Monday 31 October 2011

If I close my eyes for ever...


Barry Windsor Smith: The Beguilling


Baby
I get so scared inside, and I don't really understand
Is it love that's on my mind, or is it fantasy
Heaven
Is in the palm of my hand, and it's waiting here for you
What am I supposed to do with a childhood tragedy

If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain unchanged
If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain the same...

Sometimes
It's hard to hold on
So hard to hold on to my dreams
It isn't always what is seems
When you're face to face with me

You're like a dagger
And stick me in the heart
And taste the blood from my blade
And when we sleep, would you shelter me
In your warm and darkened grave

If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain unchanged
If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain the same...

Will you ever take me
No, I just can't take the pain
But would you ever trust me
No, I'll never feel the same...Ohh...

I know I've been so hard to you
I know I've told you lies
If I could have just one more wish
I'd wipe the cobwebs from my eyes

If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain unchanged
If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain the same...

Close your eyes
Close your eyes
You gotta close you eyes for me


Sunday 30 October 2011

Tell her today....

J.W.Waterhouse: Flora and the Jephyrs (detail)

It's hard to say
you love some one
its hard to say you dont
its hard to learn
to trust someone
but its hard to be without. 

So if u think u love some one
try, try, try
because
that one maybe your *only* one 

So if you love her 
think only of her
take the time tell her today

And when Without her
everything is harder
take the time 
drop everything 
go tell her today

For every King 
you'll find a queen
that keeps his kingdom strong

oh if love is the food that feeds my heart
then baby
sweet baby
I'm hungry now

oh 
So if you think you love some one 
try, try, try
because that one may be your one.
So if you love her, 
think only of her, 
take the time tell her today.

And when with out her,
everything 's harder 
take the time
drop everything 
tell her today



J.W.Waterhouse: Flora and the Jephyrs (detail)

Fawlty Towers

(Sunday fun)







Saturday 29 October 2011

Friday 28 October 2011

Call to arms

Ken Kelly: Iceman

When They See Us They Will Run For Their Lives
To The End They Will Pay For Their Lies
So Long Did We Wait Now We Are Home 
Here Once Again There's A Battle To Fight
Gathered Together For The Sound And The Might
So Long Did We Wait Now We Are Home 

Now We Will Fight For The Kingdom Fighting With Steel
Kill All Of Them Their Blood Is Our Seal
Fight Till The Last Of The Enemy Is Dead
Ride Through Their Blood That We Gladly Have Shed 

I Now Issue The Call Are You Ready To Fight
Fight All Together As One For The Right To Be Free Once Again
Tonight We Will Win 

I Can See By The Look That You Have In Your Eyes
You Came Here For Metal To Fight And To Die
Defenders Of Steel Now We Are Home 

Fight For The Kingdom Bound For Glory
Armed With A Heart Of Steel
I Swear By The Brothers Who Stand Before Me
To No Man Shall I Kneel
Their Blood Is Upon My Steel
Blood Is Upon My Steel 

Fight For The Kingdom Fighting With Steel
Kill All Of Them Their Blood Is Our Seal
Fight Till The Last Of The Enemy Is Dead
Ride Through Their Blood That We Gladly Have Shed 

I Now Issue The Call Are You Ready To Fight
Fight All Together As One For The Right To Be Free Once Again
Tonight We Will Win 

I Can See By The Look That You Have In Your Eyes
You Came Here For Metal To Fight And To Die
Defenders Of Steel Now We Are Home 

Fight For The Kingdom Bound For Glory
Armed With A Heart Of Steel
I Swear By The Brothers Who Stand Before Me
To No Man Shall I Kneel
Their Blood Is Upon My Steel 



P.S.1 The date is no coincidence
P.S.2 R.I.P. Scott

Thursday 27 October 2011

The apparition

Frederick J. Waugh - The Knight of the Holy Grail

When the stars are right and you're alone
Take a journey, lock the world tight
Out of your mind.
The hall beckons your presence, the doors
Open wide you're to decide to turn back.
Deep the bowels of this black abyss.
Compelled I just can't resist it, take me

Take me away take me away
I wanna know what's deep within
Take me away

Drawing near someone passes through me,
A silent entity never looking back I won't dare
Evil eyes staring through he walls of stone
As I feared I travel not alone.
Laughter's echoes with the blatant wind
I have passed the threshold deep within me

A voice of thunder said turn back
Tabernacle is forbidden
No mortal dares to enter here
I want to know

Flame is burning center of a fountain yearning, waters
Spring eternal, spiritual water physical fire
Above center is sky, cold neverness
Just vastness filled with stars upon stars
In the four corners of life are the golden mirrors
Reflecting what you are and what you are to be

In the first is a young boy white dove in
His hand, in the second is a warrior in armor
In the third is the old man gold watch
In his hand fourth and last
No reflection at all
No reflection at all
No reflection at all

Waters rise toward physical fire, voice says
Tabernacle is forbidden never looking back I don't dare
If the water touches the flame
Forever in darkness yes I'll remain.
White dove flies from the young boys hand
Through the mirror of the old man, only way out


Wednesday 26 October 2011

Belle, is the only word...



(... for Marisa Tomei - who has a pact with the Devil)


Q. Belle, is the only word I know that suits her well.
When she dances oh the stories she can tell.
A free bird trying out her wings to fly away.
And when I see her move I see hell to pay.
She dances naked in my soul and sleep won't come.
And it's no use to pray these prayers to Notre dame.
Tell, who'd be the first to raise his hand and throw a stone.
I'd hang him high and laugh to see him die alone.
Oh Lucifer please let me go beyond god's law.
And run my fingers through her hair, Esmeralda.

F. Belle, there's a demon inside her who came from hell.
And he turned my eyes from god and oh, I fell.
She put this heat inside me I'm ashamed to tell.
Without my god inside I'm just a burning shell.
The sin of eve she has in her I know so well.
For want of her I know I'd give my soul to sell.
Belle, this gypsy girl is there a soul beneath her skin.
And does she bear the cross of all our human sin.
Oh Notre dame please let me go beyond gods law.
Open the door of love inside, Esmeralda.

P. Belle, Even though her eyes seem to lead us to hell.
She may be more pure, more pure than words can tell.
But when she dances feelings come no man can quell.
Beneath her rainbow coloured dress there burns the well.
My promised one, please let me one time be untrue.
Before in front of god and man I marry you.
Who would be the man who'd turn from her to save his soul.
To be with her I'd let the devil take me whole.
Oh Fleur-de-lys I am a man who knows no law.
I go to open up the rose, Esmeralda

Q, G, &P. She dances naked in my soul and sleep won't come.
And it's no use to pray these prayers to Notre dame.
Tell, who'd be the first to raise his hand and throw a stone.
I'd hang him high and laugh to see him die alone.
Oh Lucifer please let me go beyond god's law.
And run my fingers through her hair, Esmeralda.
Esmeralda.





(The Wrestler)

(Before the devil knows you 're dead)

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Monday 24 October 2011

Game Over

Luis Royo: Gothic Angel Holding Demon

Follow the links:
The meaning of Matrix and then Plato's allegory of the cave and The Matrix: Exiting the Cave of the Mind

What is reality?!
Is the one who returns to the Matrix really to be blamed?!





Sunday 23 October 2011

Black black heart

Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell: Tamars vision

Something ugly this way comes
Through my fingers sliding inside
All these blessings all these burns
I'm godless underneath your cover
Search for pleasure search for pain
In this world now I am undying
I unfurl my flag my nation helpless

Black black heart why would you offer more
Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy
I'm on fire I'm rotting to the core
I'm eating all your kings and queens
All your sex and your diamonds

As I begin to lose my grip
On these realities your sending
Taste your mind and taste your sex
I'm naked underneath your cover
Covers lie and we will bend and borrow
With the coming sign
The tide will take the sea will rise and time will rape

Black black heart why would you offer more
Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy
I'm on fire I'm rotting to the core
I'm eating all your kings and queens
All your sex and your diamonds

Black black heart why would you offer more
Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy
I'm on fire I'm rotting to the core
I'm eating all your kings and queens
All your sex and your diamonds
All your sex and your diamonds
All your sex and your diamonds
All your sex and your diamonds
All your sex and your diamonds 



Saturday 22 October 2011

Friday 21 October 2011

The eyes of the world

Bob Larkin - Conan the liberator

I see the innocent victims
Fighting to get to his door
No chain of events
Can shackle him down
He's not there anymore
Evil moves, evil ways
with his back to the wall
evil mind looking down
Without seeing at all

You ain't got a lot to say
Judging by the things you do
If only you could see the tears of pain
In the eyes of the world

Dust to dust by the million
Broken dreams in the ground
Aching hearts with the half dreams of hope
When their spirits are down
Evil takes, evil kills
With no shame or concern
Killing me, killing you
Watch the end of the burn

Maybe you don't understand
We don't need you anymore
If only you could see the tears of pain
In the eyes of the world

And in the name of religion
For the hate in our soul
For the blind
and the sick in the heart
War has taken it's toll
Evil moves, evil ways
With his back to the wall
Evil mind, looking down
Without seeing at all

