When you least expect it,
a sudden message will hit you like a knife.
A dull, familiar pain;
old scars will open up again.
At night spent by a small transistor radio,
frost stung my brain and my hands.
The cold voice of a newsreader
made me understand how it feels to be drowning.
Thin ice, brittle glass,
Janis J.1, Brian Jones2
Jimi H.3, Anna J.4,
brittle ice, thin glass.
Steve McQueen5, Romy S.6,
Ryszard R.78, Elvis P.9
A dead movie, a dead blues,
brittle glass, thin ice.
Time of lead10.
Listen, that’s a dirty trick,
this is not the way to say "goodbye".
You cannot leave just like that:
in the middle of the sleep and in mid-dream.
Your record keeps on spinning,
the screen is alight with you.
Under the cold glow of stars
how hard it is to live for those who are still here!
Thin ice, brittle glass,
Janis J., Brian Jones
Jimi H., Anna J.,
brittle ice, thin glass.
Steve McQueen, Romy S.,
Ryszard R., Elvis P.
Dead film, dead blues,
brittle glass, thin ice.
Time of lead.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janis_Joplin2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Jones3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Jantar5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McQueen6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romy_Schneider7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryszard_Riedel8. in some versions "Johnnie L.", that is John Lennon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley10. meaning this kind of "lead": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead