Youkali (weill/fernay/echo)

english translation BY SAMANTHA ECHO

BASED ON THE FRENCH LYRICS BY ROGER FERNAY (music by kurt weill)

Verse 1:

It almost reached the earth’s tip

my little vagabond ship

surrendered to the sea’s grip

And led me to a shore

A spec of land appeared to me

So tiny I could barely see

The island of a fairy

Who led me on a tour:

Refrain:

Youkali: it is the land of mystery

Youkali: it is the land of ecstasy

Youkali: it is the land we wait a lifetime to see

Rising from the sea to answer our plea

The one remedy: it’s Youkali

Youkali: it is the faith of every promise we made

Youkali: it is the land of love that never will fade

Our final chance

when we thought that it was much too late

Deliverance

That we count on from the hand of Fate

Youkali: it is the land of mystery

Youkali: it is the land of ecstasy

But it’s a dream; a folly

There’s no such place as Youkali

But it’s a dream; a folly

There’s no such place as Youkali

Verse 2:

So life is dragging on still

We taper to the world’s will

The starving human soul still

Looks everywhere to flee

But searching for some secret way

To leave the earth; to run away

We bury more dreams every day

Out on some Youkali

Repeat Refrain

 Wednesday Guy is a nervous clown with a nerdy soul

Glasses thick as a window pane and his hands are cold

He knows a lot of big words, but he

doesn’t know any sentences

he couldn’t love me if he studied me, oh no

Wednesday Guy makes me feel like I’m in New York again

takes me back to my younger days before boys were men

He’s got a smile that cuts through his face, like a gash

in his misery, it’s a smile he gives to everyone

not just me

I see him on Wednesday Night, when the week is at its height

right at the center, but not quite all there

a world behind his eyes through a tiny crack that lies between the other days

I fall through right away

Wednesday Guy says he’s not a guy but a hologram

a projection from all the pretty dreams of an ugly man

he says the day that his father died was like the day

that his life began, he’ll never love me like he hates that man

oh no

He likes to starve himself until he’s frail and skinny as a marionette

as thin as real men get

plenty of girls would like to bring him back to life but when he slouches in

he’s got no strings on him

Wednesday Guy is awake all night like the city is

decorating his walls with all his prescription slips

I am a twig that he stumbled on with his clumsy little

pigeon toe, he’ll never love me like he loves himself, oh no

I bought such sexy pants today

but I can’t find a reason to be sexy

not when Facebook shows Nick far away

in his blond girlfriend’s arms wrapped in a bed-sheet

Oh

he used to be so shy

he was a nerdy guy

things will never be the same

Oh Nick

Show me your Facebook Page

Show me how love is made

show me how far you came

let me see your love let me see your love

show me how love is made

My virginity turns twenty-three

charming Sean, status update in his pocket

puts my hands where his wife’s should be

in his profile they wear matching heart lockets

Oh Sean

show me your Facebook Page

Show me your wedding ring

show me your baby names

Oh

Love is so cute on you

seems like you know it, too

croon us a sweet “I do”

Let me see your love let me see your love

show me how love is made

I

I once heard a wise man say

we are all one anyway

And

as we go through time we all

will become what we see

so I am her and she is me

Oh

Show me your Facebook Page

I wanna hurt myself

Show me your everything

Once

there was a look you gave

something that I could save

I took it home with me

for all eternity

let me see your love let me see your love

Show me how love is made

Nick's mom is always nice to me

her  smile is like a total eclipse of the

son – something that I didn’t think I would

ever see

It's so hard to believe in anything

Nick treats me like a kitchen fly, on a  

hot day when all the women swarm and he

won't look at me

until I land in his cup of tea

It's so hard to believe I'm that annoying

Someday I will open my eyes

wake up from my coma in my glass coffin,           

see that everyone and everything I ever loved

was a picture on my phone

Walking through the desert you drool

Loneliness and Love start with the same letter

I am walking toward a mirage 

Beause I don't know any better   la la la la

Nick's mom is always interested in the

things that I am allegedly doing with my life

even if the list is short and my smile is tense

 I don't understand what she

sees in me

Nick flew across the ocean cold

When he was only twelve years old

To  interview the earthquake victims in Gujarat        

Noone ever gets near the level he’s at

Someday I will open my eyes

Wake up from my coma in my glass coffin

see that everyone and everything I ever loved

is a picture on my phone

Walking through the desert you drool

loneliness and love start with the same letter

I am walking toward a mirage

because I don’t know any better

la la la la la la la la

I'm somebody she wants to see

Somebody she wants to help

if only she really could

And Oh.....

every time she looks for me 

I wish that I could find myself

if only for her own good

Someday I will open my eyes

wake up from my coma in my glass coffin

See that everyone and everything I ever loved

is a picture on my phone

Walking through the desert you drool

Loneliness and love start with the same letter

I am walking toward a mirage

because I don’t know any better

la la la la la

I wish Nick loved me like his mom does