Charles Baudelaire's
Fleurs du mal / Flowers of Evil
Spleen
"When the low and heavy sky presses like a lid
On the groaning heart a prey to slow cares,
And when from a horizon holding the whole orb
There is cast at us a dark sky more sad than night;
When earth is changed to a damp dungeon,
Where Hope, like a bat,
Flees beating the walls with its timorous wings,
And knocking its head on the rotting ceilings;
When the rain spreads out vast trails
Like the bars of a huge prison,
And when, like sordid spiders, silent people stretch
Threads to the depths of our brains,
Suddenly the bells jump furiously
And hurl to the sky a horrible shriek,
Like some wandering landless spirits
Starting an obstinate complaint.
- And long hearses, with no drums, no music,
File slowly through my soul: Hope,
Conquered, cries, and despotic atrocious Agony
Plants on my bent skull its flag of black."
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Aaaaah aaaaah...
Picture yourself... in a boat... on a river,
With... tangerine trees and marmalade skies!
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl! With kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers... of yellow, and green,
Towering over your head!
Look for the girl, with the sun, in her eyes...
And she's gone!
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Aaaaah aaaaah...
Follow her down... to a bridge, by a fountain,
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies,
Everyone smiles, as you drift, past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high.
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back, with your head, in the clouds,
And you're gone!
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Aaaaah aaaaah...
Picture yourself... on a train... in a station,
With... plasticine porters, with looking glass ties,
Suddenly! Someone! Is there! At the turnstyle!
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Fleurs du mal / Flowers of Evil
Spleen
"When the low and heavy sky presses like a lid
On the groaning heart a prey to slow cares,
And when from a horizon holding the whole orb
There is cast at us a dark sky more sad than night;
When earth is changed to a damp dungeon,
Where Hope, like a bat,
Flees beating the walls with its timorous wings,
And knocking its head on the rotting ceilings;
When the rain spreads out vast trails
Like the bars of a huge prison,
And when, like sordid spiders, silent people stretch
Threads to the depths of our brains,
Suddenly the bells jump furiously
And hurl to the sky a horrible shriek,
Like some wandering landless spirits
Starting an obstinate complaint.
- And long hearses, with no drums, no music,
File slowly through my soul: Hope,
Conquered, cries, and despotic atrocious Agony
Plants on my bent skull its flag of black."
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Aaaaah aaaaah...
Picture yourself... in a boat... on a river,
With... tangerine trees and marmalade skies!
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl! With kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers... of yellow, and green,
Towering over your head!
Look for the girl, with the sun, in her eyes...
And she's gone!
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Aaaaah aaaaah...
Follow her down... to a bridge, by a fountain,
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies,
Everyone smiles, as you drift, past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high.
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back, with your head, in the clouds,
And you're gone!
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Aaaaah aaaaah...
Picture yourself... on a train... in a station,
With... plasticine porters, with looking glass ties,
Suddenly! Someone! Is there! At the turnstyle!
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.