

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cuando hay un abismo desnudo

Que se opone entre los dos

Yo me valgo del recuerdo

Taciturno de tu voz

Y de nuevo siento enfermo este corazón

Que no le queda remedio más que amarte

Y en la distancia te puedo ver

Cuando tus fotos me siento a ver

Y en las estrellas tus ojos ver

Cuando tus fotos me siento a ver

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás”

Fotografia, Nelly Furtado

Anche attraverso quel che ne “riflette” la Canzone, per la Fotografia si delinea un rapporto che, per un verso, non sembrerebbe comunque in grado di pregiudicare in assoluto la relazione con il suo referente originario, sebbene questa connessione sia ora mediata, ma non resa del tutto arbitraria, da una diversa tecnologia rispetto al passato.

“The flash from a distant camera

Reconnecting thoughts and actions

Fragments of our missing dream

Pieces from here and there

Fall in place along the line

Disappearing between you and me

Life is changing everywhere I go

New things and old both disappear

If life is a photograph fading in the mirror

All I want is a song of love

Song of love to sing for you

All I need is this song of love

To sing for you.

On the floor where daylight dances

With the ones that missed their chances

When they couldn’t let it show

Lies the land of sweet surrender

But we didn’t even know

Now forever we will live as one,

Floating in love’s atmosphere

If love is a piece of dust shining in the sun,

All I want is a song of love

Song of love to sing to you

All I need is this song for love

To sing for you

Song of love”

Distant Camera, Neil Young

Distant Camera è un brano tratto da Silver & Gold, un album del 2000 che vede tornare al consueto folk rock del passato il cantautore e chitarrista canadese naturalizzato statunitense Neil Percival Young.

“We took a polaroid

You signed your name upon it

I put it in my wallet

Hoping I’d see your face again

We took a polaroid

Capture the look in your eyes

It’s only a matter of time

Before it starts fading

Wasn’t my imagination

I could’ve sworn I saw someone like you

A thousand people at the station

And in a second you slipped out of view

Then all of a sudden

I loved and got lost in the moment

All of a sudden

She’s gone in the blink of an eye

I never was looking, hmm

I’ve been looking for the rest of my life

We took a polaroid

You signed your name up on it

I put it in my wallet

Hoping I’ll see your face again

We took a polaroid

Capture the look in your eyes

It’s only a matter of time

Before it starts fadin’

We were dancing without moving

All my friends are leaving me behind

I didn’t wanna catch a feeling

There was something in the flashin’ light

Then all of a sudden

I loved and got lost in the moment

All of a sudden

She’s gone in the blink of an eye

I never was looking, hmm

I’ve been looking for the rest of my life

We took a polaroid

You signed your name up on it

I put it in my wallet

Hoping I’d see your face again

We took a polaroid

Capture the look in your eyes

It’s only a matter of time

Before it starts fadin’

We took a polaroid

You signed your name up on it

I put it in my wallet

Hoping I’d see your face again”

Polaroid, Liam Payne, Jonas Blue

Nell’immaterialità della rete, così come nella concretezza tangibile offerta da un supporto materiale, la narrazione “fotografica” contenuta nella Canzone, analogamente a quella “incollata” in una vera e propria immagine, per acquisire senso deve sempre andare comunque a cercare il proprio significato “fuori” dall’imamgine stessa, oltre la semplice apparenza virtuale del (s)oggetto narrato nel testo della Canzone. Questa trasfersta “all’esterno” diventa ancor più palese e, quindi, obbligata, in tutti quei casi nei quali non è possibile contare sull’eventuale verosimiglianza del (s)oggetto “riflesso” nell’immagine virtuale descritta nel testo di una canzone con il suo eventuale referente originario.

“Does not exist, take an exit

I hear voices insinuating

Feeds me lyrics to this song that I am saying

[…]

Standing looking at a photograph

That you do not remember being taken

You look out of breath, and me like I am faking

As a matter of fact I don’t recall this photo being taken

You don’t even actually exist so I just started shaking

Does not exist, take an exit”

Exit Does Not Exist, Modest Mouse

In generale, nei “riflessi” della Fotografia riverberati dalla Canzone, così come nelle sue performance nella dimensione rizomatica della rete, persiste comunque una tenace aura realista che “vede”, in particolare nell’immagine fotografica, la totale partecipazione dell’entità originaria ritratta. L’immagine è complessivamente percepita, seppure con una maggiore dose di scetticismo rispetto al passato, sempre come una possibile, talora persino autentica duplicazione del reale, alimentando, in tal modo, l’idea concreta di una Fotografia intesa quale possibile “prolungamento” del soggetto originario, ovvero del reale, anziché di un simulacro, di un fantasma.

“Pictures of people taking pictures

I pictured us at the end of time

Just holding up a camera to our eyes

I took a picture of you took a picture of me

In the background of the picture […]

Surrounding ourselves with satellites

But I pictured us standing there

Just staying away from time

Just watching it like a river as it slowly washes by

Washes by!

And now […]

Pictures of people taking

Pictures of people taking pictures

I pictured us at the end of time

Taking pictures of nothing”

Pictures of People Taking Pictures, Jack Johnson

“I need a camera to my eye

To my eye, reminding

Which lies have I been hiding

Which echoes belong

I’ve counted out

Days to see how far

I’ve driven in the dark

With echoes in my heart

Phone my family, tell them I’m lost on the sidewalk

No, it’s not okay

I smashed a camera, I wanna know why

To my eye, deciding

Which lies have I been hiding

Which echoes belong

I’m counting on

A heart I know by heart

To walk me through this war

With memories distort

Phone my family, tell them I’m lost on the sidewalk

No, it’s not okay

I’m counted out

And no one knows how far (tell them I’m lost)

I’ve driven in the dark (tell them I’m lost)

With echoes in my heart (tell them I’m lost)

Phone my family tell them I’m lost, yeah, I’m lost

And no, it’s not okay

No, it’s not okay

No, it’s not okay”

Kamera, Wilco

“Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes

But it’s the only thing that I know

When it gets hard, you know it can get hard sometimes

It is the only thing makes us feel alive

We keep this love in a photograph

We made these memories for ourselves

Where our eyes are never closing

Hearts are never broken

And time’s forever frozen, still

So you can keep me

Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans

Holding me closer ‘til our eyes meet

You won’t ever be alone, wait for me to come home

Loving can heal, loving can mend your soul

And it’s the only thing that I know, know

I swear it will get easier

Remember that with every piece of ya

Hmm, and it’s the only thing we take with us when we die

Hmm, we keep this love in a photograph

We made these memories for ourselves

Where our eyes are never closing

Hearts were never broken

And time’s forever frozen, still

So you can keep me

Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans

Holding me closer ‘til our eyes meet

You won’t ever be alone

And if you hurt me

That’s okay, baby, only words bleed

Inside these pages, you just hold me

And I won’t ever let you go

Wait for me to come home

Oh, you can fit me

Inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen

Next to your heartbeat where I should be

Keep it deep within your soul

And if you hurt me

Well, that’s okay, baby, only words bleed

Inside these pages, you just hold me

And I won’t ever let you go

When I’m away, I will remember how you kissed me

Under the lamppost back on Sixth street

Hearing you whisper through the phone

“Wait for me to come home”

Photograph, Ed Sheeran

“Here’s a little story I’ve gotta tell

‘Bout this boy I know so well

Back in the day was cool and all

Fell in love, I fell in love

Thought he was the one for me

Other boys I could not see

And look what happened to our love

I’m like how could it be?

It should have been me and you

It could have been you and me

But boy you broke my heart and now I’m standing there

It should have been me and you

It could have been you and me

Now all I got are these photographs

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

All I’ve got are these photographs

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

Is nothing without you, you, you

Got nothing without you, you, you

Got nothing without you

Now baby it’s killing me

I’m saying it’s killing me

The fact that you ain’t around

Baby I’m falling down

I need me a remedy

Been looking for remedies

I need you to be around

Baby I’m hurting now

I know you’re a better man

When I was your girl

This land is a better land

When you’re in my world

Today will be better babe

If it were like yesterday

So happy and lovely hey, hey, hey

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

All I’ve got are these photographs

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

Is nothing without you, you, you

Got nothing without you, you, you

Got nothing without you

All I’ve got are these photographs

I remember when I used to make you laugh

I don’t wanna be stuck in the past

But you’re all that I have that I had

And I don’t wanna lose what we built this far

This is me and you, you’re my superstar

I’d give anything, baby here’s my heart

My heart, my heart

My heart don’t stop, my heart be beating over

My loving never stop, even though that it’s over

Girl I’ve been reminiscing when I play that Casanova

Way back when we was kissing on your grand-mama’s sofa

Girl I got us lovey dovey o my photo album

I got them pictures back when I was rocking Calvin Klein

You had your GUESS jeans on looking sexy, oh no

Girl why could it not be the one?

Why? Why? Why?

Why couldn’t I be the one?

Why? Why? Why?

Why couldn’t you be the one?

Why? Why? Why?

Why couldn’t you be the one?

Why? Why? Why?

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

Is nothing without you

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

Is nothing without you, you, you,

Is nothing without you

All I’ve got, is nothing without…

All I’ve got, all I’ve got are these photographs…”

Photographs, Rihanna

Un’anima inafferrabile e tendente all’indeterminatezza, quindi, anche quella della Fotografia veicolata tramite la Canzone, costantemente propensa a offrirci una materia per nulla o, quanto meno, non del tutto lavorata e, pertanto, da ridefinire e “completare” di volta in volta a cura del destinatario finale dell’immagine materiale, concreta, e/o del suo “riflesso” canoro all’interno della forma Canzone.

“I would like to own your photograph

The angels cry to have your photograph

As if you were awfully made for life

As fortune favor fools like candle light

I would like to own your autograph

The angels fight to own your photograph

But you reckon on the photograph

Look at you provision on the night”

Photograph, AIR

La Fotografia, come si è già accennato in precedenza, ha compiuto un percorso inizialmente tortuoso e in salita, segnato poi da una progressiva maggiore autorevolezza conquistata nel tempo.

“Photographs and memories

Christmas cards you sent to me

All that I have are these

To remember you

Memories that come at night

Take me to another time

Back to a happier day

When I called you mine

But we sure had a good time

When we started way back when

Morning walks and bedroom talks

Oh how I loved you then

Summer skies and lullabies

Nights we couldn’t say good-bye

And of all of the things that we knew

Not a dream survived

Photographs and memories

All the love you gave to me

Somehow it just can’t be true

That’s all I’ve left of you

But we sure had a good time

When we started way back when

Morning walks and bedroom talks

Oh how I loved you then”

Photographs and Memories, Jim Croce

“Everybody loves the things you do

From the way you talk

To the way you move

Everybody here is watching you

‘Cause you feel like home

You’re like a dream come true

But if by chance you’re here alone

Can I have a moment?

Before I go?

‘Cause I’ve been by myself all night long

Hoping you’re someone I used to know

You look like a movie

You sound like a song

My God this reminds me, of when we were young

Let me photograph you in this light

In case it is the last time

That we might be exactly like we were

Before we realized

We were scared of getting old

It made us restless

It was just like a movie

It was just like a song

I was so scared to face my fears

Nobody told me that you’d be here

And I’d swear you moved overseas

That’s what you said, when you left me

You still look like a movie

You still sound like a song

My God, this reminds me, of when we were young

Let me photograph you in this light

In case it is the last time

That we might be exactly like we were

Before we realized

We were sad of getting old

It made us restless

It was just like a movie

It was just like a song

When we were young

(When we were young)

When we were young

(When we were young)

It’s hard to win me back

Everything just takes me back

To when you were there

And a part of me keeps holding on

Just in case it hasn’t gone

I guess I still care

Do you still care?

It was just like a movie

It was just like a song

My God, this reminds me

Of when we were young

When we were young

(When we were young)

When we were young

(When we were young)

Let me photograph you in this light

In case it is the last time

That we might be exactly like we were

Before we realized

We were sad of getting old

It made us restless

Oh I’m so mad I’m getting old

It makes me reckless

It was just like a movie

It was just like a song

When we were young”

When We Were Young, Adele

“After seven years behind these bars together

I’ll miss you more than a brother when you go when you go

If only I had not tried to escape

They’d barred me with you I know yes I know

Won’t you tell the folks back home I’ll soon be comin’

And don’t let them know I never will be free (will be free)

Sometimes write and tell me how they’re doin’

And send a picture of mother back to me

Say hello to Dad and shake his poor hardworking hand

And send a picture of mother, if you can

I am happy for you that you got your freedom

But stay with me just another minute or so (or so)

After all this sweating blood together

Who’ll be my fightin’ partner when you go (when you go)

The hardest time will be on Sunday mornin’

Church bells will ring on Heaven Hill (Heaven Hill)

Please, ask Reverend Garrett to pray for me

And send a picture of mother, if you will

Say hello to Dad and shake his poor hardworking hand

And send a picture of mother, if you can”

Send a Picture of Mother, Johnny Cash

Verosimilmente, anche grazie all’acquisizione di questa autorevolezza, come sembrano confermare anche le tante tracce della Fotografia rilevate nella Canzone, il medium fotografico sembra continuare a confermarsi di essere un importante agente di interazione simbolica anche e, soprattutto, nel Mondo virtuale del web.

“Have you ever seen the stars at night and wonder

Why so bright (so bright)

Have you ever seen the sunset on a cloudy night

And wonder why tonight

And maybe there’s just one time with you

I want to remember for eternity, for eternity

Photographs taken like memories of you they disappear

Colors of your eyes they fade with time

They just can’t stay clear, yeah!

Fades like a photograph

Just want to bring you back

Have you ever seen the bottom of the ocean

From a plane, what a sight

Have you ever seen the sunrise

In the snow cap mountains from twilight

And maybe there’s just one time with you

I want to remember for eternity, for eternity

Photographs taken like memories of you they disappear

Colors of your eyes they fade with time

They just can’t stay clear

Photographs taken like memories of you they disappear

Colors of your eyes they fade with time

They just can’t stay clear, yeah!

Fades like a photograph

Just want to bring you back

Yeah, yeah whoaaa ooooh”

Fades Like a Photograph, Filter

“I’ve been looking so long at these pictures of you

That I almost believe that they’re real

I’ve been living so long with my pictures of you

That I almost believe that the pictures

Are all I can feel

Remembering you standing quiet in the rain

As I ran to your heart to be near

And we kissed as the sky fell in

Holding you close

How I always held close in your fear

Remembering you running soft through the night

You were bigger and brighter and wider than snow

And screamed at the make-believe

Screamed at the sky

And you finally found all your courage

To let it all go

Remembering you fallen into my arms

Crying for the death of your heart

You were stone white

So delicate

Lost in the cold

You were always so lost in the dark

Remembering you how you used to be

Slow drowned

You were angels

So much more than everything

Hold for the last time then slip away quietly

Open my eyes

But I never see anything

If only I’d thought of the right words

I could have held on to your heart

If only I’d thought of the right words

I wouldn’t be breaking apart

All my pictures of you

Looking so long at these pictures of you

But I never hold on to your heart

Looking so long for the words to be true

But always just breaking apart

My pictures of you

There was nothing in the world

That I ever wanted more

Than to feel you deep in my heart

There was nothing in the world

That I ever wanted more

Than to never feel the breaking apart

All my pictures of you”

Pictures of You, The Cure

Una conclusione che, a ben vedere, non sorprende affatto, considerando la forza d’urto emotiva e la valenza simbolica da sempre insita e veicolata da qualunque immagine, materiale o astratta che sia.

“Un azzurro scalzo in cielo

Il cielo matto di marzo e di quel nostro incontro

Al centro tu poggiata sui ginocchi

E il vento ed i capelli sui tuoi occhi

Qui l’ombra cade giù dalla tua mano

Un orizzonte di cani abbaia da lontano

Tu aggrappata alla ringhiera

Di una tenera e distratta primavera

Pomeriggio lento e un po’ svogliato

Maggio è andato via, un dito sotto il mento

E gli uccelli fuggono infilando il verde

Dove la città si perde

Sopra un foglio di carta vetrata

Luglio e tu sdraiata

Tu sporca di baci e sabbia

A cercar le labbra smisurate dell’estate sulle mie

In quest’altra stiamo insieme

E come ridi di gusto e fino a soffocarti

Io stringevo agosto e te

Bevendoti con gli occhi miei per non scordarti

E ancora tu tra file di alberi

Che cuciono colline d’uva bianca

E tu sei stata un giorno intero a bere vino

E un contadino col bicchiere in mano lì vicino

Foglie arrugginite in fondo al viale

E nuove voglie e tu qui sei venuta male

La tua faccia un po’ tirata

E una risata senza più allegria e incoscienza

L’aria acerba della domenica mattina

Sopra l’erba tu e lacrime di brina

Guance colorate mentre sbucci

Arance e stupide bugie

Resta lì

Non muoverti

Sorridi un po’

Adesso voltati

Fai così

Appoggiati

Non dire no

Amore guarda qui

Gennaio e il fiato grosso scalda le parole

Il sole andava giù, cielo di marmo rosso

Tu un po’ nera contro quella sera

Che scavava il nostro addio e scappava

La pioggia fina salta sopra i marciapiedi

Noia meschina e tu, tu guardi ma non vedi

Che è finita e tra le dita

Non ci sono che fotografie

Un azzurro scalzo in cielo

Il cielo matto di marzo e di quel nostro incontro

Al centro tu poggiata sui ginocchi

E gli occhi tuoi per sempre nei miei occhi”

Fotografie, Claudio Baglioni

Quale che sia, quindi, la loro dimensione, quella materiale, piuttosto che virtuale, come nel caso di “gemella” sonora, si conferma anche la loro potenziale centralità strategica nei moderni processi di comunicazione contemporanei.

“I can tell that they love my style

In the club we always bring a crowd

Leave your girl, she might be a while

I can see you in the corner staring

Mother fucker you should take a photo

Oh, no

I’m about to go yo

Shorty drop it low to pick it up she like a yo-yo

When I’m getting so much action I should be sponsored by GoPro

(GoPro)

Back with a little more Hennessy inside of my red solo

When I’m that crazy

Man I’m back baby

Everybody in the club say this track wavy

I get stacks daily

Man these jeans don’t faze me

I was about to catch a body but the DJ saved me

I can tell that they love my style

(Okay, okay)

In the club we always bring a crowd

(Okay, okay)

Leave your girl, she might be a while

(Okay, okay)

I can see in the corner staring

Mother fucker you should take a photo

(Take a photo)

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo oh, no

Me ain’t got no ego

But someone always taking flicks and shit where ever we go

These mother fucking cameras on me like I’m Don Cheto

Limo full of white girls, I call that shit a kilo

They A class with them B cubs

And all they carry is C-notes

That model type that make a fake nigga wanna be me amigo

So welcome out to my town

You can swim and you can get down

Shit I’m steady walking on clouds

You should take a picture right now

I can tell that they love my style

(Okay, okay)

In the club we always bring a crowd

(Okay, okay)

Leave your girl, she might be a while

(Okay, okay)

I can see in the corner staring

Mother fucker you should take a photo

(Take a photo)

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo

Let me show them how to get it

I’m been gone for a minute but I’m back

With a little bit of rap

And a little more bass inside of that Cadillac that shit slaps

Like a crazy ex in the middle of the club

When she hates your guts but wants you back

Damn you wiling baby girl but shit you fine you can sit on my lap

Okay, now I’m driving with a girl in my lap

And I’m swerving, swerving all over the map

And I’m turning heads everywhere I go like Tracie Morgan in a Walmart hat

Too soon, too soon, I know

But I crashed the whip so where the golf cart at?

Because if I’m not the greatest then I’m somewhere in the ballpark

I can tell that they love my style

(Okay, okay)

In the club we always bring a crowd

(Okay, okay)

Leave your girl, she might be a while

(Okay, okay)

I can see in the corner staring

Mother fucker you should take a photo

(Take a photo)

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo

I can tell that they love my style

(Okay, okay)

In the club we always bring a crowd

(Okay, okay)

Leave your girl, she might be a while

(Okay, okay)

I can see in the corner staring

Mother fucker you should take a photo

(Take a photo)

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo”

Photo, Yonas

playlist

PHOTOGRAPHY through SONGS

“All I want is a room with a view

A sight worth seeing, a vision of you

All I want is a room with view, oh-oh

I will give you my finest hour

The one I spent watching you shower

I will give you my finest hour, oh yeah

All I want is a photo in my wallet

A small remembrance of something more solid

All I want is a picture of you

Picture this, a day in December

Picture this, freezing cold weather

You got clouds on your lids and you’d be on the skids

If it weren’t for your job at the garage

If you could only oh-oh

Picture this, a sky full of thunder

Picture this, my telephone number

One and one is what I’m telling you, oh yeah

All I want is 20-20 vision

A total portrait with no omissions

All I want is a vision of you, oh-oh

If you can picture this, a day in December

Picture this, freezing cold weather

You got clouds on your lids and you’d be on the skids

If it weren’t for your job at the garage

If you could only oh-oh

Picture this, a sky full of thunder

Picture this, my telephone number

One and one is what I’m telling you

Get a pocket computer

Try to do what you used to do yeah!

Picture This, Blondie

“They only want you when you’re seventeen,

When you’re 21, you’re no fun.

They take a Polaroid and let you go

Say they’ll let you know, so come on.”

Seventeen, Ladytron

Una connotazione che condivide, come ridetto, oltre che con la Canzone, con l’intero complesso sistema dei – molto meno mass e sempre più personal – media contemporanei.

Conseguentemente, anche la Canzone, analogamente alla Fotografia, sembra affermarsi sempre più, anche e non solo in rete, come un emblematico medium intermedia.

Roma, 8 Marzo 2022

G. Regnani

playlist

PHOTOGRAPHY through SONGS

gerardo.regnani@gmail.com

——-

————

SOLO TESTI DELLE CANZONI

——–

Looking through a photograph

Giving everybody fun

Facing the locality

Images melting into one

Fun is the key to your health

Turning pictures to your heart

Facing the locality

Images melting into one

And there are you

A mirror reflection

And I don’t know

I’m smiling

And there are you

A mirror reflection

And I don’t know

I’m smiling

Frozen to the bone

Older than a stone

Waves and water getting calm

Images melt into one

Looking through a photograph

Giving everybody fun

Facing the locality

Images melting into one

Fun is the key to your health

Turning pictures to your heart

Facing the locality

Images melting into one

And there are you

A mirror reflection

And I don’t know

I’m smiling

Frozen to the bone

Older than a stone

Waves and water getting calm

Images melt into one

The Photo Song, Holger Czukay

———

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school

It’s a wonder I can think at all

And though my lack of education hasn’t hurt me none

I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome

They give us those nice bright colors

Give us the greens of summers

Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah

I got a Nikon camera

I love to take a photograph

So mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

If you took all the girls I knew when I was single

And brought ‘em all together for one night

I know they’d never match my sweet imagination

Everything looks worse in black and white

Kodachrome

They give us those nice bright colors

They give us the greens of summers

Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah

I got a Nikon camera

I love to take a photograph

So mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome

Leave your boy so far from home

Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

Kodachrome, Paul Simon

——-

This is the clock up on the wall

This is the story of us all

This is the first sound of a new born child before he starts to crawl

This is the war that’s never won

This is the soldier and his gun

This is the mother waiting by the phone praying for her son

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

All upon your wall for the world to see

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

Remind us all of what we used to be

There is a drug that cures it all

Blocked by the governmental wall

We are the scientists inside the lab just waiting for the call

This earthquake weather has got me shaking

Inside I’m high up and dry

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

All upon your wall for the world to see

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

Remind us all of what we used to be

‘Cause there’s still me

Every secret moment

Every stolen promise you’ve been lead

Confess to me

All that lies between us

All that lies between you and me

We are the boxers in the ring

We are the bells that never sing

There is a title we cant win no matter how hard we must swing

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

All upon your wall for the world to see

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

Remind us all of what we could have been

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

All upon your wall for the world to see

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

Remind us all of what we could have been

What could have been

Pictures of you

Pictures of me

Remind us all of what we could have been

What could have been

We could have been

Pictures of You, The Last Goodnight

——

This is not a photograph – no

(This is not a photograph)

And these are not the Elysian Fields

(This is not a photograph)

This is not a bigot’s head, no

(This is not a photograph)

This is just a perpendicular line to the grain

(This is not a photograph)

This wants to be outside the cage of the age

(This is not a photograph)

This is not a bigot’s leg

(This is not a photograph)

This is Not a Photograph, The Mission of Burma

————

Ricorderò e comunque anche se non vorrai

Ti sposerò perché non te l’ho detto mai

Come fa male cercare, trovarti poco dopo

E nell’ansia che ti perdo ti scatterò una foto

Ti scatterò una foto

Ricorderò e comunque e so che non vorrai

Ti chiamerò perché tanto non risponderai

Come fa ridere adesso pensarti come a un gioco

E capendo che ti ho perso

Ti scatto un’altra foto

Perché piccola potresti andartene dalle mie mani

Ed i giorni dapprima lontani saranno anni

E ti scorderai di me

Quando piove i profili e le case ricordano te

E sarà bellissimo

Perché gioia e dolore han lo stesso sapore con te

Io vorrei soltanto che la notte ora velocemente andasse

E tutto ciò che hai di me di colpo non tornasse

E voglio amore e tutte le attenzioni che sai dare

E voglio indifferenza se mai mi vorrai ferire

E riconobbi il tuo sguardo in quello di un passante

Ma pure avendoti qui ti sentirei distante

Cosa può significare sentirsi piccolo

Quando sei il più grande sogno, il più grande incubo

Siamo figli di mondi diversi una sola memoria

Che cancella e disegna distratta la stessa storia

E ti scorderai di me

Quando piove i profili e le case ricordano te

E sarà bellissimo

Perché gioia e dolore han lo stesso sapore con te

Io vorrei soltanto che la notte ora velocemente andasse

E tutto ciò che hai di me di colpo non tornasse

E voglio amore e tutte le attenzioni che sai dare

E voglio indifferenza semmai mi vorrai ferire

Non basta più il ricordo

Ora voglio il tuo ritorno

E sarà bellissimo

Perché gioia e dolore han lo stesso sapore

Lo stesso sapore con te

Io vorrei soltanto che la notte ora velocemente andasse

E tutto ciò che hai di me di colpo non tornasse

E voglio amore e tutte le attenzioni che sai dare

E voglio indifferenza semmai mi vorrai ferire

Ti scatterò una foto, Tiziano Ferro

da Nessuno è solo, 2006

—————–

Everything went from bad to worse, money never changed a thing

Death kept followin’, trackin’ us down, at least I heard your bluebird sing

Now somebody’s got to show their hand, time is an enemy

I know you’re long gone

I guess it must be up to me

If I’d thought about it I never would’ve done it, I guess I would’ve let it slide

If I’d pay attention to what others were thinkin’, the heart inside me would’ve died

Well, I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity

Someone had to reach for the risin’ star

I guess it was up to me

Oh, the Union Central is pullin’ out, the orchids are in bloom

I’ve only got me one good shirt left and it smells of stale perfume

In 14 months I’ve only smiled once and I didn’t do it consciously

Somebody’s got to find your trail

I guess it must be up to me

It was like a revelation when you betrayed me with your touch

I’d just about convinced myself, nothin’ had changed that much

The old Rounder in the iron mask, he slipped me the master key

Somebody had to unlock your heart

He said it was up to me

Now, I watched you slowly disappear down into the officer’s club

I would’ve followed you in the door but I didn’t have a ticket stub

So I waited all night ‘til the break of day, hopin’ one of us could get free

Ho, when the dawn came over the river bridge

I knew it was up to me

The only decent thing I did when I worked as a postal clerk

Was to haul your picture down off the wall near the cage where I used to work

Was I a fool or not to protect your real identity?

You looked a little burned out, my friend

I thought it might be up to me

I met somebody face to face, I had to remove my hat

She’s everything I need and love but I can’t be swayed by that

It frightens me, the awful truth of how sweet life can be

But she ain’t gonna make a move

I guess it must be up to me

Now, we heard the Sermon on the Mount and I knew it was too complex

It didn’t amount to anything more than what the broken glass reflects

When you bite off more than you can chew, you got to pay the penalty

Somebody’s got to tell the tale

I guess it must be up to me

Dupree came in pimpin’ tonight to the Thunderbird Cafe

Crystal wanted to talk to him, I had to look the other way

Now, I just can’t rest without you, love, I need your company

But you ain’t a-gonna cross the line

I guess it must be up to me

There’s a note left in the bottle, you can give it to Estelle

She’s the one you been wonderin’ about, but there’s really nothin’ much to tell

We both heard voices for a while, now the rest is history

Somebody’s got to cry some tears

I guess it must be up to me

So go on, boys, and play your hands, life is a pantomime

The ringleaders from the county seat say you don’t have all that much time

And the girl with me behind the shades, she ain’t my property

One of us has got to hit the road

I guess it must be up to me

If we never meet again, baby, remember me

How my lone guitar played sweet for you that old-time melody

And the harmonica around my neck, I blew it for you, free

No one else could play that tune

You know it was up to me

Up to Me (Take 2, Remake), Bob Dylan

———-

I hold an image of the ashtray girl

Of cigarette burns on my chest

I wrote a poem that described her world

And put our friendship to the test

And late at night whilst on all fours

She used to watch me kiss the floor

What’s wrong with this picture?

Farewell the ashtray girl

Forbidden snowflake

Beware this troubled world

Watch out for earthquakes

Goodbye to open sores

To broken semaphore

You know we miss her

We miss her picture

Sometimes it’s fated

Disintegrate it

For fear of growing old

Sometimes it’s fated

Assassinated

For fear of growing old

Farewell the ashtray girl

Angelic fruitcake

Beware this troubled world

Control your intake

Goodbye to open sores

Goodbye and furthermore

You know we miss her

We miss her picture

Sometimes it’s fated

Disintegrate it

For fear of growing old

Sometimes it’s fated

Assassinated

For fear of growing old

Hang on

Though we try

It’s gone

Hang on

Though we try

It’s gone

Sometimes it’s fated

Disintegrate it

For fear of growing old

Sometimes it’s fated

Assassinated

For fear of growing old

Can’t stop growing old

This Picture, Placebo

———

State the obvious, I didn’t get my perfect fantasy

I realize you love yourself more than you could ever love me

So go and tell your friends that I’m obsessive and crazy

That’s fine, you won’t mind if I say

By the way

I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

As far as I’m concerned, you’re just another picture to burn

There’s no time for tears

I’m just sitting here planning my revenge

There’s nothing stopping me

From going out with all of your best friends

And if you come around saying sorry to me

My daddy’s gonna show you how sorry you’ll be

‘Cause I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

As far as I’m concerned, you’re just another picture to burn

And if you’re missing me, you’d better keep it to yourself

‘Cause coming back around here would be bad for your health

‘Cause I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

In case you haven’t heard, I really, really hate that

Stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive

You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time

As far as I’m concerned, you’re just another picture to burn

Burn, burn, burn, baby, burn

Just another picture to burn

Baby, burn

Picture To Burn, Taylor Swift

—————-

Hermit crabs and cowry shells

Crush beneath his feet as he comes towards you

He’s waving at you

Lift him up to see what you can see

He begins his focusing

He’s aiming at you

And now he has cutaways from memories

And close-ups of anything that

He has seen or even dreamed

And now he’s finished focusing

He’s imagining lightning

Striking sea sickness

Away from here

Look who’s laughing now that you’ve wasted

How many years and you’ve barely even tasted

Anything remotely close to

Everything you’ve boasted about

Look who’s crying now

Driftwood floats, after years of erosion

Incoming tide touches roots to expose them

Quicksand steals my shoes

Clouds bring the f-stop blues

Look who’s laughing now that you’ve wasted

How many years and you’ve barely even tasted

Anything remotely close to

Everything you’ve boasted about

Look who’s crying now

Jack Johnson, F-Stop Blues

——-

I have a secret I want to tell you

Each time that I close my eyes

I can feel you

I run away with my imagination

And I am blinded by your light

You fill up the room

Ooh whoa oh

I have a secret I need to tell you

Exquisite visions fill up my mind

Do you remember me?

Taking pictures of you as the light came through

You were running away

And I asked you for a place to stay

Do you remember me, taking pictures of you

Taking pictures of you

Now, I have a secret I need to tell you

I have been true, and I needed no clue

We live in such extraordinary times

Exquisite visions fill up my mind

Do you remember me?

Taking pictures of you as the light came through

You were running away

And you asked me for a place to stay

Do you remember me?

Taking pictures of you

Such a wonderful thing to do

Taking Pictures Of You, The Kooks

————–

A white house, a white room

The program of today

Lights on, switch on

Your eyes are far away

The map represents you

And the tape is your voice

Follow all along you

Till you recognize the choice

I take pictures

Photographic pictures

Bright light, dark room

I said I’d write a letter

But I never got the time

And looking to the day

I mesmerize the light

The years I spend just thinking

Of a moment we both knew

A second boss looking into

It seems it can’t be true

I take pictures

Photographic pictures

Bright light, dark room

Photographic, Depeche Mode

————

“Indochina, Capa jumps Jeep

Two feet creep up the road

To photo, to record, meat lumps and war

They advance as does his chance, ohh

Very yellow-white flash

A violent wrench grips mass

Rips light, tears limbs like rags

Burst so high, finally Capa lands

Mine is a watery pit

Painless with immense distance

From medic, from colleague, friend, enemy, foe

Him five yards from his leg

From you Taro, oh

Do not spray into eyes

I have sprayed you into my eyes

3:10 p.m.

Capa pends death, quivers, last rattles, last chokes

All colours and cares glaze to grey

Shriveled and stricken to dots

The left hand grasps what the body grasps not, ohh

Le photographe est mort

3.1415, alive no longer my amour

Faded for home May of ’54

Doors open like arms, my love

Painless with a great closeness

To Capa, to Capa Capa dark after nothing

Re-united with his leg

And with you, Taro, oh

Taro, ohh

Do not spray into eyes

I have sprayed you into my eyes

Hey, Taro!

Traro, Alt-J

———–

I used to wake up in the morning

I always feel so glad

I got so sick of having sleepless nights

I went and told my dad

He said, “Son, now here’s some little somethings”

And stuck them on my wall

And now my nights ain’t quite so lonely

In fact I don’t feel bad at all (I don’t feel bad at all)

Pictures of Lily that make my life so wonderful

Pictures of Lily that let me sleep at night

Pictures of Lily that solved my childhood problem

Pictures of Lily, they make me feel alright

Pictures of Lily (pictures of Lily)

Pictures of Lily (Lily, oh Lily)

Pictures of Lily (pictures of Lily)

Pictures of Lily, pictures of Lily

And then one day things weren’t so fine

I fell in love with Lily

I asked my dad where Lily I could find

He said, “Don’t be silly”

“She’s been dead since 1929”

Oh, how I cried that night

If only I’d been born in Lily’s time

It would have been alright

There were always pictures of Lily to help me sleep at night

Pictures of Lily to help me feel alright

‘Cause me and Lily are together in my dreams (my mind)

And I was wonderin’, mister, have you ever seen?

Pictures of Lily to help you sleep at night

Pictures of Lily to help you feel alright

‘Cause me and Lily are together in my dreams

And I was wonderin’, mister, have you ever seen

Pictures of Lily?

Pictures of Lily, The Who

———–

“I think images are worth repeating

Images repeated from a painting

Images taken from a painting

From a photo worth re-seeing

Some say images have no feeling, I think there’s a deeper meaning

I love multiplicity of screenings

Things born anew display new meanings

I think images are worth repeating and repeating and repeating

I don’t think I’m old or modern, I don’t think I think I’m thinking

It doesn’t matter what I’m thinking

It’s the images that are worth repeating

Images

Those images

Images

Those images

If you’re looking for a deeper meaning, I’m as deep as this high ceiling

If you think technique is meaning, you might find me very simple

You might think that images boring

Cars and cans and chairs and flowers

I think that it bears repeating the images upon the ceiling

I love images worth repeating and repeating and repeating

Images

Those images

Images

Those images”

Images, Songs for Drella [Andy Warhol, N.d.R.], John Cale & Lou Reed

————-

I’ve seen you in the mirror

When the story began

And I fell in love with you.

I love yer mortal sin

Yer brains are locked away

But I love your company

I only ever leave you

When you got no money

I got no emotions for anybody else

You better understand

I’m in love with myself, myself

My beautiful self

I’ve no feeling, no feeling, no feeling

For anybody else

Hello and goodbye

And a run around Sue

You follow me around

Like a pretty pot of glue

I kick you in the head

You got nothing to say

Get out of the way

‘Cause I gotta get away

You never realize

I take the piss out of you

You come up and see me

And I’ll beat you black and blue okay

I’ll send you away

I got no feeling, no feeling, no feeling

For anybody else

Except for myself

My beautiful self-ish

There ain’t no moonlight

After midnight

I see you selling people

Out looking for delight

Well I’m so happy

I’m feeling so fine

I’m watching all the rubbish

You’re wasting my time

I look around your house

And there’s nothing to steal

I kick you in the brains

When you get down to kneel and pray

You pray to your God

I’ve no feeling, no feeling, I got no feeling

For anybody else

I’ve no feeling, no feeling, no feeling

For anybody else

Except for myself

Your daddy’s gone away

Be back another day

See his picture hanging on your wall

No Feelings, Sex Pistols

————-

Guardo una foto di mia madre

era felice avrà avuto tre anni

stringeva al petto una bambola

il regalo più ambito

Era la festa del suo compleanno

un bianco e nero sbiadito

Guardo mia madre a quei tempi e rivedo

il mio stesso sorriso

E pensare a quante volte

l’ho sentita lontana

E pensare a quante volte…

Le avrei voluto parlare di me

chiederle almeno il perché

dei lunghi ed ostili silenzi

e momenti di noncuranza

puntualmente mi dimostravo inflessibile

inaccessibile e fiera

intimamente agguerrita

temendo una sciocca rivalità

Guardo una foto di mia madre

era felice avrà avuto vent’anni

capelli raccolti in un foulard di seta

ed una espressione svanita

Nitido scorcio degli anni sessanta

di una raggiante Catania

la scruto per filo e per segno e ritrovo

il mio stesso sguardo

E pensare a quante volte

l’ho sentita lontana

E pensare a quante volte…

Le avrei voluto parlare di me

chiederle almeno il perché

dei lunghi ed ostili silenzi

e di quella arbitraria indolenza

puntualmente mi dimostravo inflessibile

inaccessibile e fiera

intimamente agguerrita temendo

l’innata rivalità

Le avrei voluto parlare di me

chiederle almeno il perché……

Le avrei voluto parlare di me

chiederle almeno il perché ……

Bianco E Nero, Carmen Consoli

————-

We are the crowd, we’re c-comin’ out

Got my flash on, it’s true

Need that picture of you, it’s so magical

We’d be so fantastical

Leather and jeans, garage glamorous

Not sure what it means

But this photo of us, it don’t have a price

Ready for those flashing lights

‘Cause you know that, baby, I

I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

Baby, there’s no other superstar, you know that I’ll be

Your papa-paparazzi

Promise I’ll be kind

But I won’t stop until that boy is mine

Baby, you’ll be famous, chase you down until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

I’ll be your girl backstage at your show

Velvet ropes and guitars

Yeah, ‘cause you’re my rock star in between the sets

Eyeliner and cigarettes

Shadow is burnt, yellow, dance and we turn

My lashes are dry

Purple teardrops I cry, it don’t have a price

Loving you is cherry pie

‘Cause you know that, baby,

I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

Baby, there’s no other superstar, you know that I’ll be

Your papa-paparazzi

Promise I’ll be kind

But I won’t stop until that boy is mine

Baby, you’ll be famous, chase you down until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

Real good, we dance in the studio

Snap, snap to that shit on the radio

Don’t stop for anyone

We’re plastic, but we still have fun!

I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

Baby, there’s no other superstar, you know that I’ll be

Your papa-paparazzi

Promise I’ll be kind

But I won’t stop until that boy is mine

Baby, you’ll be famous, chase you down until you love me

Papa-paparazzi

Paparazzi, Lady Gaga

Paparazzi è un singolo di Lady Gaga del 2009. Quinto e ultimo singolo dell’album d’esordio The Fame.

————

“I found this photograph

Underneath the broken picture glass

Tender face of black and white

Beautiful, a haunting sight

Looked into an angel’s smile

Captivated all the while

From the hair and clothes she wore

I’d place her in between the wars

Was she willing when she sat

And posed the pretty photograph?

A big smile for the camera

How did she know?

The moment could be lost forever

Forever more

I found this photograph

Stashed between the old joist walls

In a place where time is lost

Lost behind, where all things fall

Broken books and calendars

Letters script in careful hand

Music too, a standard tune by

The television’s just a dream

The radio, the silver screen

A big smile for the camera

How did she know?

The moment could be lost forever

Photograph, R.E.M.

————–

Oh brother, I can’t, I can’t get through

I’ve been trying hard to reach you ‘cause I don’ know what to do

Oh brother, I can’t believe it’s true

I’m so scared about the future, and I wanna talk to you

Oh, I wanna talk to you

You can take a picture of something you see

In the future where will I be?

You can climb a ladder up to the sun

Or a write a song nobody has sung

Or do something that’s never been done

Are you lost or incomplete?

Do you feel like a puzzle, you can’t find your missing piece?

Tell me, how do you feel?

Well, I feel like they’re talking in a language I don’t speak

And they’re talking it to me

So you take a picture of something you see

In the future where will I be?

You can climb a ladder up to the sun

Or write a song nobody has sung

Or do something that’s never been done

So you don’t know where you’re going and you wanna talk

And you feel like you’re going where you’ve been before

You tell anyone who’ll listen, but you feel ignored

Nothing’s really making any sense at all, let’s talk

Let’s talk, let’s talk, let’s talk

Talk, Coldplay

———-

Chissà cosa mormora il vento stasera col suo lamento

Dietro la porta laggiù

Di già il caminetto s’è spento

Io chiudo gli occhi e rammento gli amori di gioventù

Di voi che resta, antichi amori, giorni di festa, teneri ardori

Solo una mesta foto ingiallita fra le mie dita

Di voi che resta, sguardi innocenti, lacrime e risa e giuramenti

Solo sepolto in un cassetto qualche biglietto

Sere d’aprile, sogni incantati, capelli al vento, baci rubati

Che resta dunque di tutto ciò, ditemi un po’

Rivedo un viso, mormoro un nome, ma non ricordo quando né come

Penso a un villaggio dove non so se tornerò

Mai più mano con mano nel buio

Stupiti d’essere due felici senza perché

Mai più fiori nascosti nel libro

Il cui profumo ci inebria ma presto evapora, ahimè

Di voi che resta, antichi amori, grandi segreti, complici cuori

Solo nel petto, male guarita una ferita

Di voi che resta, parole audaci, carezze caste, timide braci

Solo una cenere che più non fuma ma si consuma

Chiari di luna, dolci sentieri e tu perduta anima di ieri

Perché sparisti? Chi ti rubò? Dimmelo un po’

Solo un motivo risento ancora di un fuggitivo disco d’allora

E a un luogo penso dove non so se tornerò

Che cosa resta, Franco Battiato (da Fleur 1999)

———-

I couldn’t quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats

‘Cause it’s all been said before

Make the best out of the bad, just laugh it off, ha

You didn’t have to come here anyway

So remember, every picture tells a story, don’t it

Every picture tells a story, don’t it

Every picture tells a story, Rod Stewart

—————-

Black roses laced with silver

By a broken moon.

Ten million stars

And the whispered harmonies of leaves.

We werer these.

Beside a dried up fountain

Lie five dusty tomes

With faded pasted pictures

Of love’s reverie.

Across each cover is written,

“Herein are Photos of Ghosts”

Of ghosts, of ghosts,

Of the days we ran and the days we sang.

Photos of Ghosts, Premiata Forneria Marconi

————–

“Ain’t found a way to kill me yet

Eyes burn with stinging sweat

Seems every path leads me to nowhere

Army green was no safe bet

The bullets scream to me from somewhere

You know he ain’t gonna die

No, no, no, you know he ain’t gonna die

You know he ain’t gonna die

No, no, no, you know he ain’t gonna die

Walkin’ tall machine gun man

They spit on me in my homeland

Gloria sent me pictures of my boy

My Buddy’s breathin’ his dyin’ breath

Oh god, please won’t you help me make it through?

You know he ain’t gonna die

No, no, no you know he ain’t gonna die”

Rooster, Alice in Chains

————-

My eyes are ready,

They’re focusing on you.

I’m watching every move and all you do.

I see you everywhere,

I’m here and now I’m there.

Nowhere you can hide, you’re still in view.

And when the shutter’s open,

Images on my screen,

Sent to the people waiting,

People you’ve never seen, ‘cause

I am a camera,

Looking at pictures of you.

I am a camera.

SMILE,

Now you see me, now you don’t.

I’m always working,

At night and in the day.

I’m your security, that’s what they say.

And if you think you’re free,

Then turn your back on me.

I’ll catch you as you look the other way.

And when the shutter’s open,

Images on my screen,

Sent to the people waiting,

People you’ve never seen, ‘cause

I am a camera,

Looking at pictures of you.

I am a camera.

SMILE,

Now you see me, now you don’t.

I Am a Camera, Gentle Giant

————-

There’s a photograph in a haunted room

Filled with memories that have gone too soon

And as i pass by everyday

I say why does it make me feel this way

There is life in the setting sun

And you know I think that it should go on

But as it turns around everyday

I say why does it make me feel this way

Why does it make me feel this way

Laughing sun and laughing moon

I think they should be

And i want to be too

But as it turns out i have to say

Why does it make me feel this way

Photograph, Mick Harvey

————–

One, two, three, four

A picture tells a thousand words, some of them were mine

Combing through the evidence, afraid of what we’ll find

The sun could lift us up, should this thunder ever stop

There’s no over, there’s no under, there’s no shame

Picture of love, we were a picture of love

The measure of our years, so deep and wide

Picture of hope, we were a picture of hope

Standing close together, side by side (yeah)

If we let the darkness of these times break us

Oh-ho-ho, that would truly be the crime

Did I cause the sadness in your eyes?

Oh, allow me, please, to ease your troubled mind

Picture of love, we were a picture of love

The measure of our years, so deep and wide

Picture of hope, we were a picture of hope

Standing close together, side by side

Strangers, they walk past with eyes of one-way glass

Thinkin’ what’s hidden will someday pass

Somewhere down below, the will to not let go

Our hearts fit together ‘cause they’re broken, whoa-oh

Picture of love, we were a picture of love

The measure of our years, so deep and wide

Picture of hope, we were a picture of hope

Standing close together, side by side, yeah

Picture of love, we were a picture of love

The measure of our years, so deep and wide

Picture of hope, we were a picture of hope

Standing close together, side by side

Yeah

Picture, Edder Vedder ft. Elton John

Picture è un brano tratto da Earthling, il terzo album in studio del compositore e cantante americano Eddie Vedder. L’album è stato pubblicato l’11 Febbraio 2022 da Republic.

—————-

“There she is among her children

Full of paintings

Going round and round the houses”

She Is Not, David Sylvian

————–

Sitting in my bedroom tonight

Thinking of how to change your mind

Since you walked out my life again

Yeah

So I strike a pose and tilt my chin

And hold the light to suit my skin

Your favorite t-shirt on again

Counting hours

Counting lies

Three, two, one

And I smile

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Taking pictures of myself, self self

Guess I’m reaching out to be assured

All I wanted was to be adored

Now you’re telling me I’m vain, vain, vain yeah

But you don’t feel my pain, pain, pain

Facing life upon the shelf, shelf, shelf

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Taking pictures of myself

Taking pictures of myself oh oh

I’ll post it up in black and white

With a depressing quote on my life

So that you see what I’m going through

Yeah

This is desperation at it’s best

A conversation to be left

But all my pride was burned by you

Counting days

Counting takes

Three, two, one

I’m awake

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Taking pictures of myself, self self

Guess I’m reaching out to be assured

All I wanted was to be adored

Now you’re telling me I’m vain, vain, vain yeah

But you don’t feel my pain, pain, pain

Facing life upon the shelf, shelf, shelf

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Taking pictures of myself

Taking pictures of myself oh oh

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Taking pictures of myself, self self

Guess I’m reaching out to be assured

All I wanted was to be adored

Now you’re telling me I’m vain, vain, vain yeah

But you don’t feel my pain, pain, pain

Facing life upon the shelf, shelf, shelf

Taking pictures of myself, self, self

Hey, what you looking at?

Hey, what do you looking at?

Hey, what do you looking at? (Taking pictures of myself)

Hey, what you looking at? (Taking pictures of myself)

Taking pictures of myself

Taking pictures of myself oh

Selfies, Nina Nesbitt

———–

I remember when the days were long

And the nights when the living room was on the lawn

Constant quarreling, the childish fits

And our clothes in a pile on the ottoman

All the slander and double-speak

Were only foolish attempts to show you did not mean

Anything but the blatant proof was

Your lips touching mine in the photobooth

And as the summer’s ending

The cool air will put your hard heart away

You were so condescending

And this is all that’s left

Scraping paper to document

I’ve packed a change of clothes and it’s time to move on

Cup your mouth to compress the sound

Skinny dipping with the kids from a nearby town

And everything that I said was true

As the flashes blinded us in the photobooth

Well, I lost track, and then those words were said

You took the wheel and you steered us into my bed

Soon we woke and I walked you home

And it was pretty clear that it was hardly love

And as the summer’s ending

The cool air will rush your hard heart away

You were so condescending

And this is all that’s left

Scraping paper to document

I’ve packed a change of clothes and it’s time to move on

And as the summer’s ending

The cool air will rush your hard heart away

You were so condescending

As the alcohol drained the days

And as the summer’s ending

The cool air will rush your hard heart away

You were so condescending

And this is all that’s left

The empty bottles, spent cigarettes

So pack a change of clothes, ‘cause it’s time to move on

Photobooth, Death Cab for Cutie

————–

I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Yeah I’m scratching on a thermostat

Yeah I’m giving up on looking back

Yeah I’m letting go of what I had

Yeah I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Yeah I’m scratching on a thermostat

Yeah I’m letting go all of that I had

Yeah I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Feel the rain come down and you know now

Put the fire out, you’ll burn

Ever wonder how you can see now

That this landing ground is so

You know, you know, you know,

Yeah I’m waiting on my mum and dad

Yeah I’m swinging on a branch that’ll last

Yeah I’m going up then falling back

Yeah I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Feel the rain come down and you know now

Put the fire out, you’ll burn

Ever wonder how you can see now

At this landing ground and it’s all while you were sleeping

Yeah it’s all while you were

Yeah I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Yeah I’m scratching on a thermostat

Yeah I’m letting go of all that I had

Yeah I’m living now and living last

Yeah I’m itchin’ on a photograph

Yeah I’m scratching on a thermostat

Yeah I’m letting go of what I had

Yeah I’m living now and living loud

Itchin’ On A Photograph, Grouplove

————-

“Lei fa “M’ama non m’ama” con un quadrifoglio (eh)

Noi testardi come onde su uno scoglio (si)

E tu vieni ma poi non rimani mai (eh)

Eravamo querce, mo’ siamo bonsai (eh)

Ascolto il ticchettio di pioggia sul tettino (si)

In lontananza di sirene: “Ni-no, ni-no” (eh) […]

Voglio un’ora d’aria ed una nuova serie

Fammi una foto e non vedere come viene

Ti dico “Ciao” sopra a un Ciao

Smezziamoci una margherita e usciamo a bere

Ho i tuoi occhi rossi in tasca sul rullino

Piango senza fare pezza in motorino

Ma tanto io e te, mai negativi, si

Usciamo fuori bene

Come una fotografia

Come una fotografia […]

Ho preso un disco solo per la copertina

Mille messaggi, sempre la stessa faccina

Ma se non usi i social nessuno si fida (ah)

La moda è bella, ma ci rende tutti uguali […]

Fammi una foto e non vedere come viene […]

Andiamo al cinema all’aperto con il cuore un po’ scoperto […]

E mentre non mi guardi ti scatto una foto

E quando poi ti sposti ti do un bacio a vuoto […]

Come una fotografia […]

Fotografia […]”

Fotografia, Francesca Michielin & Fabri Fibra feat. Carl Brave

————-

Yesterday I felt the wind blowing ‘round my shoulder

Feel like I’m getting older

Still I can’t forget your face

Separated by a million miles of ocean

My heart still feels emotion

Even in this lonely place

Old photographs and places I remember

Just like a dying ember

That’s burned into my soul

Even though we walk the diamond-studded highways

It’s the country lanes and byways

That makes us long for home

Lately I just find my mind has turned to dreamin’

Making plans and scheming

How I’m gonna get back home

But deep down inside I know it’s really hopeless

This road I’m on is endless

We climb our mountains all alone

That makes us long

For home

Old Photographs, Jim Capaldi

————

Now there’s a girl about town

I’d like to know

I’d like to slip away with you

And if you said you love me

How could I mind?

Is there another side to everything you do?

Take in the country air, you’ll never win

Gentlemen take polaroids

They fall in love, they fall in love

Breathe life into me

Spin me around

And I’ll just sit and wonder why

It’s just a foreign town with a foreign mind

Why is everything so cut and dry?

The taste of country air, you’ll never know

Gentlemen take polaroids

They fall in love, they fall in love

Take in the country air, you’ll never win

Gentlemen take polaroids

They fall in love, they fall in love

Gentlemen Take Polaroids, Japan

————

If you want it (ooh, ooh)

You can have it (ooh, ooh)

But you gotta learn to reach up there and grab it (ooh, ooh)

‘Cause everybody wants some love (oh baby)

Shootin’ from the stars above (oh baby)

And though my heart would break, it’s more than I can take

I can never get enough

If you need it (ooh, ooh)

You should show it (ooh, ooh)

‘Cause you might be so monastic that you blow it (ooh, ooh)

‘Cause everybody wants some hope (oh baby)

Something they can barely know (oh baby)

And though my heart would break, it’s more than I could take

I can never let it go

It’s in the photograph

It’s in the photograph of love

‘Cause everybody wants a dream (oh baby)

Something they can barely see (oh baby)

And though my heart would break, it’s more than I could take

I could never let it be

It’s in the photograph

It’s in the photograph of love

If you blew it (ooh, ooh)

Don’t reject it (ooh, ooh)

Just sit drawing up the plans and re-erect it

Photograph, Weezer

————

Uhe, no guarda la fotografia

Sembra neanche un ragazzino

Io, io son quello col vino

Lui, lui è quello senza motorino

Così adesso che è finito tutto e sono andati via

E la pioggia scherza con la saracinesca della lavanderia

No io aspetto solo che magari l’acqua non se lo lavi via

Quel segno del gesso di quel corpo che han portato via

E tu maresciallo che hai continuato a dire andate tutti via

Andate via che non c’è più niente da vedere niente da capire

Credo che ti sbagli perché un morto di soli tredici anni

è proprio da vedere perché la gente sai magari fa anche finta

Però le cose è meglio fargliele sapere.

Guarda la fotografia

Sembra neanche un ragazzino

Io son quello col vino

Lui è quello senza motorino

Era il solo a non voler capire d’esser stato sfortunato

Nascere in un paese dove i fiori han paura e il sole è avvelenato

E sapeva quanto poco fosse un gioco… la sua faccia nel mirino

La… ohi… la… da… daradan… daradan… daradan…

è finita la pioggia tutto il gesso se l’è portato via

Lo so che ti dispiace maresciallo, ma appoggiato alla lavanderia

Era il mio di figlio, e forse è tutta colpa mia perché

Perché come in certi malgoverni se in famiglia il padre ruba

Anche il figlio a un certo punto vola via

E così lui non era lì per caso no. Anche lui sparava e via

Ma forse il gioco era già stanco e non si è accorto neanche che moriva

Guarda la fotografia

Sembra neanche un ragazzino

Io son quello col vino

Lui è quello senza motorino

Guarda la fotografia

Sembra neanche un ragazzino

Io son quello col vino

Lui è quello senza motorino

La fotografia la fotografia la fotografia

Tutto il resto è facce false della pubbliciteria

Tutto il resto è brutta musica fatta solamente con la batteria

Tutto il resto è sporca guerra stile stile mafieria

La fotografia tu che sei famoso, firma firma per piacere la fotografia.