Eyes of the world
Don't wanna, don't wanna cry no more
Eyes of the world
In the eyes
Eyes of the world
You ain't got a lot to say
Eyes of the world
Why's it have to be this way
Eyes of the world
Oh
Eyes of the world
We don't need you anymore
Eyes of the world
If only you could feel the tears of pain
In the eyes of the world



Ritchie: “I said: ‘Graham – your hair’s too short. The people who follow us like long hair.’ Graham replied: ‘I used to have long hair.’ I said: ‘Okay, but you don’t have long hair any more – it’s very short and you look like a cabaret singer. Can you please grow your hair?’
Ritchie continued: “By the time we were in Newcastle we actually had a minder on Graham’s hotel door to make sure he didn’t go out and get his hair cut. It was actually getting down to the back of his collar, and it was just beginning to be acceptable. Otherwise we’d have been crucified because we’d gone out on stage with our new singer who had short hair.
“But do you know what Graham did? He jumped out of the window, ran off and had a haircut! So it came to show time, we went on stage and I’m looking at the back of his head – he’d had like a military-style haircut. I was so close to taking my guitar off and going ‘whack’ across the back of his head. I was so angry! I was being pushed there… I was really being pushed.”





Thursday 20 October 2011

The Giant


(Vacation memories - Monterosso)

A 1910 sculpture, 14 meters high, in armed cement and iron, work of Arrigo Minerbi of Ferrara and the engineer Levacher, built in Monterosso. The statue represents Neptune and decorated the splendid Villa Pastine with a great terrace with shell shape.





(Ozzy: Killer of Giants)



Wednesday 19 October 2011

Watch out for the bat!

Boris Vallejo - Vampire Bat

Watch out for the Bat now
or that'll be that now
the price you will pay is dear
don't be ashamed to fear
that is what makes you care
makes you beware.

Don't worry about it
you'll find you're without it
the Bat's going to take your life
he's going to take your wife
the Bat's going to make you plead
make you bleed.

So make no mistake there
you'll end up as steak (rare)
so always be on your guard
for this life is hard
death is a breath away
every day.




Boris Vallejo: Wings of the night


Tuesday 18 October 2011

Lost reflection

J.W. Waterhouse: Marianna in the south


Locked in this attic
Been here so many years
Shanna won't set me free
She says I'm evil But then she doesn't know
I'm not pretending, no, not me

Full moon's reflecting
A face in the mirror
Twisted and bleeding
No, you can't be real, no you're All in my mind
Shades of insanity, you're not me
You're not me

Life in the attic
I like my rocking chair
Staring in shadows
Crouched in the corner
Waiting for something
Laughing at nothing
No one there

And on and on I wonder is there more
What is life beyond the attic door The full
moon in my eyes Is all that's real
The mirror's lost reflection is in me

Life in the attic
Life in the attic
Life in the attic
Life in the attic

Cobwebs and dusty dreams
Sharp knives and hollow screams
Wide eyes of terror 
Clawing the attic door Can't take it anymore
You better go away!

You're lyin'
Hurry
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Who's there?
No one there
You're not me!


Monday 17 October 2011

I Believe!

Boris Vallejo: Deep love

Is it too late, to go in peace, I wonder how
how these things did start, anyway
Maybe too late to find a way, when the
trail of grief is marked with memories

Now when you're gone, the warmth
of the sun seems so faraway

I believe - in everything I see, every
second is a miracle for me
I believe - after sunshine comes the
rain, and when it's pouring down
the only thing I feel is pain

I walk alone, through shapeless dreams
my only home is the wasteland that I cross
I close the door and turn the key
those days of joy are barely memories
Now when you're gone, your star will
shine on, wont you shine for me

I believe- in everything I see, every
second is a miracle for me
I believe- after sunshine comes the
rain, and when it's pouring down
the only thing I feel is pain

I believe- in everything I see, every
second is a miracle for me
I believe- after sunshine comes the
rain, and when it's pouring down
the only thing I feel is pain


(Hammerfall - I Believe)

Sunday 16 October 2011

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

J.W. Waterhouse: Gather ye rosebuds

(by Robert Herrick)
(to remind that beauty and youth is fleeting...)

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry. 


