Withdrawing, Moving Away, or Separating
This week’s Song Lyric Sunday prompt asks us to choose a song that mentions abandoning, departing, deserting, exiting, leaving, resigning or retiring.
I couldn’t choose just one.
Instead, I have two songs that approach leaving from different directions. One takes me into the world of opera, while the other brings back memories of a wonderful evening of live music here on Fuerteventura.
And after several weeks of Eurodance, EDM and Lady Gaga, I thought I would give everyone a little change of scenery. 😂🎶
Sarah Brightman — It’s a Beautiful Day (2003)
My first choice is It’s a Beautiful Day by Sarah Brightman, from her 2003 album Harem.
What makes this song particularly special to me is its connection to Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly.
It incorporates music from the famous aria Un bel dì vedremo — One Fine Day We’ll See.
I love this opera. ❤️
In Madama Butterfly, Cio-Cio-San waits for the return of the man she loves, holding on to a promise that may never be fulfilled.
Sarah Brightman’s interpretation brings that beautiful operatic melody into a different musical setting. The song’s English words speak of promises fading away and a final day, giving it a feeling of farewell.
The recording combines Puccini’s music with an adaptation by Christopher von Deylen and Frank Peterson. Sarah Brightman and Peterson are credited with the English lyrics, with Brightman also credited for her contribution to the adaptation.
And the result is something I love: classical music meeting contemporary production.
Anyone who knows my musical taste knows I have never stayed inside one genre.
Opera has always had a special place in my heart, too.
There is still one experience on my musical bucket list that I haven’t managed to fulfil.
I dream of seeing an opera performed live.
Perhaps one day I will finally be sitting in an opera house, waiting for the orchestra to begin.
And if my first live opera happened to be Madama Butterfly, I certainly wouldn’t complain.
For this week’s prompt, It’s a Beautiful Day makes me think about the painful side of leaving — when promises fade, when something we hoped for changes, and when we must eventually face the possibility of saying goodbye.
But leaving doesn’t always mean the same thing.
Sometimes it means something entirely different.
Malú — Ciudad de papel (2018)
My second choice takes us from the world of opera to Spain.
Ciudad de papel — Paper City — was released by Spanish singer Malú in March 2018 and later appeared on her album Oxígeno.
The song was written by Malú, Leroy Sánchez, Mónica Vélez and Julio Reyes Copello.
Unlike my first choice, this song begins with a direct request for someone to leave.
But as the song unfolds, it becomes clear that this isn’t simply about rejecting another person.
It is about needing space.
Needing time.
Needing a moment away from everything when life has become too much.
Sometimes we spend so long being strong for everyone else that we forget we are allowed to be tired ourselves.
And sometimes stepping away isn’t giving up.
It is giving ourselves room to breathe.
That is what I hear in Ciudad de papel.
There is vulnerability in admitting that we cannot carry everything all the time. But there is also strength in recognising when we need to withdraw for a while and find our way back.
And I have a very personal reason for choosing Malú this week.
A night at Arena Negra 🎶
In November 2022, I was lucky enough to see Malú perform live at the Arena Negra Festival on the beach in Gran Tarajal, here on Fuerteventura.
She sang Ciudad de papel, Blanco y Negro, Invisible and many more of her songs.
I remember hearing that more than 35,000 people had attended the festival. Looking back at the reports, the figure was actually more than 38,000 across the two days!
That is a lot of people gathered together for music on our little island.
I still remember the experience of hearing Malú sing those songs live.
And that’s the wonderful thing about music.
A song can have its own meaning, its own story and its own emotions.
But once it becomes part of our lives, it gathers our memories as well.
Now, when I hear Ciudad de papel, I don’t only think about the words.
I remember Arena Negra.
I remember the music.
And I remember being there.
Two songs, two kinds of leaving
Sarah Brightman’s It’s a Beautiful Day takes me into the world of Madama Butterfly, where love, waiting and fading promises create a heartbreaking sense of farewell.
Malú’s Ciudad de papel reminds me that sometimes we need to ask the world to give us a little space.
One is about the sorrow of an ending.
The other is about the need to step away, breathe and begin again.
And perhaps that is what makes this week’s prompt so interesting.
Leaving isn’t always about walking out of a door.
Sometimes we leave behind a dream.
Sometimes we leave behind a relationship.
Sometimes we simply need to leave the noise behind for a little while.
And sometimes, when we return, we discover that the space we needed has helped us find ourselves again.
So this Sunday, I’m sharing two songs that mean something different to me.
One brings me closer to my dream of experiencing opera live.
The other takes me back to a night of music on the island I call home.
And both remind me that leaving can be an ending — or the beginning of something new. 💜
And Jim…
Last week you needed glow sticks for Lady Gaga.
This week, I suggest opera glasses and a Spanish dictionary.
Ciudad De Papel Lyrics in English by MaluHome / Lyrics translation / Malu / Ciudad De Papel
“Ciudad De Papel”
Verse 1
Leave, give me space, give me time
Close the curtains tight
I’m tired of being strong
Of running over mines
I want a pause, I want shade
Today the light pollutes
I search in silence for my refuge
I follow its coordinates
For now I need
A little bit of nothing
Of memories of the future
Or of past lives
Chorus 1
I have scratches, my skin burns
I feel glass under my feet
I keep a hell to love
Fire that insists on inhabiting a paper city
I have storms that I must spill
Open doors to close
The heart in the crosshairs
I want to dance with my pain
Let me burn in my paper city
Verse 2
Come back, give me air, give me sky
Open the curtains wide
I’m already strong as always
Another day has arrived
And it’s that sometimes, to arm myself
I need my ruins
Chorus 2
I have scratches, my skin burns
I feel glass under my feet
I keep a hell to love
Fire that insists on inhabiting a paper city
I have storms that I must spill
Open doors to close
The heart in the crosshairs
I want to dance with my pain
Let me burn in my paper city
Bridge
I have scratches, my skin burns I feel glass under my feet I keep a hell to love
So much to give, today I want to give
Chorus 3
I have storms that I must spill
Open doors to close
The heart in the crosshairs
I want to dance with my pain
Let me burn in my paper city
Lyrics and Translations Licensed & Provided by LyricFindLyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
A drone video from Malú singing at the music festival here on Fuerteventura.
With love, coffee, poetry, and stardust,
— Maggie The Afterlove Voice 💫
My new song “Silenced,But not broken ” is on all streaming platforms.
Lyrics video :
https://ditto.fm/silenced-but-not-broken
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