Enzo Iannacci, La fotografia

————

Hit her with a hammer

Teeth smashed in

Red tongues twitching

Look inside a skeleton

My fingers sting

Where I feel your fingers have been

Ghostly fingers

Moving my limbs

Oh God, I miss you

Daddy’s in the corner

Rattling his keys

Mummy’s in the doorway

Trying to leave

Nobody’s listening

Oh God, I miss you

The Piano, PJ Harvey

—————

Is there a part of you in my Photograph?

I think there is

Some part of you smiles out at me

I just want my life to be good

I must say you make me constantly aroused

It’s the way you’re always smiling

And your lips, they’re as smooth as oil

And your skin is always shining

My life’s so bent for ever

My mouth on your tongue, it goes away

And here I come

There’s something in the way you look at me

And the way you’re always smiling

And your lips, they’re as smooth as oil

And your skin is always shining

My life’s so bent for ever

My mouth on your tongue, it goes away

And here I come

So what if I carry

Your photo

Around with me everywhere?

I don’t care

It’s not such a bad thing to do

And so, I’ve tried

And I’ve tried to do

What you told me to do

I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve tried to forget about you

Oh, I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve trie-oh oh oh…

Photograph, Eagle Seagull

———–

Remember that tanktop you bought me

You wrote “you’re gorgeous” on it

You took me to your rented motor car

And filmed me on the bonnet

You got me to hitch my knees up

And pulled my legs apart

You took an instamatic camera

And pulled my sleeves around my heart

Because you’re gorgeous

I’d do anything for you

Because you’re gorgeous

I know you’ll get me through

You said my clothes were sexy

You tore away my shirt

You rubbed an icecube on my chest

Snapped me till it hurt

You said I wasn’t cheap

You paid me 20 pounds

You promised to put me in a magazine

On every table in every lounge

Because you’re gorgeous

I’d do anything for you

Because you’re gorgeous

I know you’ll get me, know you’ll get me through

Know you’ll get me through

Know you’ll get me, know you’ll get me through

I know you’ll get me, know you’ll get me

Know you’ll get me through

Because you’re gorgeous

I’d do anything for you

Because you’re gorgeous

I know you’ll get me, know you’ll get me through

Know you’ll get me through

You’re Gorgeous, Babybird

————-

Giacché la fotografia ci dà tutte le garanzie

d’esattezza che si possono desiderare

(credono questo, gli insensati!)

l’arte è la fotografia.

Charles Baudelaire, Salon de 1859, 1859

————-

Je te frapperai sans colère

Et sans haine, comme un boucher,

Comme Moïse le rocher!

Et je ferai de ta paupière,

Pour abreuver mon Saharah,

Jaillir les eaux de la souffrance.

Mon désir gonflé d’espérance

Sur tes pleurs salés nagera

Comme un vaisseau qui prend le large,

Et dans mon cœur qu’ils soûleront

Tes chers sanglots retentiront

Comme un tambour qui bat la charge!

Ne suis-je pas un faux accord

Dans la divine symphonie,

Grâce à la vorace Ironie

Qui me secoue et qui me mord?

Elle est dans ma voix, la criarde!

C’est tout mon sang, ce poison noir!

Je suis le sinistre miroir

Où la mégère se regarde.

Je suis la plaie et le couteau!

Je suis le soufflet et la joue!

Je suis les membres et la roue,

Et la victime et le bourreau!

Je suis de mon cœur le vampire,

— Un de ces grands abandonnés

Au rire éternel condamnés,

Et qui ne peuvent plus sourire!

L’héautontimorouménos, Diamanda Galás feat. Charles Baudelaire

————

Living my life in a slow hell

Different girl every night at the hotel

I ain’t seen the sunshine in three damn days

Been fueling up on cocaine and whisky

I wish I had a good girl to miss me

Lord, I wonder if I’ll ever change my ways

I put your picture away

Sat down and cried today

I can’t look at you while I’m lying next to her

I put your picture away

Sat down and cried today

I can’t look at you while I’m lying next to her

I called you last night in the hotel

Everyone knows, but they won’t tell

But their half-hearted smiles tell me something just ain’t right

I’ve been waiting on you for a long time

Fueling up on heartaches and cheap wine

I ain’t heard from you in three damn nights

I put your picture away

I wonder where you’ve been

I can’t look at you while I’m lyin’ next to him

I put your picture away

I wonder where you’ve been

I can’t look at you while I’m lyin’ next to him

I saw you yesterday with an old friend

It was the same old same, how have you been?

Since you’ve been gone, my world’s been dark and grey

You reminded me of brighter days

I hoped you were coming home to stay

I was headed to church

I was off to drink you away

I thought about you for a long time

Can’t seem to get you off my mind

I can’t understand why we’re living life this way

I found your picture today

I swear I’ll change my ways

I just called to say I want you to come back home

I found your picture today

I swear I’ll change my ways

I just called to say I want you to come back home

I just called to say I love you

Come back home

Picture, Kid Rock

————-

From the inside room when the front room greeting

Becomes your special book it was simple then

When the party lulls if we fall by the side

Will you be remembered? Will she be remembered?

Alone in a crowd a bartered lantern borrowed

If I’m to be your camera then who will be your face?

I fell by your bed once I didn’t want to tell you

I should keep myself in between the pages

Of the green light room if we fall by the side

From the inside room when the front room greeting

Becomes your special book, it was simple then

When the party lulls, if we fall by the side

I still like you, can you remember?

Camera, R.E.M.

———

If you crash your car into your best friends house

Would you be quiet as words came out of their mouths?

Stop, don’t do it, I have been waiting for it

Stop, I knew it would come

If you find a god next to your girlfriend’s bed

Would it be hard to sort out your spinning head?

Stop, don’t say that, dear, that you wanted him here

Stop, don’t give him a clear

Take a picture of them

If you are afraid don’t be, I have the whole thing planned

We’ll start in the ocean, baby, and when we find the land

We will be thankful to all of our friends

That they didn’t leave us as we got to the end

Take a picture of them

If you find your faith in your parents’ god

Don’t be so quick to point out the flaws in it

You’ve been around and you’ve seen the way that things work

But you need a compass to get around your house

Pictures, Benjamin Francis Leftwich

———-

They live a lifestyle that is comfortable

They travel far to keep their stomachs full

They make a living off of arts and crafts

The kind with seashells, driftwood and burlap

They make a deal when they would come to town

The Sunday swap meet is a battleground

She loves it more than she will ever know

He loves her more than he will ever show

Keeps his cigarettes close to his heart

Keeps her photographs close to her heart

Keeps the bitterness close to the heart

Swap Meet, Nirvana

————

The feeling overcomes me fast

Afraid of how long this warmth will last

Lookin’ at a photograph

Thinkin’ ‘bout the times we had, yeah

Memories shatter like they’re glass

Lookin’ at a photograph

Lookin’ at a photograph (Hey)

Stare thru your lens (Yeah)

Blind from my flash (Ah)

Can’t make amends

I know you’re too attached

All of your friends I know they hate me bad

Call me again, so I know you’re still mad

I get my ego stuck on drama, I don’t mean to be the villain (Woah)

But I’d rather you be pissed as fuck than just indifferent with your feelings

I know my issues are the problem

I miss you every morning (Oh)

These memories alive in every picture of you

The feeling overcomes me fast

Afraid of how long this warmth will last

Lookin’ at a photograph

Thinkin ‘bout the times we had, yeah

Memories shatter like they’re glass

Lookin’ at a photograph

Yeah, yeah

She told me that she want me back

She told me that she miss our past

Hail Mary throw me off like Madden

Hail-Hail Mary I be me praying off like a pastor

Lil-lil boys growing up with no daddies like bastards

Lil-lil boy running on the track, I be faster

Photographs posted on my wall

They be plastered

All my feelings out up on the floor

Now they staggered

The feeling overcomes me fast

Afraid of how long this warmth will last

Lookin’ at a photograph

Thinkin’ ‘bout the times we had, yeah

Memories shatter like they’re glass

Lookin’ at a photograph

The feeling overcomes me fast

Afraid of how long this warmth will last

Looking at a photograph

Thinking ‘bout the times we had

Memories shatter like they glass

Looking at a photograph

Looking at a photograph (Yeah, yeah, yeah)

The feeling overcomes me fast (Ha)

Afraid of how long this warmth will last (Oh-woah)

Lookin’ at a photograph (Ooh)

Thinkin’ ‘bout the times we had (Hey)

Memories shatter like they’re glass (Glass)

Lookin’ at a photograph (Oh)

Lookin’ at a photograph (Hey!)

Photograph, Cheeba Hawk & ill Nicky

—————

Look at this photograph

Every time I do, it makes me laugh

How did our eyes get so red?

And what the hell is on Joey’s head?

And this is where I grew up

I think the present owner fixed it up

I never knew we’d ever went without

The second floor is hard for sneaking out

And this is where I went to school

Most of the time had better things to do

Criminal record says I broke in twice

I must have done it half a dozen times

I wonder if it’s too late

Should I go back and try to graduate?

Life’s better now than it was back then

If I was them, I wouldn’t let me in

Oh, whoa, whoa

Oh, God, I…

Every memory of looking out the back door

I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

Every memory of walking out the front door

I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

Goodbye

Remember the old arcade

Blew every dollar that we ever made

The cops hated us hangin’ out

They say, “Somebody went and burned it down”

We used to listen to the radio

And sing along with every song we know

We said, “Someday we’d find out how it feels

To sing to more than just the steering wheel”

Kim’s the first girl I kissed

I was so nervous that I nearly missed

She’s had a couple of kids since then

I haven’t seen her since God knows when

Oh, whoa, whoa

Oh, God, I…

Every memory of looking out the back door

I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

Every memory of walking out the front door

I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

I miss that town, I miss the faces

You can’t erase, you can’t replace it

I miss it now, I can’t believe it

So hard to stay, too hard to leave it

If I could relive those days

I know the one thing that would never change

Every memory of looking out the back door

I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

Every memory of walking out the front door

I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for

It’s hard to say it, time to say it

Goodbye, goodbye

Look at this photograph

Every time I do, it makes me laugh

Every time I do, it makes me…

Photograph, Nickelback

—————

Tutto ciò che ho

Vieni, andiamo

Più lontano

Ci tempesta la tempesta

E una marmotta

Fischia come un treno

Sopra il viso

Della gente

Passa un’onda

Passa un mare evanescente

Prendo il volo

Hai gli occhi come il cielo

Corre lungo il fiume

Una fotografia

E chi la prende la corrente

Se lo porta via

Con tutto ciò che resta

Nella fantasia

Fra sé e sé

Vieni e guarda

Più vicino

Voglio un bacio faccia a faccia

Col destino

Guarda che luna

E non si frantuma

Corre lungo il fiume

Una fotografia

E chi la prende la corrente

Se lo porta via

È tutto ciò che resta

Corre lungo il fiume

Una fotografia

E chi la prende la corrente

Se lo porta via

Con tutto ciò che resta

Nella fantasia

Fra sé e sé, eh

Fra sé e sé

Tutto ciò che ho

Tutto ciò che hai

Tutto ciò che ho

Tutto ciò che ho (tutto ciò che ho)

Tutto ciò che ho

Fra sé e sé

Tutto ciò che hai

Tutto ciò che ho

Tutto ciò che hai

Tutto ciò che ho

Tutto ciò che hai

Fotografia, Gianna Nannini

—————–

Cada vez que yo me voy llevo a un lado de mi piel

Tus fotografías para verlas cada vez

Que tu ausencia me devora entero el corazón

Y yo no tengo remedio más que amarte

Y en la distancia te puedo ver

Cuando tus fotos me siento a ver

Y en las estrellas tus ojos ver

Cuando tus fotos me siento a ver

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cuando hay un abismo desnudo

Que se opone entre los dos

Yo me valgo del recuerdo

Taciturno de tu voz

Y de nuevo siento enfermo este corazón

Que no le queda remedio más que amarte

Y en la distancia te puedo ver

Cuando tus fotos me siento a ver

Y en las estrellas tus ojos ver

Cuando tus fotos me siento a ver

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Cada vez que te busco te vas

Y cada vez que te llamo no estás

Es por eso que debo decir que tú sólo en mis fotos estás

Fotografia, Nelly Furtado

—————

The flash from a distant camera

Reconnecting thoughts and actions

Fragments of our missing dream

Pieces from here and there

Fall in place along the line

Disappearing between you and me

Life is changing everywhere I go

New things and old both disappear

If life is a photograph fading in the mirror

All I want is a song of love

Song of love to sing for you

All I need is this song of love

To sing for you.

On the floor where daylight dances

With the ones that missed their chances

When they couldn’t let it show

Lies the land of sweet surrender

But we didn’t even know

Now forever we will live as one,

Floating in love’s atmosphere

If love is a piece of dust shining in the sun,

All I want is a song of love

Song of love to sing to you

All I need is this song for love

To sing for you

Song of love

Distant Camera, Neil Young

———-

We took a polaroid

You signed your name upon it

I put it in my wallet

Hoping I’d see your face again

We took a polaroid

Capture the look in your eyes

It’s only a matter of time

Before it starts fading

Wasn’t my imagination

I could’ve sworn I saw someone like you

A thousand people at the station

And in a second you slipped out of view

Then all of a sudden

I loved and got lost in the moment

All of a sudden

She’s gone in the blink of an eye

I never was looking, hmm

I’ve been looking for the rest of my life

We took a polaroid

You signed your name up on it

I put it in my wallet

Hoping I’ll see your face again

We took a polaroid

Capture the look in your eyes

It’s only a matter of time

Before it starts fadin’

We were dancing without moving

All my friends are leaving me behind

I didn’t wanna catch a feeling

There was something in the flashin’ light

Then all of a sudden

I loved and got lost in the moment

All of a sudden

She’s gone in the blink of an eye

I never was looking, hmm

I’ve been looking for the rest of my life

We took a polaroid

You signed your name up on it

I put it in my wallet

Hoping I’d see your face again

We took a polaroid

Capture the look in your eyes

It’s only a matter of time

Before it starts fadin’

We took a polaroid

You signed your name up on it

I put it in my wallet

Hoping I’d see your face again

Polaroid, Liam Payne, Jonas Blue

—————

Does not exist, take an exit

I hear voices insinuating

Feeds me lyrics to this song that I am saying

[…]

Standing looking at a photograph

That you do not remember being taken

You look out of breath, and me like I am faking

As a matter of fact I don’t recall this photo being taken

You don’t even actually exist so I just started shaking

Does not exist, take an exit

Exit Does Not Exist, Modest Mouse

————-

Pictures of people taking pictures

I pictured us at the end of time

Just holding up a camera to our eyes

I took a picture of you took a picture of me

In the background of the picture […]

Surrounding ourselves with satellites

But I pictured us standing there

Just staying away from time

Just watching it like a river as it slowly washes by

Washes by!

