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Rating: Missing. I take this as an excuse. Missing in the database. That's why. Or maybe not, perhaps it's just that you put a piece on and a bunch of people come out to tell you they liked it. Or, as often happens, it's because I should be doing some work, and I just don't feel like it.
The year is just-begun 1978. A cartoon - as always enlightening - by Altan, reads: No more Marx no more Lenin no more Mao Tse Tung. Come on Cips, rhythm. Cips, if it wasn't clear, is Cipputi. It's said by a worker, in overalls, in front of a lathe, not yet numerically controlled. I will walk through the streets.
It comes out at the beginning of that year. And the newspapers (Il Mucchio, but also Ciao 2001) turn up their noses. And it takes just listening to one song, the title track, to raise a doubt. Madonna, him too. Him too, rhythm. Alan Sorrenti comes to mind, figli delle stelle. The Altan cartoon. And the many who that year made that stuff. And Madonna, just before, it was A Period Of Transition. In life, I have forgiven Van the Man many things, but not that one. Anyway, goodbye, Van, thanks for what you've done. Now we have to face the second phase of your career. Thanks anyway, we won’t forget. I will walk through the streets.
But no.
Instead - upon closer listening - it's a completely different album. And it's touching to think about how important the title was, that year. Wavelength. It was the start of private radio stations. And maybe, some had the audacity to air it. It's a different album. With something that has always - at least for me - more than anything, characterized Van Morrison. Showing himself naked. He did it, with lion's courage, in 1968, recording Astral Weeks. Writing phrases that no one will ever take away from my heart. He did it the year before, with that album so bad, that it told us who he was. Who he was then. Without shame. Like when nothing goes right for you, when you're not sure about anything, when you don't like yourself. He does it here too. And when you realize it, you can't help but love him. This album. And who made it. It's an album filled with a very simple desire. The desire not to be alone. And to dance, too. But not with the fashionable strobes. To dance, and to feel alive. A desire, indeed. That things aren't going so well. I will walk through the streets.
So here I am, once again in my life, clapping out of sync, during the title track of the album. And I'm having a bit of a hard time sitting here, writing. I want to get up and move a bit. Soon I will. But not yet. Probably because it's not in the database. Surely. That's why after I will sing at the top of my lungs Santa Fé, or Hungry For Your Love. I will walk through the streets.
Or maybe it's the fault of the track that closes the album. That there's not a single time in my life that I haven't felt a shiver. It's called Take It Where You Find It. And for a couple of minutes, at the end, before the machine goes off, Van, The Man, sings and shouts that he will walk through the streets. That he will walk. Alone, on his own, without anyone understanding him. Until he finds a star. That shines for him.
The last words say that he sees it. A star. His star. Perhaps it’s not the database's fault. Or its users who like it. Perhaps it’s something else.
There are albums that are really difficult to talk about. Difficult, if you keep in mind that what you are supposed to talk about is the music. And not instead what you were, what you were doing, when you encountered them. Or albums that are very easy to talk about. If you think that - basically - music is nothing but something that serves to catalyze our emotions. To make us remember them, to make us feel them stronger, and also more beautiful. Wavelength, for me, is such an album. That's all. With many apologies. You know why.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Kingdom Hall (06:01)
So glad to see you So glad you're here Come here beside me now We can clear inhibition away All inhibitions Throw them away And when we dance like this Like we've never been dancin' before Chorus: Oh, they were swingin' Down at Kingdom Hall Oh, bells were ringin' Down at the Kingdom Hall A choir was singin' Down at the Kingdom Hall Hey, liley, liley, liley Hey, liley, liley, low Do do do do do do, do Do do do do do do Do do do do do do, do Do do do do do do Good body music Brings you right here Free flowin' motion now When we're shakin' it out on the floor Good rockin' music Down in your shoes And when we dance like this Like we've never been dancin' before Repeat Chorus Down at the Kingdom Hall They were havin' a party They were havin' a ball Bells were ringing out And the choir was singin' Hey, liley, liley, liley Hey, liley, liley, low Do do, do do, do do, do do Sugar was there Did you see Sugar Down at the Kingdom Hall Sugar was tough
02 Checkin' It Out (03:31)
We've got to put our heads together
I'm sure that we can work it out
I'm weighin' up the situation
And checkin' it out
Takin' it further
Takin' it further
Checkin' it out
This is a workin' situation
I'm tellin' you without a doubt
We've gotta pull it all in tight, baby
Checkin' it out
Takin' it further
Takin' it further
Checkin' it out
And all the obstacles along the way
Sometimes may feel so tremendous
There are guides and spirits all along the way
