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Ghosts Of Paris

from Holy Drinker by Robert Sunday

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about

7.One of the strange things about Ermanno Olmi's film is that while the interiors and costumes are generally faithful to the book's 1934 setting, all the exterior scenes take place in 1980s Paris, which gives a strange disconnect to proceedings. I don't know if this was deliberate or just because of budgetary constraints. Whatever, it renders the characters as ghosts still haunting the streets of Paris fifty years on, and that accords with a certain interpretation of the story, that all these people that Andreas meets, particularly those from his past, are phantoms that haunt him in his present state. Or perhaps Andreas is already dying, and these characters, events, miracles, are what he envisages in his dying state.
After the liaison with Gabby he makes another attempt to pay his debt, but meets an old friend from the mines called Wojtech, who says he needs some money to keep him out of jail. It's a lie, he just wants some money to get drunk, but a lie Andreas seems happy to go along with. They spend the next couple of days drinking and whoring. Broke again Andreas heads for the Seine, but meets once more the old man from the start of the story, who doesn't recognise him, and gives him another 200 francs. With this money Andreas holes up in a favourite restaurant for four days, eating and drinking too much. When Sunday comes he doesn't have enough money to pay Thérese, but he heads to the bistro opposite the church anyway to meet up again with Wojtech.

lyrics

Neath the bridge where I go to sleep
By the river stood St Therese
I said I'm your father and you're my child
D'you see the scars in my tired eyes
Oh child, oh child, I've let myself slide
Tonight I'll cite the horror of my ghosts of Paris
The men born again
The whores and clerics
The long lost friend

Sunday came and I tried again
To pay my debt but I met a friend
He was short on luck since they closed the mines
I helped him out and we drank a while
Oh child, your eyes witness my demise
You're by my side as I go with my ghosts of Paris
I'm lost on the breeze
With shopgirls and tailors
And St Therese

All these sinners, all these saints
Are they phantoms of what remains
Now I'm beat and hollowed out by life
These miracles are just dying lights
My life unwinds before my eyes
As I fall right into the arms of my ghosts of Paris
The slain from the mines
Sluggers and dancers
And caroline

credits

from Holy Drinker, released September 4, 2020

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Robert Sunday London, UK

Robert Sunday is a solo acoustic singer-songwriter who combines elements of traditional folk,americana,poetry,and cinematic allusions.He played his first gig at Cecil Sharp House in March 2011 on the release of his debut EP 'Butterfly Hairslide' on the Rif Mountain label.Since then he has played regularly in London.This summer saw the release of his long awaited second EP 'Kith And Kin'. ... more

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