And now […]

Pictures of people taking

Pictures of people taking pictures

I pictured us at the end of time

Taking pictures of nothing

Pictures of People Taking Pictures, Jack Johnson

———–

I need a camera to my eye

To my eye, reminding

Which lies have I been hiding

Which echoes belong

I’ve counted out

Days to see how far

I’ve driven in the dark

With echoes in my heart

Phone my family, tell them I’m lost on the sidewalk

No, it’s not okay

I smashed a camera, I wanna know why

To my eye, deciding

Which lies have I been hiding

Which echoes belong

I’m counting on

A heart I know by heart

To walk me through this war

With memories distort

Phone my family, tell them I’m lost on the sidewalk

No, it’s not okay

I’m counted out

And no one knows how far (tell them I’m lost)

I’ve driven in the dark (tell them I’m lost)

With echoes in my heart (tell them I’m lost)

Phone my family tell them I’m lost, yeah, I’m lost

And no, it’s not okay

No, it’s not okay

Kamera, Wilco

———

Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes

But it’s the only thing that I know

When it gets hard, you know it can get hard sometimes

It is the only thing makes us feel alive

We keep this love in a photograph

We made these memories for ourselves

Where our eyes are never closing

Hearts are never broken

And time’s forever frozen, still

So you can keep me

Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans

Holding me closer ‘til our eyes meet

You won’t ever be alone, wait for me to come home

Loving can heal, loving can mend your soul

And it’s the only thing that I know, know

I swear it will get easier

Remember that with every piece of ya

Hmm, and it’s the only thing we take with us when we die

Hmm, we keep this love in a photograph

We made these memories for ourselves

Where our eyes are never closing

Hearts were never broken

And time’s forever frozen, still

So you can keep me

Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans

Holding me closer ‘til our eyes meet

You won’t ever be alone

And if you hurt me

That’s okay, baby, only words bleed

Inside these pages, you just hold me

And I won’t ever let you go

Wait for me to come home

Oh, you can fit me

Inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen

Next to your heartbeat where I should be

Keep it deep within your soul

And if you hurt me

Well, that’s okay, baby, only words bleed

Inside these pages, you just hold me

And I won’t ever let you go

When I’m away, I will remember how you kissed me

Under the lamppost back on Sixth street

Hearing you whisper through the phone

“Wait for me to come home”

Photograph, Ed Sheeran

————-

Here’s a little story I’ve gotta tell

‘Bout this boy I know so well

Back in the day was cool and all

Fell in love, I fell in love

Thought he was the one for me

Other boys I could not see

And look what happened to our love

I’m like how could it be?

It should have been me and you

It could have been you and me

But boy you broke my heart and now I’m standing there

It should have been me and you

It could have been you and me

Now all I got are these photographs

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

All I’ve got are these photographs

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

Is nothing without you, you, you

Got nothing without you, you, you

Got nothing without you

Now baby it’s killing me

I’m saying it’s killing me

The fact that you ain’t around

Baby I’m falling down

I need me a remedy

Been looking for remedies

I need you to be around

Baby I’m hurting now

I know you’re a better man

When I was your girl

This land is a better land

When you’re in my world

Today will be better babe

If it were like yesterday

So happy and lovely hey, hey, hey

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

All I’ve got are these photographs

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

Is nothing without you, you, you

Got nothing without you, you, you

Got nothing without you

All I’ve got are these photographs

I remember when I used to make you laugh

I don’t wanna be stuck in the past

But you’re all that I have that I had

And I don’t wanna lose what we built this far

This is me and you, you’re my superstar

I’d give anything, baby here’s my heart

My heart, my heart

My heart don’t stop, my heart be beating over

My loving never stop, even though that it’s over

Girl I’ve been reminiscing when I play that Casanova

Way back when we was kissing on your grand-mama’s sofa

Girl I got us lovey dovey o my photo album

I got them pictures back when I was rocking Calvin Klein

You had your GUESS jeans on looking sexy, oh no

Girl why could it not be the one?

Why? Why? Why?

Why couldn’t I be the one?

Why? Why? Why?

Why couldn’t you be the one?

Why? Why? Why?

Why couldn’t you be the one?

Why? Why? Why?

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

Is nothing without you

All I’ve got, all I’ve got

Is nothing without you, you, you,

Is nothing without you

All I’ve got, is nothing without…

All I’ve got, all I’ve got are these photographs…

Photographs, Rihanna

————-

I would like to own your photograph

The angels cry to have your photograph

As if you were awfully made for life

As fortune favor fools like candle light

I would like to own your autograph

The angels fight to own your photograph

But you reckon on the photograph

Look at you provision on the night

Photograph, AIR

————

Photographs and memories

Christmas cards you sent to me

All that I have are these

To remember you

Memories that come at night

Take me to another time

Back to a happier day

When I called you mine

But we sure had a good time

When we started way back when

Morning walks and bedroom talks

Oh how I loved you then

Summer skies and lullabies

Nights we couldn’t say good-bye

And of all of the things that we knew

Not a dream survived

Photographs and memories

All the love you gave to me

Somehow it just can’t be true

That’s all I’ve left of you

But we sure had a good time

When we started way back when

Morning walks and bedroom talks

Oh how I loved you then

Photographs and Memories, Jim Croce

—————

Everybody loves the things you do

From the way you talk

To the way you move

Everybody here is watching you

‘Cause you feel like home

You’re like a dream come true

But if by chance you’re here alone

Can I have a moment?

Before I go?

‘Cause I’ve been by myself all night long

Hoping you’re someone I used to know

You look like a movie

You sound like a song

My God this reminds me, of when we were young

Let me photograph you in this light

In case it is the last time

That we might be exactly like we were

Before we realized

We were scared of getting old

It made us restless

It was just like a movie

It was just like a song

I was so scared to face my fears

Nobody told me that you’d be here

And I’d swear you moved overseas

That’s what you said, when you left me

You still look like a movie

You still sound like a song

My God, this reminds me, of when we were young

Let me photograph you in this light

In case it is the last time

That we might be exactly like we were

Before we realized

We were sad of getting old

It made us restless

It was just like a movie

It was just like a song

When we were young

(When we were young)

When we were young

(When we were young)

It’s hard to win me back

Everything just takes me back

To when you were there

And a part of me keeps holding on

Just in case it hasn’t gone

I guess I still care

Do you still care?

It was just like a movie

It was just like a song

My God, this reminds me

Of when we were young

When we were young

(When we were young)

When we were young

(When we were young)

Let me photograph you in this light

In case it is the last time

That we might be exactly like we were

Before we realized

We were sad of getting old

It made us restless

Oh I’m so mad I’m getting old

It makes me reckless

It was just like a movie

It was just like a song

When we were young

When We Were Young, Adele

———–

After seven years behind these bars together

I’ll miss you more than a brother when you go when you go

If only I had not tried to escape

They’d barred me with you I know yes I know

Won’t you tell the folks back home I’ll soon be comin’

And don’t let them know I never will be free (will be free)

Sometimes write and tell me how they’re doin’

And send a picture of mother back to me

Say hello to Dad and shake his poor hardworking hand

And send a picture of mother, if you can

I am happy for you that you got your freedom

But stay with me just another minute or so (or so)

After all this sweating blood together

Who’ll be my fightin’ partner when you go (when you go)

The hardest time will be on Sunday mornin’

Church bells will ring on Heaven Hill (Heaven Hill)

Please, ask Reverend Garrett to pray for me

And send a picture of mother, if you will

Say hello to Dad and shake his poor hardworking hand

And send a picture of mother, if you can

Send a Picture of Mother Johnny Cash

Have you ever seen the stars at night and wonder

Why so bright (so bright)

Have you ever seen the sunset on a cloudy night

And wonder why tonight

And maybe there’s just one time with you

I want to remember for eternity, for eternity

Photographs taken like memories of you they disappear

Colors of your eyes they fade with time

They just can’t stay clear, yeah!

Fades like a photograph

Just want to bring you back

Have you ever seen the bottom of the ocean

From a plane, what a sight

Have you ever seen the sunrise

In the snow cap mountains from twilight

And maybe there’s just one time with you

I want to remember for eternity, for eternity

Photographs taken like memories of you they disappear

Colors of your eyes they fade with time

They just can’t stay clear

Photographs taken like memories of you they disappear

Colors of your eyes they fade with time

They just can’t stay clear, yeah!

Fades like a photograph

Just want to bring you back

Yeah, yeah whoaaa ooooh

Fades Like a Photograph, Filter

————-

I’ve been looking so long at these pictures of you

That I almost believe that they’re real

I’ve been living so long with my pictures of you

That I almost believe that the pictures

Are all I can feel

Remembering you standing quiet in the rain

As I ran to your heart to be near

And we kissed as the sky fell in

Holding you close

How I always held close in your fear

Remembering you running soft through the night

You were bigger and brighter and wider than snow

And screamed at the make-believe

Screamed at the sky

And you finally found all your courage

To let it all go

Remembering you fallen into my arms

Crying for the death of your heart

You were stone white

So delicate

Lost in the cold

You were always so lost in the dark

Remembering you how you used to be

Slow drowned

You were angels

So much more than everything

Hold for the last time then slip away quietly

Open my eyes

But I never see anything

If only I’d thought of the right words

I could have held on to your heart

If only I’d thought of the right words

I wouldn’t be breaking apart

All my pictures of you

Looking so long at these pictures of you

But I never hold on to your heart

Looking so long for the words to be true

But always just breaking apart

My pictures of you

There was nothing in the world

That I ever wanted more

Than to feel you deep in my heart

There was nothing in the world

That I ever wanted more

Than to never feel the breaking apart

All my pictures of you

Pictures of You, The Cure

————–

Un azzurro scalzo in cielo

Il cielo matto di marzo e di quel nostro incontro

Al centro tu poggiata sui ginocchi

E il vento ed i capelli sui tuoi occhi

Qui l’ombra cade giù dalla tua mano

Un orizzonte di cani abbaia da lontano

Tu aggrappata alla ringhiera

Di una tenera e distratta primavera

Pomeriggio lento e un po’ svogliato

Maggio è andato via, un dito sotto il mento

E gli uccelli fuggono infilando il verde

Dove la città si perde

Sopra un foglio di carta vetrata

Luglio e tu sdraiata

Tu sporca di baci e sabbia

A cercar le labbra smisurate dell’estate sulle mie

In quest’altra stiamo insieme

E come ridi di gusto e fino a soffocarti

Io stringevo agosto e te

Bevendoti con gli occhi miei per non scordarti

E ancora tu tra file di alberi

Che cuciono colline d’uva bianca

E tu sei stata un giorno intero a bere vino

E un contadino col bicchiere in mano lì vicino

Foglie arrugginite in fondo al viale

E nuove voglie e tu qui sei venuta male

La tua faccia un po’ tirata

E una risata senza più allegria e incoscienza

L’aria acerba della domenica mattina

Sopra l’erba tu e lacrime di brina

Guance colorate mentre sbucci

Arance e stupide bugie

Resta lì

Non muoverti

Sorridi un po’

Adesso voltati

Fai così

Appoggiati

Non dire no

Amore guarda qui

Gennaio e il fiato grosso scalda le parole

Il sole andava giù, cielo di marmo rosso

Tu un po’ nera contro quella sera

Che scavava il nostro addio e scappava

La pioggia fina salta sopra i marciapiedi

Noia meschina e tu, tu guardi ma non vedi

Che è finita e tra le dita

Non ci sono che fotografie

Un azzurro scalzo in cielo

Il cielo matto di marzo e di quel nostro incontro

Al centro tu poggiata sui ginocchi

E gli occhi tuoi per sempre nei miei occhi

Fotografie, Claudio Baglioni

————–

I can tell that they love my style

In the club we always bring a crowd

Leave your girl, she might be a while

I can see you in the corner staring

Mother fucker you should take a photo

Oh, no

I’m about to go yo

Shorty drop it low to pick it up she like a yo-yo

When I’m getting so much action I should be sponsored by GoPro

(GoPro)

Back with a little more Hennessy inside of my red solo

When I’m that crazy

Man I’m back baby

Everybody in the club say this track wavy

I get stacks daily

Man these jeans don’t faze me

I was about to catch a body but the DJ saved me

I can tell that they love my style

(Okay, okay)

In the club we always bring a crowd

(Okay, okay)

Leave your girl, she might be a while

(Okay, okay)

I can see in the corner staring

Mother fucker you should take a photo

(Take a photo)

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo oh, no

Me ain’t got no ego

But someone always taking flicks and shit where ever we go

These mother fucking cameras on me like I’m Don Cheto

Limo full of white girls, I call that shit a kilo

They A class with them B cubs

And all they carry is C-notes

That model type that make a fake nigga wanna be me amigo

So welcome out to my town

You can swim and you can get down

Shit I’m steady walking on clouds

You should take a picture right now

I can tell that they love my style

(Okay, okay)

In the club we always bring a crowd

(Okay, okay)

Leave your girl, she might be a while

(Okay, okay)

I can see in the corner staring

Mother fucker you should take a photo

(Take a photo)

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo

Let me show them how to get it

I’m been gone for a minute but I’m back

With a little bit of rap

And a little more bass inside of that Cadillac that shit slaps

Like a crazy ex in the middle of the club

When she hates your guts but wants you back

Damn you wiling baby girl but shit you fine you can sit on my lap

Okay, now I’m driving with a girl in my lap

And I’m swerving, swerving all over the map

And I’m turning heads everywhere I go like Tracie Morgan in a Walmart hat

Too soon, too soon, I know

But I crashed the whip so where the golf cart at?

Because if I’m not the greatest then I’m somewhere in the ballpark

I can tell that they love my style

(Okay, okay)

In the club we always bring a crowd

(Okay, okay)

Leave your girl, she might be a while

(Okay, okay)

I can see in the corner staring

Mother fucker you should take a photo

(Take a photo)

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo

I can tell that they love my style

(Okay, okay)

In the club we always bring a crowd

(Okay, okay)

Leave your girl, she might be a while

(Okay, okay)

I can see in the corner staring

Mother fucker you should take a photo

(Take a photo)

I swear it’ll last longer if you take a photo

Photo, Yonas

—————

All I want is a room with a view

A sight worth seeing, a vision of you

All I want is a room with view, oh-oh

I will give you my finest hour

The one I spent watching you shower

I will give you my finest hour, oh yeah

All I want is a photo in my wallet

A small remembrance of something more solid

All I want is a picture of you

Picture this, a day in December

Picture this, freezing cold weather

You got clouds on your lids and you’d be on the skids

If it weren’t for your job at the garage

If you could only oh-oh

Picture this, a sky full of thunder

Picture this, my telephone number

One and one is what I’m telling you, oh yeah

All I want is 20-20 vision

A total portrait with no omissions

All I want is a vision of you, oh-oh

If you can picture this, a day in December

Picture this, freezing cold weather

You got clouds on your lids and you’d be on the skids

If it weren’t for your job at the garage

If you could only oh-oh

Picture this, a sky full of thunder

Picture this, my telephone number

One and one is what I’m telling you

Get a pocket computer

Try to do what you used to do yeah

Picture This, Blondie

————–

They only want you when you’re seventeen,

When you’re 21, you’re no fun.

They take a Polaroid and let you go

Say they’ll let you know, so come on.

Seventeen, Ladytron

——-

PLAYLIST VIDEO

5:06

Alt-J (∆) ~ Taro Lyrics (HQ)

Shanden Ketner

5:46

Pearl Jam – Black (Official Audio)

Pearl Jam

7:05

Alice In Chains – Rooster (Official HD Video)

Alice In Chains

4:01

Edder Vedder ft. Elton John – Picture (Official Lyric Video)

Eddie Vedder

3:29

Lady Gaga – Paparazzi (Audio)

GagaTube GagaTube

3:44

The Photo Song

Holger Czukay – Topic

4:51

When We Were Young

Adele

4:22

Nickelback – Photograph [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Roadrunner Records

5:30

R.E.M. – Camera

john sean

4:58

Coldplay – Talk (Official Video)

Coldplay

6:50

L’Heautontimoroumenos (1857) (Self-Tormentor)

Diamanda Galás – Topic

3:17

YONAS – Photo

SwagyTracks

2:20

Weezer – Photograph

Weezjer Time

3:03

Cheeba Hawk, ill Nicky, and Jared Anthony – Photograph (Official Music Video) Animated by KMG Studio

ill Nicky

7:10

Gentlemen Take Polaroids (Remastered 2003)

Japan

2:42

Taking Pictures Of You

thekooksofficial

4:44

Depeche Mode – Photographic

Carlos Liquin

4:20

Grouplove – Ichin’ On A Photograph (HQ)

N B

8:24

The Cure – Pictures Of You

The Cure

3:32

Photograph

remhq

4:41

Photograph – Ed Sheeran (Lyrics)

Vhic Playlist

3:31

Wilco-Kamera

FLOORpavement

7:46

Fotografie

claudiobaglionitv

4:42

Grouplove – Itchin on a Photograph [Official Video]

GROUPLOVE

3:31

Paul Simon – Kodachrome (Lyrics)

gunsandroses1348

4:15

Passenger | Let Her Go (Official Video)

Passenger

3:29

Japan – Gentlemen Take Polaroids

Japan

2:37

PJ Harvey – The Piano

PJ Harvey

3:43

Babybird – You’re Gorgeous

SuperForever90s

3:54

Eagle Seagull – Photogragh

bowythetube

3:17

Mick Harvey – Photograph

Mute

4:27

The Verve Pipe – Photograph

thevervepipe

2:43

Pictures Of Lily

TheWho

5:24

Premiata Forneria Marconi “Photos Of Ghosts”

sbritt

3:33

I Am a Camera (2012 Remaster)

Gentle Giant

3:15

Jack Johnson – F-Stop Blues

TheJackJohnsonShow

4:49

Fotografia Gianna Nannini

MrStupendoman

4:32

Tiziano Ferro – Ti Scatterò Una Foto

Tiziano Ferro

1:58

This Is Not A Photograph

Mission Of Burma – Topic

3:03

Swap Meet (Remastered)

Nirvana

3:37

R.E.M. (feat Natalie Merchant) -Photograph

Chiara Fattori

3:30

Che cosa resta [Fleurs 1999] – Franco Battiato

Tutto Battiato

0:46

She Is Not

David Sylvian – Topic

4:38

In Bianco E Nero

carmenconsolimusic

2:56

Taylor Swift – Picture to Burn (Audio)

Taylor Swift Audio

5:02

Kid Rock – Picture feat. Sheryl Crow [Official Music Video]

Kid Rock

3:35

Placebo – This Picture (Official Audio)

PLACEBO

3:11

‘Pictures’ Official Video (HD) – Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Benjamin Francis Leftwich

3:11

Pictures Of You

The Last Goodnight – Topic

7:29

Pictures Of You (Remastered)

The Cure

4:35

FILTER – Fades Like A Photograph (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

Nuclear Blast Records

2:11

Send a Picture of Mother (Live at Folsom State Prison, Folsom, CA – January 1968)

Johnny Cash

2:04

Jim Croce : Photographs And Memories

Crinale819

3:52

Air – Photograph (Official Audio)

AIRfrenchbandofficial

4:47

Photographs

Rihanna

5:00

Enzo Jannacci – La fotografia – Official Audio

Ala Bianca Group srl

3:37

Paul Simon – Kodachrome (Official Audio)

Paul Simon

2:51

Blondie – Picture This

BlondieMusicOfficial

4:33

Fotografia

Gianna Nannini Official

4:05

Juanes – Fotografía (Official Music Video) ft. Nelly Furtado

Juanes

3:42

Carl Brave – Fotografia ft. Francesca Michielin, Fabri Fibra

Carl Brave

4:07

Nickelback – If Today Was Your Last Day [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Roadrunner Records

4:58

Franco Battiato – L’ombra della luce

FrancoBattiatoVEVO

3:37

Ladytron – Seventeen [Official Music Video]

NettwerkMusic

3:31

Kamera

wilco

4:08

Distant Camera

neilyoungchannel

3:05

Nirvana – Swap Meet

NirvanaGrunge87

3:31

Images

John Cale

6:19

Bob Dylan – Up to Me (Take 2, Remake 3 – Official Audio)

Bob Dylan

3:07

SEX PISTOLS – NO FEELINGS

Cesar Vulcano

5:58

Every Picture Tells a Story (Remastered Version)

Rod Stewart

3:32

Taylor Swift – Picture To Burn

Taylor Swift

3:57

Pearl Jam – Daughter

GuitarFreak5587

2:55

Pearl Jam – Picture In A Frame

PUTRA Channel

6:18

Alice In Chains – The Rooster

De Grote Auti

3:42

Nina Nesbitt – Selfies (Official Music Video)

Nina Nesbitt

3:22

Pictures Of People Taking Pictures – Jack Johnson

JackJohnsonTones

4:12

Ringo Starr-Photograph

TomorrowNeverKnows24

4:59

Modern Mouse – Exit Does not Exist

Newfound Recordings

1:19

Simon and Garfunkel – Bookends

didulca

3:47

Death Cab for Cutie – Photobooth

awake352

2:47

Selena:”Fotos Y Recuerdos”

Moonlightgod

5:03

Editors – Camera

Manu Elson

3:03

“Click, Click, Click, Click” by Bishop Allen (Official Video)

SecretlyJag

3:16

Camera Obscura – French Navy (Official Video)

Camera Obscura

3:14

Belle and Sebastian – Photo Jenny

Raphael Campos

2:55

The Wailers – Picture On The Wall

Rebelman19

Outkast – Hey Ya! (Official HD Video)

Outkast

2:39

The Kinks – Picture Book – 1969

eddie4forreal

3:06

de nieuwe snaar. fotografie

Filip Filmkes

2:12

The Kinks – People Take Pictures Of Each Other

CoolPomegranate

3:25

Duran Duran – Girls On Film (Official Music Video)

Duran Duran

3:01

Olivia Ruiz – My Lomo & Me (Je photographie des gens heureux) – Le Live

Figaro Live Musique

3:47

Geils Band – Freeze Frame

JGeilsBandVEVO

4:38

The Game – Camera Phone ft. Ne-Yo

The Game

3:54

Steely Dan – Peg

dreamhitz

3:08

The Speedies “Let Me Take Your Photo” (1979)

EricPop

3:35

Lake Street Dive – Bad Self Portraits (Live from Pickathon 2012)

LiveandBreathing

2:42

Culture Club – Man Shake ᴴᴰ

jannepori

3:08

Matt and Kim – “Overexposed” (Official First Listen)

Matt and Kim

3:08

Matt and Kim – “Overexposed” (Official First Listen)

Matt and Kim

3:47

Elliott Smith – Pictures Of Me (from Either/Or)

Kill Rock Stars

4:24

A Flock Of Seagulls – Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You) [Official Video]

aFIockOfSeagulls

3:47

The Pretenders – Back On The Chain Gang HQ Music

This Is Music!

3:33

Siouxsie and the Banshees – Red Light

scythrop

3:13

erdmöbel: vivian maier

erdmoebeltv

3:27

Cat Power – Taking People

DanEsceha

2:28

George Jones ~ “A Picture Of Me Without You”

GuriMalla2010

3:50

Nikon Girl music video, The Photo Club

JoeyLawrence

4:19

Billy Connolly – You Take My Photograph I Break Your Face

Gimmik10

4:32

The Buggles – I am a camera

Gareth Carter

4:42

Photograph – Cody Fry [Official Music Video]

Cody Fry

3:36

Duran Duran – Girls On Film

Nathan Stark

3:33

Spoon – I Turn My Camera On

MrJanoon

4:46

Photographs – Rihanna feat. Will I Am

ViizzLe

4:01

Ray LaMontagne – Part Two – Wouldn’t It Make A Lovely Photograph

RawScion

3:34

Matt and Kim – Cameras [LYRICS]

TheBeastLyrics

2:30

Jaden – Photograph

Jaden

4:06

Def Leppard – Photograph

DEF LEPPARD

3:39

Jonas Blue, Liam Payne, Lennon Stella – Polaroid (Official Video)

Jonas Blue

4:51

Old Photographs

Jim Capaldi

6:02

Arcade Fire with Owen Pallett – Song on the Beach; Photograph

Jerry Heo

4:20

Photograph – Me Before You

Bimu K

4:11

Taking Back Sunday – This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)

takingbacksunday

3:41

“Fade Away (from The Photograph)” by Lucky Daye

Back Lot Music

3:23

Song on the Beach/Photograph

Delialah El-Atwi – Topic

——

I fiori che integrano questa ricerca sono i “miei” fiori contro ogni guerra, contro ogni violenza, contro ogni odio.

Sono fiori dedicati alle donne ai bambini, in particolare quelli che soffrono, che sono la forza e il futuro del Mondo!

Un Mondo in pace, un giorno…

Photography through Songs

(english version)

Music, as the Treccani vocabulary defines it, is the art of creating sounds that can vary in pitch, intensity and quality, by means of instruments and / or the human voice. The latter, in its singing form, takes the formal name of Song, a composition that can also include a musical accompaniment. And it is precisely a series of songs and, in particular, their relationship with photography that this text will deal with. The selected songs have been collected in a special playlist – currently composed of n. 126 music videos – which integrates and completes the work, also imagined as a possible background to the reading of this same text. It is a very heterogeneous collection, both for the variety of genres present and for that of the performers. To give just a few examples, the playlist ranges from: from Bob Dylan to Lady Gaga, from Claudio Baglioni to R.E.M., from Lou Reed to Taylor Swift, from Alice in Chains to Nina Nesbitt, from Diamanda Galàs to Ed Sheeran, from Franco Battiato to Paul Simon, from Yonas to Holger Czukay, from The Who to David Sylvian, from The Last Goodnight to Premiata Forneria Marconi and so on …

A playlist, obviously expandable further, which intends to offer only a “taste” of how, concretely, Photography is also “reflected” in the Song, with the related suggestions that may possibly derive from it. A playlist that, although implicit, has no pretension neither of exhaustiveness nor, much less, of scientificity, and is available at the following link: Photography through Songs.

More specifically, the songs prove that this collection has been chosen because the relative lyrics contain – even chosen – references or more with less the world of Photography. Photography more or less “reflected” in these lyrics, although, although obvious, it is sometimes very different from one song to another.

And these references, an opinion of the writer, have a character of particular importance and a relief given by the fact that they are in turn a sort of indicator and, at the same time, a “mirror” of something else, being able to the Song, as well as the Music, well represent the set of compositions, for example, of an entire nation, of a specific historical period, of a specific culture and / or of a particular author, etc.

An expressive heritage that is always shared without particular “interference” – with the exception of some short accompanying notes – by proposing each text, in whole or in fractions, as it was extracted at the source.

The reader / listener / spectator will then be left free to associate it eventually with the reflections relating to Photography also contained in this text.

Each of these songs, each with its specific expressive heritage, as you can see from the first text proposed at the beginning, usually tells us a story.

And, through this narrative, “high” or “low” as it seems, each in its own way also conveys styles, techniques, traditions and, more generally – not only with the support of the human voice – ideas and orientations on the World and, not lastly, in a metadiscursive perspective, also on the expressive means themselves.

Among which, for what interests us most here, there is, as mentioned above, also Photography, which will be mentioned on several occasions among the various fractions of the lyrics of the songs that will be gradually proposed.

A Photography, defined as a “bizarre” medium by R. Barthes, which, even in the contemporary social dimension, continues to present itself in a continuous and precarious balance between the apparent mirror representation of reality and an equally possible intellectual abstraction.

An enigmatic ambivalence that can also “pollute” the eventual documentary function of Photography, exposing it to the potential relativity of any reading.

In this way, concretely questioning its historical role as a witness and, at times, even as an “agent of history”, as its use can testify even in particularly dramatic hours for the world, in the actuality of the present, as well as in past.

But, even remaining apparently distant from the front line, as seems to happen in these lines, this distance is perhaps less wide than what it actually may appear, not least because, highlighting the role and vision of Photography on the World.

