Michaela Melian – A Song for Europe

*If you have just lost or broken up with someone don’t listen to this song.

*Just don’t alright, skip to the next song.

I’m sure Brian Ferry wasn’t the international jet setting glamorous star with the world as his oyster when he scribed the lyrics to A Song for Europe, but he looked the part, we all believed him and it eventually became his own life.

This Roxy Music cover version sits as the definitive downer on the end of (old Peel favorites) F.S.K. member Michaela Melian’s not so crushingly depressing Baden Baden album which the ever wonderfull No Sweat Nights alerted us to the pleasures of.

The dark European vocals of Michaela Melian pull an entire scale into just one tone in the stark empty space of A Song for Europe and can only bring comparisons to Nico in its goosepimple inducing fatality.

The story telling grips you into personal embraces giving cinematic vision as your gondola glides through obsessive replays of past love, and an empty now.

Nothing is left but yesterday.

If you can let yourself drift into this addictive lament it is the most tragically beautiful song.

*xxjfg void all responsibility for any suicides, Prozac addiction or spells of heartbroken lamenting the listener is likely to have on repeated plays of this song.

What do you expect from something that sounds like Nico?

Italo fucking disco?

Neither did we but just in case here is the dark ones classic Chelsea Girl given an unexpected new direction.

Stereo Total – Chelsea Girl (Thieves Like Us mix)

Sticking with Nico’s bleak delivery and harrowing imagery of drug addiction which eventually overcame her own life Stereo Total and Theives Like Us take Nico to the disco.

What is Do The Bambi anyway? Bambi is fucking sad, it’s about a baby deer who some selfish (c)hunter killed the parents of. Unhinged do you go out and shoot the murderers? Yeh! Bambi the revenge! Go psycho! Do The Bambi!

Do the Moroder is a different thing all together that probably involves a stick on mustache, tons of coke and an arpeggiator for 22 or so minutes. Not unsimilar to taking Nico to the disco then.

Am I a Goth? I’m dancing but feel overcome with a melancholic sense of tragedy, what’s that about?

Luckily Theives Like Us have the answer.

Thieves Like Us – Drugs in My Body

Argh, don’t look into his eyes!

Too late.

Ah, that’s what it’s all about.

Spiraling out of control and tune, there is a word called flamsig which I think describes part of this purple haze state. They nearly loose it but manages just about to keep it together in a heartfelt and fashion which makes us smile. Check out the amazing and surely deliberate glitch in the vocal recording, like a creepy pissed karaoke star joining in a bit too soon.

Unhinged as hell Drugs in My Body is like a clap happy Ween taking Daft Punk to the disco. If they take Cut Copy with them and they are in a dancing mood then we might be near.

Thieves Like Us sing-song happily away they are the life of the party, parties like this kind of scare me. They sound like people would fall over and hurt themselves, and no one would talk to me about computers, comics or my obsession with german music. I think it’s all an act and really
Thieves Like Us are nice boys who I could drink tea and dunk biscuits with while discussing dodgy old synths. They are right though, the days go slow and the nights too fast.

While your at the Thieves Like Us website, check out the awesome Fass, bound to put a smile on your slack living never sleeping party animal face.

And we all lived happily ever after.

p.s. If your in Berlin at Bergstubl on Veterananstrasse on Wed nite
from 10pm Thieves Like Us will be playing records, pop along and say hello form us.

Epilogue -
This post is tagged with cover version depressing downer europe favorites finetunes glamorous star international jet italo lyrics to michaela moroder music cover oyster roxy music