Original acapella (looperman) : https://www.looperman.com/acapellas/detail/10435/confused-122bpm-dance-acapella
SoundCloud : @iamsehya
Photo : Pyramide du Louvre (Paris)

October in Paris

Confused Ft Sehya

Lyrics: Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374)
Music: Michele Ansani & Francess Harris (@pianofran)
Piano: Francess Harris
Vocals, keyboards and electronic strings: Michele Ansani

[Eng lyrics below]

It would actually be a cover, but I do not know whether Petrarch (or others to him contemporary) had also given musical form to the sonnet. For him, the compositions of the Canzoniere (late title) were actually 'Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta'. Modest, the poet. The literature about this introductory sonnet is endless, one can easily start from Wikipedia.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I had taken this and other texts from the italian vernacular lyric tradition of the origins, giving them some melodic texture: a normal operation for a student of Literature oriented towards medieval studies and a lover of medieval tunes.
I proposed to Francess (@pianofran - please visit her SC page, full of great piano performances) to play a piano base for this song, and she went much further (as I imagined), with her usual delicate and unmistakable touch, helping to generate a melody and an atmosphere that seemed to me perfectly suited to this very famous poetic composition.

Englsh lyrics (translation by A S. Kline)

You who hear the sound, in scattered rhymes,
of those sighs on which I fed my heart,
in my first vagrant youthfulness,
when I was partly other than I am,

I hope to find pity, and forgiveness,
for all the modes in which I talk and weep,
between vain hope and vain sadness,
in those who understand love through its trials.

Yet I see clearly now I have become
an old tale amongst all these people, so that
it often makes me ashamed of myself;

and shame is the fruit of my vanities,
and remorse, and the clearest knowledge
of how the world's delight is a brief dream.

Original poem

Voi ch’ascoltate in rime sparse il suono
di quei sospiri ond’io nudriva ’l core
in sul mio primo giovenile errore
quand’era in parte altr’uom da quel ch’i’ sono,

del vario stile in ch’io piango et ragiono
fra le vane speranze e ’l van dolore,
ove sia chi per prova intenda amore,
spero trovar pietà, nonché perdono.

Ma ben veggio or sì come al popol tutto
favola fui gran tempo, onde sovente
di me medesmo meco mi vergogno;

et del mio vaneggiar vergogna è ’l frutto,
e ’l pentirsi, e ’l conoscer chiaramente
che quanto piace al mondo è breve sogno.

---

Cover picture: Anonymous, 'Francesco Petrarca in the Studium', wall fresco, last quarter of the 14th century, Reggia Carrarese, Sala dei Giganti, Padua.

------

Posted on SoundCloud: 2024, September 24.

In rime sparse il suono [Petrarch, Canzoniere - Introductory Sonnet] **

A version of the prayer Christ taught his disciples - 

The voices are from East/West Hollywood Choirs

Our Father

The excitement and anxiety that a traveler must feel after a long jorney, when returning home sees land.

Sailing Back Home

You Don't See Me

Terre

A song for Earth and the hope.we don't warm it too much


Lyrics

Who calls me/you?
Who's ears are these?
Who breaks this complicated freeze?
Who wants to play and race the breeze?
Who needs to heed to the two degrees
Who wants to share the real and true?
Who wants the fair to linger through?
Who wants an equal sided dream?
Who wins each time on a losing team?
Stop demanding independence not withstanding the lions carbon share
In spirit, here is a call for the Earth 🌎

📜Two Degrees (Original Version 2008)

Mystic Outback

Life ain't fair, no, 
it ain't a level game 
Some get all the sunshine,
 some just feel the rain.

 We're dealt these random hands, 
and play the cards we're given 

But the house is always winning,
 the odds are always driven. 

Life ain't fair, 
a bitter truth I know
 But somewhere in the chaos,
 a flicker starts to grow.


Life ain't fair, 
no, 
it ain't a level game Some get all the sunshine, some just feel the rain. 

We're dealt these random hands, 
and play the cards we're given 

But the house is always winning,
 the odds are always driven. 

Maybe it's not about winning, 
or reaching some grand prize 
Maybe it's finding strength, 
in the tears that fill our eyes. 

Maybe it's building bridges, 
with others lost and weak 
Maybe it's finding meaning,
 in the words we barely speak.

Life ain't fair, a bitter truth I know

Life ain't fair, a bitter truth I know


Produced in the
ARAPA Music Studio
Sydney - Australia

Bitter Truth

Life

Harvest_Moon

Hello! I’m a university professor of history who enjoys playing guitar and piano/keyboard, and occasionally composing — unpretentiously, just for fun.
Most of my recordings (made with a KorgD8, Audacity, and more recently Reaper for MIDI and the Spitfire Audio libraries) are entirely homemade and decidedly imperfect.
My music includes old songs (all written back in the last century; here I’ve only shared the ones I’ve reworked in recent years) as well as both old and new instrumentals — usually in several versions, some of which eventually disappear because they’re simply unlistenable.

Thanks for stopping by and giving something a listen; in the description you’ll often find explanatory notes or translations of the lyrics.
Here I’ve discovered a community of talented musicians and songwriters, and plenty of beautiful music to enjoy. Whenever I like, comment, or repost a track, it’s always the result of attentive listening. For the same reason, I’m not interested in trading empty “likes” without real engagement, and I won’t reply to messages from would-be promoters — follower counts don’t matter to me in the slightest.

Update (2024, September 9). Completed the "AI & (fake) songwriting project". Here: https://soundcloud.com/mick-hansan 

P.S.: A prayer, a humble request to those who publish songs: use the description area to make the lyrics available... This would make listening to them more complete and enjoyable!

I've posted some 'live' homemade performance here: https://www.instagram.com/michele_ansani/