A shared vision through the stories narrated through the Song, refers, consequently, to the choices – whether implicit or explicit – and, more generally, to the “political” use of the Photograph by its authors.

Yes, real political acts – starting from the apparently less committed texts up to the paradigmatic ones – through and as a result of which, the author has therefore decided a priori what is inside and what remains outside the relative narrative, including that concerning Photography.

Sounds and voice, together, have therefore never ceased to attest – even in these hours, again so dramatic for the world – that they are not at all abstract and far from the world itself as it might, on the other hand, apparently seem at times.

Not even when – at least on the “surface” – the lyrics seem less busy or, to paraphrase a lucky expression that has recently become very popular, even … “very light”.

Much less so are the portions of the text proposed here, because the Song – in a metaspeech perspective that also includes, as already mentioned, a continuous self-analysis – tells us in any case how Humanity always “talks” and, above all, of itself. itself also through other media, including Photography, of course.

An even trivial evidence, considering the fact that we are not talking about an isolated medium, but about a transversal body, concretely immersed in a constant symbiotic relationship and continuous interdependence with other media.

This intermediate medium, coexisting between old and new media, also contributes not a little in the context of the web to convey and, at the same time, incessantly redefine our vision of the world and, in doing so, to reshape the perception of our own identity.

Through a varied and growing and continuous flow of contributions to the processes of representation of reality, Photography, also through the contribution of the relative ideas in this regard conveyed through the Song, has become over time, also a popular expressive channel among the most common and widespread for the safeguarding of memory.

A memory, not only personal, but also collective.

History, in essence, also through apparently only intimate, personal traces.

Photography, alone or through the intermediation of the Song, assumes the function of a strategic means for a broader and more complete “translation” of “one’s” World: starting from oneself to the social and natural environment of reference.

A collective imagination that even Photography, thanks to the “voice” lent to it from time to time by the Song, contributes to continuously reshape.

And the human voice – with or without the aid of Music – acting as the ventriloquist of Photography, also allows images, as well as interact, also to “speak” in an even broader and more complete way to / with the World.

And, interacting continuously with it, this immense and plural tide of visual and “sound” images also contributes to creating a real other, different from the “concrete” one.

A sort of parallel dimension, certainly of the second degree, however perceived as “real”, with which it interacts, not only symbolically, similarly to “reality” (technically) of the first degree.

A “trace” of this possible synergy between Song and Photography, could be represented by the variable synaesthesia – sound and visual – conveyed by the playlist “Photography through Songs” proposed with this text.

A proposal that can certainly be perfected, without any claim to scientificity or exhaustiveness, it was said, and which must be taken, pragmatically, for what it can possibly offer, starting with its use as a possible background for reading this text.

And, returning to the complex network of interrelations mentioned above, think, to give another example on the subject, of the myriad of audio and video files with the trending hits of the moment – which represent the symbolic universes of reference for the relative authors and interpreters – exchanged every day in the context of the only friends and / or affective relationships that populate the multiform and rhizomatic dimension of the network.

Photography, therefore, thanks to the “complicity” of the Song, even in the rhizomatic reality of the web, also seems to favor overcoming the classic opposition between the true and the false, continually redesigning its boundaries and the relative power relationships.

At the same time, amplifying an increasingly simulated vision of reality.

The Song also assumes, in this way, the guise of a sort of metamedium, even more effective when it is “reinforced” by the support of other media, such as videos and, again with regard to what interests us most on this occasion, Photography.

The further synergies fueled by the coexistence of films, photographs, music and texts favor the further taking root of a certain idea of Photography and its “reflection”, among other things, also in the magmatic, fluid and “liquid” dimension of the Song.

Still a “resistant” medium, Photography, albeit with its possible flaws.

A means and an instrument of expression and communication, among other things, considered “dead” on more than one occasion.

A medium that, on the other hand, continuing a tradition and a historical legacy that also lasts to die – also through the Song form – acts concretely to redefine the idea of reality, with a role at least of co-protagonist in the continuous remodeling of this symbolic universe of meaning.

And the Song is anything but a simple “handmaid” at the service of other forms of art, as the poet Charles Baudelaire said at the time of Photography.

He too is an indirect protagonist – through the radical modulations of the voice of Diamanda Galás, interpreter of a text by the French poet dedicated to a poem by Terentius – of one of the fractions that make up the aforementioned playlist that accompanies this text.

An interrelation, that of Photography “reflected” in the Song which, overturning what in the past could have been considered an illogical naivety, does not seem to deny at all that relating to a simulated environment no longer shares similarities with concrete reality.

Not only that, but it could be added that the interaction with the environment in which the simulation itself takes place tends to require a behavior similar to that which would occur in concrete reality of the first degree.

In any case, the possibility that the “reflections” of the Photography that reverberate in the Song can concretely represent the concrete reality of the first degree remains, as repeatedly emphasized on other occasions, always and only in the abstract, since the image is always something different from the original object (s).

Last but not least, due to the inevitability of the time gap between the moment in which any original event occurs and then depicted in any image and the (always subsequent to the moment of the event) vision of the same through a photograph by a hypothetical spectator. .

How, in this regard, they emblematically and incessantly “testify” to us, for example: advertising and fashion, with and without the support of texts and / or music.

Both are paradigmatic examples, under the guise of first-degree “real” appearances, of what, on the contrary, is its concrete dissolution.

Further certifying, if there is still a need, that these are only fictitious representations, reinventions and / or reconstructions, at least of the second degree, of the real “concrete” world. A “reality”, the one depicted and / or represented in an image, which, while seeming “true”, is nevertheless essentially never. Being, if anything, a possible copy, probably “adhering” to the original real that “is content” to represent.

As provocatively happens, for example, in many of the fictions of the Spanish author and theorist J. Fontcuberta.

A sort of ante litteram virtuality, among other things, that concerning the conceptual dimension conveyed by Photography. A characteristic result of the constant prevalence of the intellectual sphere of the medium over the formal aspects. The prevalence, also through the vocal modulations of the Song, of the abstractions of Photography over the very materiality of the work.

A propensity for virtuality that has always also characterized the Song – albeit “constitutionally” different – as well as Photography, in its relationship with reality.

Even through what the Song “reflects” it, a relationship is outlined for Photography that, on the one hand, would not seem capable of absolutely compromising the relationship with its original referent, although this connection is now mediated, but not made completely arbitrary, by a different technology than in the past.

That said, the traditional old realist “creed” of Photography, although partly eroded by an increased awareness of the nihilism contained in every photographic image, continues to feed itself in the Song too, further consolidating the idea of its ability to replace reality with a theory of spectra, of visual simulacra. Ghosts that by “resurrecting” reality testify, rather, the victory of Time and Death over life, while continuing to ensure that Photography plays a leading role even in the age of social networks.

In the immateriality of the network, as well as in the tangible concreteness offered by a material support, the “photographic” narrative contained in the Song, similarly to the one “glued” in a real image, to acquire meaning must always go in search of one’s own meaning “outside” the image itself, beyond the simple virtual appearance of the (s) object narrated in the text of the Song. This “outside” transfer becomes even more evident and, therefore, obligatory, in all those cases in which it is not possible to count on the possible likelihood of the “reflected” object (s) in the virtual image described in the text of a song with its possible original contact person.

In any case, this journey “outside”, in search of a plausible meaning to be transferred and “stuck” inside the image – be it the real, concrete one, such as, for example, a common snapshot, as well as an imaginary one, existing only in the narration of a song – it is, however, always necessary. Otherwise, even the image described in a song could paradoxically be “invisible” or undecodable or, further taking the hypothesis to the extreme, even “mute” in terms of meaning. The search for meaning from the “outside”, in the case of the Photograph “contained” in the text of the Song, can however also be limited only to a possible search for meaning in the formal perimeter of the text of the piece. Also trusting in the “reinforcement” and the help offered by heuristics that can somehow “direct” the revealing interpretation of what is actually shown / represented in the “real” image or “embedded” in the text of the Song form. Even more so, however obvious, in situations characterized by particular factors of abstractness and, therefore, of uncertainty and interpretative ambiguity regarding the object (s) “imprinted” in the image, wherever it manifests itself in some way.

In general, in the “reflections” of the Photography reverberated by the Song, as well as in its performances in the rhizomatic dimension of the network, a tenacious realist aura persists that “sees”, especially in the photographic image, the total participation of the original entity portrayed. .

The image is perceived as a whole, albeit with a greater dose of skepticism than in the past, always as a possible, sometimes even authentic duplication of reality, thus feeding the concrete idea of a Photography intended as a possible “extension” of the original subject, or rather of the real, rather than of a simulacrum, of a ghost.

The dispute is nourished by the capacity of photographic images (obviously also those) – without necessarily stiffening on the extremes of naive realism or, on the contrary, on the front of a total annihilation of reality, although obviously it is never possible to completely “own” reality – to range more or less freely from the level of apparent referent of a concrete analogue present in the original reality “duplicated” in the final image, or from a purely denotative dimension version of it to a completely subjective elaboration and abstraction, abstracted from the real and typical of the interpretative, connotative sphere.

In the first area, given the overwhelming apparent referentiality of the images, there would be the absence of a real language as we could instead suppose to have, on the contrary, in the case of a connotative context, where any practical or intellectual manipulation of the (s) object, usually attributable to an “author” motivated by the intention to create any work, whether tangible or abstract.

Of the real, even the photographic images “reflected” in the songs seem to be able to offer only a sort of “was”, a kind of certification of the instant presence of the World. An attestation of “reality” that would disregard the disputes relating to its possibly being an object (s) encoded in a perspective of “semantic relativity”, in which no concrete reality would exist, or, conversely, would instead confirm the its possible nature as an actual, analogical copy of the real thing.

An elusive soul and tending to indeterminacy, therefore, also that of Photography conveyed through the Song, constantly inclined to offer us a material that is not at all or, at least, not entirely worked and, therefore, to be redefined and “completed” from time to time. in turn by the final recipient of the material, concrete image and / or its singing “reflection” within the Song form.

Photography, as already mentioned above, has made an initially tortuous and uphill path, then marked by a progressive greater authority acquired over time.

An evolution that brought it from the aforementioned Baudelairean hatred of the beginnings, which considered it the absolute negation of art – defining it, rather, the “imbecile revenge” of industry – since it appeared capable of imitating nature specularly, upon affirming itself , in later times, as a potential quintessence of contemporary art. In a historical moment in which, more than ever, Photography seems to exemplify the induplicability of reality in an increasingly shared, conscious and absolute way.

In other words, “that” defect that, combined, would have always united her to the artistic sphere. A reflection to which the path of the so-called Historical avant-gardes, with all their revolutionary intellectual baggage concerning both the reinterpretation of the role of art and that of the author himself. Historical and paradigmatic evolutions, exemplarily synthesized and extreme in the radicalism of the famous and now mythical Duchampian ready-mades.

Traditional Photography, as well as that evoked by a Song that speaks of it, therefore seem to once again reconfirm their ability to leverage the motivational sphere of their recipients and the related social relationships, also conveying new forms of perception of Space, Time and of the reference value universes, with significant effects “downstream”, also on the front of the final orientation towards action. A conclusion that, on closer inspection, is not surprising at all, considering the emotional impact and symbolic value that has always been inherent and conveyed by any image, material or abstract. Whatever their dimension, the material one, rather than virtual, as in the case of a sound “twin”, their potential strategic centrality in modern contemporary communication processes is also confirmed.

A dimension in which, however, it would probably not be more conceivable to limit its use only as a mere and mechanical tool for iconographic reproduction of the original real (s)object.

In the forest of relations of the contemporary world, Photography, even if it is mediated by other media, as in the case of the Song, is also confirmed as a key component in the construction of the collective imagination. As pervasive and omnipresent as – and this is one of the potentially most critical aspects – apparently still little perceived as such and, therefore, paradoxically just as still little feared for the potentiality of the motivating and action-driven effects which, instead, could possibly still generate. Consider, for example, the possibility of a use even “only” unknowingly distorted, or negligent, as well as, on the contrary, an intentionally malicious use of any instant reverberated or otherwise that is in any song as well and relative consequences due to an incorrect interpretation of its real content in terms of meaning, values, etc.

In this perspective, also in the light of the spread and planetary massification of new media, the high motivational potential of songs, as well as that of photographic images, with all the relative load of pathos that they can possibly convey and transmit, even seems to suggest the there is an urgent need for further forms of (re) literacy in listening, as well as in viewing, aimed at spreading and consolidating a more conscious use of these as well as other media.

A (re) literacy which, on every useful occasion, highlights the constant existence of an interpretative danger both in front of a visual “text” and of one of its singing counterparts – but not only, thinking, obviously also of other media – and to the need, “downstream” of this possible wrong distorted reading, to have access to corrective (technical, but, above all, cultural) interpretative tools or at least to contain the relative risk gradient due to the incorrect decoding of the message contained and conveyed from any image, whether material or abstract: a snapshot, a painting, as well as, more generally, an … idea.

A danger that, objectively, is obviously immanent in the very nature of the act of “translation” of meanings conveyed by any message, regardless of the channels, the reference media. The danger is all the more insidious when you are faced with two already formidable adversaries alone, such as Photography and Song, even more fearful if one allies and possibly “mirrors” itself in the other, “reinforcing” it further. An even more frightening circumstance, considering the underhanded license of authenticity that, even unknowingly, the Song, in these cases, can possibly “paste” on any image that is “reflected” in its text. It is therefore never excessive and / or superfluous to insist on these issues. In particular, on the eternally discussed ability or not to “duplicate” the real, not only of the visual media, and of the related sense-producing automatisms. Without forgetting the action of reworking Time and Space and, last but not least, the simulatory propensity of any media.

Photography, therefore, even in the shadow of the Song, continues its action as a strategic intermediary agent of “reality”, perpetually in a precarious and oscillating balance between the dimensions of nature and artifice.

A connotation that shares, as stated, as well as with the Song, with the entire complex system of – much less mass and more and more personal – contemporary media.

Consequently, even the Song, similarly to Photography, seems to establish itself more and more, also and not only on the net, as an emblematic intermediate medium.

Rome, March 8, 2022

G. Regnani

gerardo.regnani@gmail.com

PHOTOGRAPHY THROUGH SONGS – La Fotografia “riflessa” nella Canzoneultima modifica: 2022-03-08T00:01:40+01:00da gerardo.regnani

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