3 responses to “Bob Dylan, Black Diamond Bay / H ακτή των μαύρων διαμαντιών ”

1. Reblogged this on Hellenic Canadian Literature.

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2. This Greek translation of the Bob Dylan’s song ”Black Diamond Bay” με τον ελληνικό τίτλο ”Η ακτή των μαύρων διαμαντιών” has been published in the collective poetry anthology with the title ”34 physicians write poetry” of the medical publishing company ΑΤΗΕΝΙΑΝ SCIENCE PUBLISHER of Mrs. Eleni Perivolaropoulou.

   © 2022 Εκδόσεις ΑΤΗΕΝΙΑΝ SCIENCE PUBISHEΕR Mrs. Eleni Perivolaropoulou.

   Ο τίτλος του μεταφρασμένου ποιήματος στο δημοσευμένο κείμενο στις σελιδες 23 – 25 έχει ως εξής:

   Η ΑΚΤΗ ΤΩΝ ΜΑΥΡΩΝ ΔΙΑΜΑΝΤΙΩΝ Black Diamond Bay, ένα ποίημα του Νομπελίστα Λογοτεχνίας 2016 Bob Dylan με τη μορφή τραγουδιού.

   It’s a cinematic tour de force, a dreamed narrative from a movie that you’ve never quite seen, hovering just beyond the horizon of your consciousness. You know every cliché, even the ones you’re aware Dylan is inventing as you watch.

   “Art is the perpetual motion of illusion,” Dylan said. Well, this here song is a rolling series of wry and memorable images set against the backdrop of thunder in the distance. “Black Diamond Bay” describes the destruction of a tiny island (following the eruption of a volcano), observed from two perspectives: from a hotel on the island itself and from the narrator’s point of view through a television news report.

   The song essentially describes what the people on the island are doing at the time – often drawing attention to the ironic futility of their actions (for example, one of the islanders is preparing to commit suicide when the volcano erupts and destroys the island).

   The song also describes the news watchers’ indifference to the catastrophes he hears about on Walter Cronkite’s TV newscast, as the narrator goes to get another beer rather than watch the news story about the catastrophe on the island.

   He says “I never did plan to go anyway To Black Diamond Bay.”

   Joseph Conrad’s novel Victory was a major influence on this song, which references many of its themes; the song title, the island, the volcano, the gambling, and the Panama hat are all references to Victory.

   A drawing of Conrad appeared on the back of the album sleeve.

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3. Black Diamond Bay
   Τραγούδι του Μπομπ Ντίλαν

   Στίχοι

   Up on the white veranda
   She wears a necktie and a Panama hat
   Her passport shows a face
   From another time and place
   She looks nothing like that
   And all the remnants of her recent past
   Are scattered in the wild wind
   She walks across the marble floor
   Where a voice from the gambling room is callin’ her to come on in
   She smiles, walks the other way
   As the last ship sails and the moon fades away
   From Black Diamond Bay
   As the morning light breaks open, the Greek comes down
   And he asks for a rope and a pen that will write
   Pardon, monsieur, the desk clerk says
   Carefully removes his fez
   Am I hearing you right
   And as the yellow fog is lifting
   The Greek is quickly heading for the second floor
   She passes him on the spiral staircase
   Thinking he’s the Soviet Ambassador
   She starts to speak, but he walks away
   As the storm clouds rise and the palm branches sway
   On Black Diamond Bay
   A soldier sits beneath the fan
   Doing business with a tiny man who sells him a ring
   Lightning strikes, the lights blow out
   The desk clerk wakes and begins to shout
   Can you see anything
   Then the Greek appears on the second floor
   In his bare feet with a rope around his neck
   While a loser in the gambling room lights up a candle
   Says, open up another deck
   But the dealer says, attendez-vous, s’il vous plait
   As the rain beats down and the cranes fly away
   From Black Diamond Bay
   The desk clerk heard the woman laugh
   As he looked around the aftermath and the soldier got tough
   He tried to grab the woman’s hand
   Said, here’s a ring, it cost a grand
   She said, that ain’t enough
   Then she ran upstairs to pack her bags
   While a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb
   She passed the door that the Greek had locked
   Where a handwritten sign read, do not disturb
   She knocked upon it anyway
   As the sun went down and the music did play
   On Black Diamond Bay
   I’ve got to talk to someone quick
   But the Greek said, go away, and he kicked the chair to the floor
   He hung there from the chandelier
   She cried, help, there’s danger near
   Please open up the door
   Then the volcano erupted
   And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above
   The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner
   Thinking of forbidden love
   But the desk clerk said, it happens every day
   As the stars fell down and the fields burned away
   On Black Diamond Bay
   As the island slowly sank
   The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room
   The dealer said, it’s too late now
   You can take your money, but I don’t know how
   You’ll spend it in the tomb
   The tiny man bit the soldier’s ear
   As the floor caved in and the boiler in the basement blew
   While she’s out on the balcony, where a stranger tells her
   My darling, je vous aime beaucoup
   She sheds a tear and then begins to pray
   As the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away
   From Black Diamond Bay
   I was sitting home alone one night in L.A.
   Watching old Cronkite on the seven o’clock news
   It seems there was an earthquake that
   Left nothing but a Panama hat
   And a pair of old Greek shoes
   Didn’t seem like much was happening
   So I turned it off and went to grab another beer
   Seems like every time you turn around
   There’s another hard-luck story that you’re gonna hear
   And there’s really nothing anyone can say
   And I never did plan to go anyway
   To Black Diamond Bay

   Πηγή: LyricFind
   Τραγουδοποιοί: Dylan Bob / Levy Jacques
   Στίχοι τραγουδιού Black Diamond Bay © Bob Dylan Music Co.

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