matt’s music blog

I know this is going to be a bit of a non-sequitor. Especially when you look at the other songs we’ve been talking about. It comes from the soundtrack to the movie version of Evita, a musical written by Tim Rice and Andrew Llyod Webber, based on the life of Eva Peron

This song is an intro to the musical, sung by the character Che, who is played by Antonio Banderas (who’s arguably the spirit of Che Guevara). Anyway, we start out pretty simple with a little Spanish guitar lick, and get right into the song.

Oh what a circus, oh what a show
Argentina has gone to town
Over the death of an actress called Eva Peron
We’ve all gone crazy
Mourning all day and mourning all night
Falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right

Oh what an exit, that’s how to go
When they’re ringing your curtain down
Demand to be buried like Eva Peron
It’s quite a sunset
And good for the country in a roundabout way
We’ve made the front page of all the world’s papers today

“We’ve all gone crazy, mourning all day and mourning all night, falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right” Is a really great line. It sets the sort of cynical tone that Che exhibits through out the song. It picks up a little bit, adding maybe… a harp in the background, and we move back into the verse.

But who is this Santa Evita?
Why all this howling, hysterical sorrow?
What kind of goddess has lived among us?
How will we ever get by without her?

We start to pick up instrumentation here, with the addition of some more percussion, and a string section.

She had her moments, she had some style
The best show in town was the crowd
Outside the Casa Rosada crying, “Eva Peron”
But that’s all gone now
As soon as the smoke from the funeral clears
We’re all gonna see and how, she did nothing for years

Once again it reinforces the cynical attitude of Che. Then the chorus, which is all in Latin (sung by the crowd) and based on a real chant called “Salve regina” You can look it up if you want, but I’m guessing, unless you’re very well educated, you’ll have no idea what it says. So I’ll just omit those lyrics. Then, another verse.

You let down your people Evita
You were supposed to have been immortal
That’s all they wanted, not much to ask for
But in the end you could not deliver

A timpani roll and then Bang! We’re thrown in to the awesome rock-ballad section of the song. Abandoning Spanish guitars for electric, the addition of some rockin piano, and ethnic percussion, for a trap set.

Sing you fools, but you got it wrong
Enjoy your prayers because you haven’t got long
Your queen is dead, your king is through
And she’s not coming back to you

Show business kept us all alive
Since seventeen October 1945
But the star has gone, the glamour’s worn thin
That’s a pretty bad state for a state to be in

(Notice in the background of this section, the wailing guitar that accents the other electric)

Instead of government we had a stage
Instead of ideas, a prima donna’s rage
Instead of help we were given a crowd
She didn’t say much, but she said it loud

Sing you fools, but you got it wrong
Enjoy your prayers because you haven’t got long
Your queen is dead, your king is through
She’s not coming back to you

Then, suddenly, we go back to the chorus, in Latin. And with lush sweeping strings that reprise the melody, we are taken into Eva’s section.

Don’t cry for me Argentina
For I am ordinary, unimportant
And undeserving of such attention
Unless we all are, I think we all are
So share my glory, so share my coffin
So share my glory, so share my coffin

And as the song fades out, we’re left with Che’s final words:

It’s our funeral too

Over all, I pretty much love this song. Antonio Banderas does a wonderful job singing. I’ve actually, never seen the actual movie. But I’ve listened to the Soundtrack plenty of times, and enjoyed it quite a lot. I’d recommend it to anyone that likes musicals.

And, so, in parting, I’d like to attach a youtube video to the song, so you can actually see Antonio in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S39iFdZEiDA&feature=channel

-James out