Lyr Req/ADD: Take the Water or the Wine

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Take the Water or the Wine
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Oct 24 - 05:25 PM

[e-mail]
It's the song
The White Rose of Athens:
"Goodbye my love till then,
"Till the White rose blooms
again

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Take the Water or the Wine
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Sep 20 - 08:42 AM

The White Rose of Athens

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: The Water or the Wine
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 05 Nov 16 - 08:36 AM

Hi, Nana definitely did record the song 'Take the Water or the Wine', I remember it very well being on an old 45rpm vinyl disc which my parents gave me to play when I was about 10, so she must have recorded it in the mid-Sixties. I've not been able to find her singing it on search engines either. Such a glorious Greek tune and lyrics too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: The Water or the Wine
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 10 May 13 - 07:50 AM

Sorry again, I posted an hour ago and it's disappeared... Anyway, thanks to Mick for sending me a link to the Beverley Sisters' version; now I recognise the tune. It is indeed the White Rose Of Athens, but with different lyrics, not the original translation which goes "When the white rose blooms again..." - as here: The White Rose Of Athens. It looks like Newell wrote a new, unrelated set of lyrics using the old tune to create The Water And The Wine.

Mystery solved...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: The Water or the Wine
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 09 May 13 - 08:22 PM

Sorry I'm late - been away - but I have nothing to add anyway. The song rings no bells with me, from the lyrics posted here; perhaps if I could have heard the tune it might have helped.

Newell translated a number of Hadjidakis' songs, most notaby The White Rose Of Athens, so it would make sense that this could be another of his translations. But those translations did not always match the original lyrics in storyline/theme, which explains why the lyrics above ring no bell with me... Sorry!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: The Water or the Wine
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 05:24 PM

I had one further thought on the Nana Mouskouri connection. She had a television show here in the UK (1971-74 according to IMDB, more or less when I thought it was) and I wonder if the song was the theme tune for the programme. I'd heard the tune often enough to remember the chorus tune from the words Murpholly posted, and if I didn't have it on an LP, a theme tune is the only other way I can think of that I would have heard it enough.

Mick

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Water or the Wine
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 12:16 PM

Excellent work, gentlemen. Thank you both very much.

I wonder why Spotify got stingy like that on me. I wonder how much other music I'm missing.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Water or the Wine-SPOTIFY HELP!!
From: Murpholly
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 11:49 AM

Many many thanks. Yes that is the one. I may well have heard the Beverley sisters recording, but my brain still says Nana. I saw her once live in concert many years ago so perhaps the senility gene has brought her forward to the front of my remembrance. I always new Mud Cat worked.

Subject: ADD: The Water or the Wine (Newell, Hadjidakis)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 06:50 AM

Joe - as luck has it, Spotify now have a test version of a client for Linux, so I've loaded it on my working machine and signed up. The song is fine here, so here are the lyrics.

I found the composers on a photo of the Beverley Sisters single, and assuming that the Hajidakis is Manos Hadjidakis, the wikipedia article says "n 1959, Hatzidakis met Nana Mouskouri, his first "ideal interpreter", a skilled vocalist who shaped the sounds of his music", so it's not unlikely that she sang the song.

Mick

---

TAKE THE WATER OR THE WINE
(Newell, Hadjidakis)

  Chorus:
  Take the water or the wine
  Choose the rich man or the poor man
  Take the water or the wine
  But be sure that you're in love.

There is a song they always sing in Athens
Whenever girls are undecided who to choose.
They always say to every girl in Athens
You win a rich man, but perhaps your heart will lose.

  Chorus

Perhaps your love can only bring you roses,
But who can say just what a simple rose is worth.
Maybe one day if you will take his roses
Your love will make of him the richest man on earth.

  Chorus

  Chorus

  Water or wine
  Water or wine


Source: The Beverley Sisters, LP: Green Fields. Also 45:Columbia DB 4762, 1961

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Water or the Wine-SPOTIFY HELP!!
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 06:42 AM

Strange - I'm sure I used the have Murpholly's song on a Nana Mouskouri album (at least it's her voice I hear in my head with the words), but a quick look at her (prolific) discography doesn't find it under that title. (Though I may not have looked hard enough). Sadly I got rid of the albums years ago, so I can't check.

Mick

Subject: Lyr Add: YOUR HEART IS FREE (Nana Mouskouri)
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 05:22 AM

YOUR HEART IS FREE
(as sung by Nana Mouskouri)

1- Your heart is free, just like the wind
Your hands reach out, but not for mine, now
You built your castle out of sand
I taste the water, not the wine, now
What went wrong, tell me how
How could you do this thing to me, my love ?

2- Your heart is free, just like the wind
The ring you're wearing isn't mine, now
I feel you're with me everywhere
And yet, you're only in my mind, now
What went wrong, tell me how
How could you do this thing to me, my love ?

Repeat 1

3- Your heart is free, just like the wind
I was the giver, not the taker
We have a life, so we must live
Although we cannot be together
What went wrong, tell me how
How could you do this thing to me, my love

Your heart is free, just like the wind, my love

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Water or the Wine-SPOTIFY HELP!!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Apr 13 - 05:10 AM

Well, darn. I played the song just fine this morning. Now Spotify tells me the song is not available in the United States, so I can't play it.
Can somebody in another continent go to Spotify and transcribe the song? Thanks.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Take (?taste) the water or the wine
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Apr 13 - 06:38 PM

Hi, Murpholly-

It's called "Water or the Wine." I found it on Spotify on a 1996 album called Green Fields by the Beverley Sisters, who were prolific producers of easy listening recordings 1950s and 1960s in the UK. The song sounds very Greek, and I wonder if it's a translation of a Greek song. None of their other recordings seem to have Greek roots.

If it's an easy listening song in any language known to humankind, one would think that Nana Mouskouri must have made a recording of it - but I have yet to find the Nana recording.

Transcription coming up, maybe in an hour or so very late tonight. Chores to do first.

-Joe-

Subject: Lyr Req: Take (?taste) the water or the wine
From: Murpholly
Date: 24 Apr 13 - 01:54 PM

This chorus is ringing round my little brain. Can anyone identify? Is it a Nana Maskourie song?
Take the water or the wine
Choose the rich man or the poor man
Take the water or the wine
But be sure that you're in love