Listen

I see some ships approaching port, how beautiful they seem to me,
ships that sail across the waters,
rending my faint heart asunder.

The one sails on a south wind, help, o Christ and Holy Mary,
another on a north wind, white sails filled and fully stretched.
The third, the smallest of them all, is by far the loveliest;
my beloved’s aboard that vessel and he’s shouting, ‘Slack away there’
‘I’ve slacked away, my love, slacked away.
You were young and I seduced you.
I’ve slacked away and changed my tack, love is fickle, fancy free.’

Translated by John Leatham

Βλέπω καράβια κι έρχονται

Bλέπω καράβια κι έρχονται, ωραία που μου φαίνονται
καραβάκια π’ αρμενίζουν
την καρδούλα μου ραγίζουν.

To ’να αρμενίζει με νοτιά, βόηθα Xριστέ και Παναγιά
τ’ άλλο με τραμουντάνα, άσπρη μου παχιά σουλτάνα.
Tο τρίτο το μικρότερο απ’ όλα εμορφότερο
έχει το πουλί μου μέσα και φωνάζει εγιαλέσα.
Έλεσα μάτια μ’ έλεσα, μικρή ’σουν και σε γέλασα
έλεσα και τιραμόλα η αγάπη ’ναι μαργιόλα.

Information

Collaborators

Albums

Notes

Local dance danced during the Carnival period called “apokriatikos”.

Recording information

Studio recording, 1980. Domna Samiou taped the song in Skiathos, sung by Yannis Parisis and Diamantis Myrodis, in 1975.

Watch the song by a group of men in Skiathos

Member Comments

0 Comments

Post a comment


up to 2000
Login to post a comment

See also

d21_badge
Song
I See Some Ships Approaching Port
I see some ships approaching port, how beautiful they seem to me, ships that sail across the waters, rending my faint heart...
d26_19_badge
Song
The Great North Wind Blew
The Great North Wind blew throughout the land and all those, kalé, all those ships that heard him made it safely into shore...
d20_badge
Song
All Attend at Church
Easter Dance All attend –for sake of Christ– all attend at church to exclaim that ‘Christ is Risen!’ and to hear the Word. As for me, th...
d12_badge
Song
Arta’s Βridge
A team of forty stonemasons and sixty prentice workers were putting up a bridge across the river close by Arta. The whole d...
d26_31_badge
Song
Fishermen, Have You Any Fish
– Hey fishermen, have you any fish, any fish or squid or lobsters? – We’ve got sardines all golden, as golden as the maid ...
d26_36_badge
Song
May Is Come
May is come and bids me reap but for his sake I shall not go and darken in the sun. May, dear May with the flowers and s...
d20_47_badge
Song
Song of Saint George
Easter Dance O sainted George and honoured master, rider of the grey horse, accoutred with a trusty sword and with a golden lance, it is...
d26_18_badge
Song
Sweet Slender Panagiota
– Panagióta kai amán, amán, amán, Panagióta so slender and sweet, can’t we in the courtyard meet. – I can’t come down to m...
d23_badge
Song
The Son of the Armenian
The son of the Armenian boasted, my beautiful blue eyes, to a pasha, his master, sing my lovely nightingale. – My master, I...
d23_badge
Song
We Kissed Each Other in the Night
We kissed each other in the night, and who could see us then? I’ll tell you, dear, the star saw us, and dawn saw us as well....