Who will befriend us
Let's talk it out across the table
Make sure that we leave nothin' out
Get into it like a meditation
Start checkin' it out
Takin' it further
Takin' it further
Checkin' it out
And all the obstacles along the way
Sometimes may feel so tremendous
There are guides and spirits all along the way
Who will befriend us
Let's talk it out across the table
Make sure that we leave nothin' out
Get into it like a meditation
Start checkin' it out
Takin' it further
Takin' it further
Checkin' it out
Checkin' it out, now baby
Checkin' it out checkin' it out
You meditate, you meditate
You meditate
And you come back
You come back
Fade
03 Natalia (04:06)
I'm walkin' down the street
I'm on that midnight beat
I'm on a lonely avenue
Baby, won't you walk with me
Baby, won't you talk with me
Oh that's all I want you to do, now
Walk with me
Talk to me
Call your name out
Chorus:
Na Na, Na Na, Na Na
Na Na, Na Na, Na Na
Na Na, Na Na, Na Na, Natalia
Here on a summer night
I wanna kiss and hold you tight
Just the way we used to do
Walkin' down the same old street
People that we used to meet
Such a long, long time ago, now
Walk with me
Talk to me
And I call out your name
Repeat Chorus Two Times
On a magic night like this
I hunger for your kiss
On a magic night like this
Repeat Chorus
Walk with me
Talk with me
Walk with me
Talk with me
Natalia, Natalia, Natalia
Natalia, Natalia, Natalia
Fade
04 Venice U.S.A. (06:36)
Found myself, found myself
Oh, in a restaurant in Venice
Found myself
Oh, in a restaurant in Venice
I was talkin' to my baby
In a restaurant down in Venice
When I found myself
Down in Venice
And I'm cryin'
But my tears, but my tears
Are filled with joy
And I'm walkin' in Venice
And I'm cryin'
Chorus:
Dum derra dum dum diddy diddy dah dah
Dum derra dum dum diddy diddy dah dah
Dum derra dum dum diddy diddy dah dah
Dum derra dum dum diddy diddy dah dah
Dum derra dum dum diddy diddy dah dah
Dum derra dum dum diddy diddy dah dah
As I'm leaving Venice, as I'm leaving Venice
As I'm leaving Venice
All the streets are wet with rain
And in my memory, and in my memory
And in my memory
I remember it well
And I take a stroll
Oh, see the ships come sailing in
In the harbor in the harbor
Down in Venice
And I'm cryin'
But my tears, but my tears
Are filled with joy
And I'm walkin' in Venice
And I'm cryin'
Repeat Chorus
Walkin' in Venice and I'm cryin'
Oh, as I'm walkin' in Venice, walkin' in Venice
And I'm cryin'
Well, I'm walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk walk, walk
Walkin' in Venice
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Well, I walk and I walk and I walk and I walk
Well, I'm walkin' in Venice
I walk and I walk and I walk
And I feel you and I see you as I'm walkin'
Down in Venice
Now sing a song, goes like this:
Repeat Chorus & Fade
05 Lifetimes (04:16)
You sit in silence
And the river answers
And I have loved you many, many years
I saw you standing by the wonderous river
And I have come today
To calm your fears
Those lifetimes
So many lifetimes
With you
The boatman singin' far across the water
What is this feelin' in my heart and soul
The nighttime angel spreads her wings around me
And I feel the sadness
And the river flows
Those lifetimes
So many lifetimes
With you
Listen to the music inside
That is all that you have to do
Listen to the music inside
Can't you hear what it says to you
And I shall get to know you
In these lifetimes
In awe and wonder
On down through the years
The nighttime angel spreads her wings around me
I feel the silence
And my doubts are cleared
Those lifetimes
So many lifetimes
With you
Listen to the music inside
That is all that you have to do
Listen to the music inside
Can't you hear what it says to you
Listen to the music inside
That is all that you have to do
Listen to the music inside
Can't you hear what it says to you
Fade
06 Wavelength (05:48)
This is a song about your wavelength
And my wavelength, baby
You turn me on
When you get me on your wavelength
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
With your wavelength
Oh, with your wavelength
With your wavelength
With your wavelength
Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh mama oh mama, oh mama
Wavelength
Wavelength
You never let me downñno
You never let me downñno
When I'm down you always comfort me
When I'm lonely you see about me
You are ev'ry where you're 'sposed to be
And I can get your station
When I need rejuvenation
Wavelength
Wavelength
You never let me downñno
You never let me downñno
I heard the voice of america
Callin' on my wavelength
Tellin' me to tune in on my radio
I heard the voice of america
Callin' on my wavelength
Singin' "come back, baby
Come back
Come back, baby
Come back"
Do do do dou-dit do do dou�dit do do do do do
Do do do dou�dit do do dou�dit do do do do do
Won't you play that song again for me
About my lover, my lover in the grass, yeah, alright
You have told me 'bout my destiny
Singin' "come back, baby
Come back
Come back, baby
Come back"
On my wavelength
Wavelength
You never let me downñno
You never let me downñno
When you get me on
When you get me on your wavelength
When you get me
Oh, yeah, lord
You get me on your wavelength
You got yourself a boy
When you get me on
Get me on your wavelength
Ya radio, ya radio, ya radio
Ya radio, ya radio, ya radio
Fade
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