(Caro Emerald: A night like this)

A pebble in the lake

(parts)




Full Movie:

Rene Goscinny: He is no good... (He is only the best)

(Sunday fun)

The ostrich



The mermaid


Saturday 15 October 2011

Spanish Archer

Walter Howell Deverell: Twelfth Night

(Ian Gillan: "I hate this song. It's a continuous Blackmore guitar solo...." )

Well there must have been a reason for the
Smile that you had upon your face last night
Are you the cat that got the cream did you
Lick your lips did you close your eyes
Can you imagine how it feels it’s so hard to reveal
Oh I can’t get through and I’m falling
I’m getting out I’m losing ground
The spanish archer’s gonna bring you down

Is there someone somewhere waiting in the wings to take my place
Let’s not drag it out like a cagney death scene
In this season of change it’s not hard to explain
Like the leaves on the trees I’m falling
And as you turn don’t look away
The spanish archer’s gonna make you pay

Do you remember when the sky was blue we used to talk for miles
And now we drive along in this thundering silence
It’s such an obvious lie with that easy smile of yours
I’m letting go and I’m falling
I’m getting out losing ground
The spanish archer’s gonna bring you down

Well is there something I can say as
We stumble to the edge have we gone too far
Why don’t we call it a day before we call it a nightmare darlin’
If we made a mistake then all that it takes to be free
Is the wave of a hand and you’re falling
And as you turn don’t look away
The spanish archer’s gonna make you pay

Friday 14 October 2011

Tell the girls I am back in town...


Ciruelo Cabral: Lovers Quarrel

I've been on the road 
I've been on vacation 
I've been travelling light to reach my final destination 

Now I'm coming home 

So tell the girls that I am back in town 
You'd better tell them to beware 
Well they may go or they might try to hide 
I follow on and I'll be there 
So tell the girls that I am back in town 
And if it's true I do not know 
That every girl around has missed me since 
I decided to go 

I could be your friend 
I could be your stranger 
I could be the one your mother said would be a danger 
Now it's up to you 

Thursday 13 October 2011

The silence


When you're drowning,
when you're freezin',
when you're feeling cold
There's a light in the darkness
as the elder always told.
When the winter's coming closer
and the autumn's passing by,
Then the world will sink in slience
and I think we all should try.
Oh, I wanna live my life in a fairy tale
Where the end is always good and never sad.
Show me the way to another world
Where the sun is always shining in the and
And we fight back the tears, and we lose our fears,
Let the world remain in silence for a while
Sun in our minds in a world full of ice,
Let silence remain for a little while.

Somebody came and slammed the door,
took the feelin' away from our hearts.
And the horror took hold of a place
in our hearts filled with love.

What is left behind the ice,
behind the make up and the lies
Tell me what goes on inside our minds,
There is a hole in our sky,
getting bigger, growing wide
No more answer, but we hold the line
See and hear what we have done to us all,
we wanna be free more than anything,
Do you hear what I say to you?
We will make it through, the sun shall shine.

Hear the words we say and see the light of day
We never will be free until the sun is shining for us all
Carry on, carry on and make our dreams come true
And for a little while we stay together
Carry on, carry on, may all our lovin' stay
And for a little while we stay together, forever
Together, forever.


(Gamma Ray: The Silence)

Wednesday 12 October 2011

The shadow of your smile...



The shadow of your smile
When you are gone
Will color all my dreams
And light the dawn

Look into my eyes my love and see
All the lovely things you are to me

Our wistful little star was far too high
A teardrop kissed your lips
And so did I

Now when I remember spring
All the joy that love can bring
I will be remembering
The shadow of your smile

Now when I remember spring
All the joy that love can bring
I will be remembering
The shadow of your smile
Hmm hmm...




Tuesday 11 October 2011

Monday 10 October 2011

Wild is the wind...

J.W.Waterhouse: Boreas


Love me, love me, love me, love me, say you do
Let me fly away with you
For my love is like the wind, and wild is the wind
Wild is the wind
Give me more than one caress, satisfy this hungriness
Let the wind blow through your heart
For wild is the wind, wild is the wind

You touch me, I hear the sound of mandolins
You kiss me
With your kiss my life begins
You’re spring to me, all things to me
Don’t you know, you’re life itself!

Like the leaf clings to the tree,
Oh, my darling, cling to me
For we’re like creatures of the wind, wild is the wind
Wild is the wind

You touch me, I hear the sound of mandolins
You kiss me
With your kiss my life begins
You’re spring to me, all things to me
Don’t you know, you’re life itself!

Like the leaf clings to the tree,
Oh, my darling, cling to me
For we’re like creatures in the wind, and wild is the wind

Wild is the wind
Wild is the wind
Wild is the wind
Wild is the wind




Sunday 9 October 2011

World gone mad!

Hieronmous Bosch: Garden of eartly delights - Hell (detail)




(CJSS: Living in exile)

Friday 7 October 2011

On life worth living...

Albrecht Dürer: Knight, Death, and the Devil

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer.
{.....}
I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
{...}

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.

Steve Jobs (R.I.P.)

(After Ronnie James Dio and Steve Jobs I get more and more the feeling that my youth is slowly fading away together with its "icons")

Thursday 6 October 2011

The sluggard

Frederic Lord Leighton: The Sluggard

Bay Parkway wonder
You're such a success
Your pretty secretary, ha
She say you are the best

Your face always smiling
say you sure paid your dues
But I know inside
You've got the Bensonhurst blues

Those custom-made ciggies
that you offer to me pretend
and pretend to care about my family

And those pictures on your desk
All them lies that you abuse
Do they know you suffer
from the Bensonhurst blues

Your grandmother's accent
still embarrasses you
You're even ashamed
of the French you once knew

You're part of the chance now
They break you making the news
But I know inside
you've got the Bensonhurst blues

But thanks for the lesson
Cause the life that I choose
won't make me feel like living
with the Bensonhurst blues

And don't, don't try to write me
And don't bother to call
Cause I'll be in conference
Merry Christmas you all



Frederic Lord Leighton: The Sluggard

Wednesday 5 October 2011

No way out!

William Dyce : Highland Ferryman

You want affection, numbing my brain
Intoxicating lust in vein
An easy market, a cheap liquor store
I can’t stop the blood on the floor

It’s too late, the damage is done
Out of luck, with nowhere to run
Holding out to shine in the heat
Just a victim, a killer on the street

You can run, but you can’t hide
Cause now you’ve seen the other side

There’s no way out (no way out)
No way out of here, no way
No way out at all

Running scared, learned my lesson
Out of luck, without a question
Make a move, push too hard
Full deck with a losing card

Just a story no one hears
Mama knows, let the tears
Wasted life screaming inside
Hunted down, and waiting to die

You can run, but you can’t hide
’Cause now you’re on the other side
There’s no way out

(Solo)

No way (repeat)
No way out of here
There’s no way out
No way

(Chorus)



Tuesday 4 October 2011

Famous blue raincoat

Jeffrey Jones: Shy

It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.

I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene

And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.

Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake --

She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.

If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.

Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.

And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear



Monday 3 October 2011

Midnight Summer Dream

Frederic Lord Leighton: Flaming June

Woke up on a good day
And the world was wonderful
A midnight summer dream had me in its spell

I dreamt about an old man
Sat and watched the rain all night
He couldn't sleep a wink as all the drops fell

He told me of the beauty
Hidden in our foreheads
He told me of the ugliness
We show instead

And when we put a foot wrong do we learn
From all the pain
A midnight summer dream as he watched the rain

Then at midnight he poured another drink
And bent my ear
After midnight we sat up half the night
Or maybe more
And he began to tell me what it was all for

I woke up in an armchair
He had gone I don't know where
Left me there to sit and look at the rain

Don't remember much at all
But his words were echoing
A midnight summer dream and then wake again

Maybe I'll never find him
Maybe he's gone forever
Maybe I'll have to sit here
Watching the weather

One thing's pretty certain helped me
Make it in the night
Showed me somewhere else between wrong and right

And at midnight if you can't sleep
Then I can bend your ear
After midnight we'll sit up half the night
Or maybe more
And I'll begin to tell you what it is all for

Wake up on a good day
And the world feels wonderful
Midnight summer dream has me in its spell. 



Saturday 1 October 2011

Put on the costume...

Jean Antoine Watteau: Italian comedians

Recitar! Mentre preso dal delirio,
non so più quel che dico,
e quel che faccio!
Eppur è d'uopo, sforzati!
Bah! Sei tu forse un uom?
Tu se' Pagliaccio!

Vesti la giubba,
e la faccia infarina.
La gente paga, e rider vuole qua.
E se Arlecchin t'invola Colombina,
ridi, Pagliaccio, e ognun applaudirà!
Tramuta in lazzi lo spasmo ed il pianto
in una smorfia il singhiozzo e 'l dolor, Ah!

Ridi, Pagliaccio,
sul tuo amore infranto!
Ridi del duol, che t'avvelena il cor!
Act! While in delirium,
I no longer know what I say,
or what I do!
And yet it's necessary... make an effort!
Bah! Are you not a man?
You are a clown!

Put on your costume,
powder your face.
The people pay to be here, and they want to laugh.
And if Harlequin shall steal your Columbina,
laugh, clown, so the crowd will cheer!
Turn your distress and tears into jest,
your pain and sobbing into a funny face – Ah!

Laugh, clown,
at your broken love!
Laugh at the grief that poisons your heart!