Ehresman recalls: "When I moved permanently to Mexico in February of 2015, I really wanted to do my homework and try to ensure that I wouldn't inadvertently have 'Ugly American' moments in the country that was my new home......As part of this, I had a lot of occasion to think about cultural differences.....One thing I read over and over again was how extremely important family is here, which led me to be struck with the irony of a person like myself, who had an unhappy upbringing and who now has no contact with surviving family members, moving to a country where family is the most highly-valued aspect of life."
He continues: "And so I wrote a spoken word piece, with musical backing, called 'I Have No Blood' (also on this collection) that was recited in English, in which I sorted through my feelings on this subject.......But then I had the idea of doing a version in Spanish......After I had a translation of the lyrics donated to me, I quickly realized that it would need an entirely different musical backing, given how all the lyrical lines were now of different lengths, with emphasis on different syllables, etc."
Ehresman's adventurous inclinations then gave him the idea to take the experiment even further: "Since I was going to have to completely re-do the music for the version in Spanish, I got this crazy notion to try to construct the whole thing as a classical cantata......Now I'm a totally self-taught musician, and can't read or write a note of music, and this--as you can imagine--presented a serious obstacle to trying to compose a classical piece of music......But I thought there was no harm in trying, and soon found myself really burning with the desire to make it work......After several months of working on it, I finally got it to the point where I could start with the vocal parts......As a person who spoke no Spanish when I got here and who is still unforgivably rudimentary with it, it took some real study to try to pronounce all the words correctly with my Texas gringo accent.......At any rate, I really enjoyed the challenge of it, and I'm pretty proud of how it came out, although of course you guys will have to judge it for yourselves."
[verso #1]
Me he trasladado a su país, donde la sangre es el mortero,
La onda en la tela de la cohesión social,
el pegamento que sustituye lo que el gobierno no
era buena en proveer a las personas en necesidad.
[verso #2]
Yo me paro fuera del sistema de los siglos—
un hombre sin familia (aunque algunos todavía respiran);
Una historia tan larga para contar a los extraños ...
Es mucho más fácil decir que mi sangre está toda muerta.
[coro #1]
Porque no tengo sangre, pero aún camino en la tierra;
Para ti, soy un fantasma que acecha tu ciudad;
Una idea extraña, una concepción preocupante;
Un destino del que preferirías no pensar nunca.
[verso #3]
Linaje es algo que nunca he seleccionado;
Una cosa que no voy a dejar que defina quién soy.
La familia que amo es la que yo he escogido;
La sangre que compartimos es la sangre que derramaremos
uno para el otro—así que sabe que estoy nadando en sangre.
[coro #2]
Porque no tengo sangre, pero aún camino en la tierra;
Para ti, soy un fantasma que acecha tu ciudad;
Una idea extraña, una concepción preocupante;
Un destino del que preferirías no pensar nunca. Pero
la sangre que compartimos es la sangre que derramaremos
uno para el otro, así que sabe que estoy nadando en sangre.
La sangre que compartimos es la sangre nos derramaremos
uno para el otro, así que sabe que estoy nadando en sangre.
--click on the song "I Have No Blood", also on this collection, to see the English version of the lyrics.
credits
from The Best of.....Songs of Possibilities,
released December 2, 2017
Walter Ehresman: vocals, keyboards, keyboard percussion, 8-string electric bass, electric guitar, sequencing.
Called "the quintessential Austin DIY artist" by famed local disc jockey Charlie Martin , Walter Ehresman was an eccentric
presence in the Austin music scene from the '80s until his 2015 move to Mexico. A prolific songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording artist...and a restless musical spirit, always looking for something new, expressed with fearlessly honest, socially-conscious lyrics....more
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