As some of you may or may not know, I live in Poland (well, I've always lived in Poland). And though certainly I do not identify, and do not want to be associated with most of the cultural, social, political aspects of this country, there's one thing that poles really knew how to do back in the day. And that was making music.
Especially the New Wave genre (is that an east-european thing to be good at that?).
Polish rock, pop, blues, jazz scenes are, as far as I know, very niche or non-existent outside our frontiers. Which I find quite unforgivable ("oh God, why do you deprive all the good people of this earth the magic of bands like Maanam, Breakout or Lech Janerka?!"), if you ask me. So I thought I might shed some light on all of this amazing music, that is being overlooked by most music fans, solely because it had the misfortune of being made in this god forsaken country.
Every post will focus on a certain band, artist, album or song, with no particular chronological order (I might start with something from the 60s, then something from the 80s, something more modern, 50s, etc), though I will try to keep consecutive posts to be around the same artists (one day an overall overview, the next day their greatest album, the next one my favourite song, etc).
Sometimes if I'll feel like it, I might write something more in the likes of an essay about a particular era of polish music, or a particular genre, etc, but most of the posts will surely focus on bands or songs themselves. So if you're looking for a thorough analysis of history, genres, political and social context, you'll have to wait at least a couple of weeks until I get tired of writing about bands and get more into the context of it all. Keep in mind that – for now – this is supposed to be more of a showcase of the artists, and not a compendium of knowledge about Poland (though I will get. into socio-political context when needed to understand a song).
Starting off tomorrow, or after tomorrow I'll try to post something every day, though there'll certainly be exceptions from that.
Thread sneak peak – Kult "Poland"
But to give you guys a snippet of what will be happening around here, here's a song, that gave name to this thread. It's aptly named "
Poland" (earlier versions were called "
I live in Poland").
The song is coming from one of the most popular polish bands from the 80s (and still has a cult following) –
Kult (polish for "cult"). The lead singer of Kult, Kazik Staszewski, will be one of the most heavily showcased artists in this thread, as he had had multiple bands, all of which were highly influential and popular here since the 80s, up until now.
The band was known mostly for it's unusual core lineup, which consisted of drums, bass, guitar and 2 saxophones, a trumpet and a trombone, as well as for Kazik's often provocative and politicaly engaged lyrics.
It was written in 1987, for "
Posłuchaj, to do ciebie" ("Listen, it's for you") , the band's first album. But was not featured on any album until the 1989 live "Tan" (short for "dance"), and the 1992 reedition of the first album. The reason for this was that the communist party ruling Poland at the time was not happy with the song's message and did not greenlight the release.
The lyrics showcase our national sport, which is to grumble all the time and loathe everything about our country.
The lyrical ego is talking about the ugliness of towns, countrysides, buildings and people around him, and how that affects the mentality of the people living in Poland.
Ending each verse with the chorus that proudly (or tragically, you never know) shouts "Poland! I live in Poland! I live in Poland! I'm living right here!"
Anyway, here it is (I'll translate the lyrics below):
Before you read the lyrics:
Sopot is a seaside town, the most popular place to go on summer vacation, and
Kutno is some town somewhere in Poland, which I've never heard anyone talking about, besides Kazik in this song. "Milk shop" was an expression used to describe 24/7 liquor stores.
Lyrics:
Morning daybreak, morning daybreak shining
When I'm strolling through Sopot's embankment
On a beach all dirty-yellow in colour
The Baltic Sea smells of crude oil
Morning pavements
When I walk, I don't talk to anyone
How is it on a Sunday morning around here?
After the Saturday parties the pavements are covered in puke
Poland
I live in Poland
I live in Poland
I live right here
here
here
here
here
Afternoon concerts
Are full of brain-deads working security service
They're looking around, because their hands are itching
They love to hit and beat more and more every day
The evening adventures begin again
When I walk up the stoned stairs
Plenty of drunken bums are trying to provoke me
We'll meet at the church the next day anyway
Poland
I live in Poland
I live in Poland
I live right here
here
here
here
here
Night milk shops
I walk up and look what's happening in front
The rabble is putting fists up to a guy's face
They demand a death sentence
And then the morning trains come again
I just stand there and look at all the freaks in uniforms
Have you ever been at the Kutno railway station at night?
It's so ugly and dirty there that your eyes can take no more and crack
Poland
I live in Poland
I live in Poland
I live right here
here
here
here
here
Night milk shops
I walk up and look what's happening in front
The rabble is putting fists up to a guy face
They demand a death sentence for him
And then the morning trains come again
I just stand there and look at all the freaks in uniforms
Have you ever been at one of our railway stations at night?
It's so ugly and dirty there that your eyes crack