All of his working life as one of our greatest actors, Harry Dean Stanton never got the major award he so greatly deserved, and never got top billing. Please give that to him here. He is the singer, not Ry Cooder, as great a musician as he is. And this is as great a job of singing as I have ever heard.
The combination of the wonderful arrangement, Ry Cooder’s incomparable guitar, the feeling that one of our all-time greatest actors puts into voicing a song that is so beautiful to begin with …. well, it is hard not to say that this is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. 😮
Beauty and pain in a sublime manifestation of the folk-lore. How could one imagine that Mexico, Germany and USA -or Music, Cinema and Poetry- would converge and materialize feelings in this manner ?!
Qui lejos estoy del suelo Donde he Nacido Inmensa Nostalgia invade mi pensamiento Y’al verme tan solo y triste Cual hoja al viento Quisera llorar, quisera Morir de Sentamiento Oh Tierra del soul Suspiro por verte Y Ahora que lejos Yo vivo sin Luz, Sin Amor Y al verme tan solo y triste Cual hoja al viento quisera llorar Quisera Morir de sentimiento. How far I am from the ground where I was born Immense Nostalgia invades my thoughts And seeing me so alone and sad, like a leaf in the wind I wanted to cry, I wanted to die of feeling Oh land of soul I long to see you And now that far I live without light, without love And seeing me so alone and sad, like a leaf in the wind I wanted to cry I wanted to die of feeling.
Con todo el respeto a los grandes cantantes mexicanos (Antonio Aguilar por ejemplo) que han interpretado este tema y al pueblo hermano de México, para mí la versión y arreglos de Ry Cooder que adaptó para el film de Wim Wenders "Paris, Texas" es más que digna, no solo por el preciosismo de los acordes y el cariño con que trata la adaptación, sino también por ser cantada por el propio actor que protagoniza la película, una voz no profesional, con ese suave acento de angloparlante, que la canta desde el corazón. Seguramente a los mexicanos inmigrantes esta versión no les agradará demasiado. Pero lo dicho. Temazo.
This great song by Jose Lopez Alavez could well be THE anthem of all Mexicans, and all Latinos, who have been dislocated by their powerful northern neighbor.
