Pop Song 622 of 1000 'Verdi cries' 10,000 Maniacs 1987

Pop Song 622 of 1000 'Verdi cries' 10,000 Maniacs 1987

Official MV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5A_TTjbOIQ
https://www.youtube.com/@CyrusandAurelius
This piano ballad was written by 10,000 Maniacs lead singer Natalie Merchant. "Verdi" is the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), who wrote several famous operas, including "Aida" and "La traviata."

On her VH1 Storytellers special, Merchant told the story: "When I was a tender ingénue, when I was 20 years old, I was taken to Spain for the first time, to the wild frontier, and I had a very romantic holiday in the Balearic Islands, the island of Mallorca. And we stayed in a little hotel perched on this massive rock overlooking the Mediterranean. I repeat, very romantic.

There were a lot of different Europeans there, mostly Germans, Dutch, French, English, and it was very E.M. Forster, you know, the communal dining area on the terrace and the communal bathroom, one per floor, and the walls were very thin.

There was one older German gentleman who seemed a bit obsessed with one opera, which he listened to over and over. Every morning he would listen to this opera. And, I don't know about you, but certain songs can be very evocative of periods in my life and that first trip to Spain is always associated in my mind with Verdi's opera 'Aida' and the song that I wrote after called 'Verdi Cries.'"

Merchant never did see the man in Room 119 who played the opera over and over.

The man in 119 takes his tea alone
Mornings we all rise to wireless verdi cries
I'm hearing opera through the door
The souls of men and women, impassioned all
Their voices climb and fall; battle trumpets call
I fill the bath and climb inside, singing

[Refrain]
La-la-la, la-la-la
La-la-la, la-la-la

[Verse 2]
He will not touch their pastry
But every day they bring him more
Gold from the breakfast tray, I steal them all away
And then go and eat them on the shore

[Refrain]
La-la-la, la-la-la
La-la-la, la-la-la
La-la-la, la-la-la-la-la

[Verse 3]
I draw a jackal-headed woman in the sand
Sing of a lover's fate sealed by jealous hate
Then wash my hand in the sea
With just three days more I'd have just
About learned the entire score to Aida
Holidays must end as you know
All is memory taken home with me
The opera, the stolen tea
The sand drawing, the verging sea
All years ago