The band's first two albums, End of the World and It's Five O'Clock, combined a very '60s sounding Euro-pop-rock with Greek folk music elements. The former album featured the song "Rain and Tears", a reworking of Pachelbel's Canon in D major. The song was a minor hit in the United Kingdom, but did far better in France, where the band was based, as well as the rest of Europe. Other European hits included "Marie Jolie", "I Want to Live", and "Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall" from 1969 and 1970 respectively.
The band began to record their crowning achievement in 1970: a musical adaptation of the biblical Book of Revelations, entitled 666 - The Apocalypse of St. John. Relations between Roussos, Vangelis and Sideras were not good at the time, and continued to worsen before the album's creation. However, the group was contractually obligated to release a third album, and went into the studio in 1970 to create 666.
Essentially, 666 was Vangelis' concept, created with an outside lyricist, Costas Ferris. The music that Vangelis was creating for 666 was much more psychedelic and progressive rock oriented than anything the band had done before. This did not sit well with the other band members, who wished to continue in the pop direction that had brought them success. Further, Roussos was being groomed for a solo career, and pressure from the record company for the band to produce another hit single did not help. In essence, the band broke up during the completion of 666. Vangelis finished the album primarily on his own with assistance from studio musicians.
Immediately afterwards, Vangelis engaged in a long fight with Mercury over the content of the album. The record company, in particular, objected to the song "∞" (infinity), which consisted of actress Irene Papas chanting the words "I was, I am, I am to come" in various stages of orgiastic ecstasy, while Vangelis accompanied her on percussion. However, the double-album length of 666 and the musical experimentation, as well as the subject matter, also exacerbated Mercury's ire. After Roussos and Sideras had already embarked on solo careers, Mercury finally agreed to release 666 two years after its completion, and it came out in 1972.
Strangely enough, 666 was the only Aphrodite's Child album to make any impact in America. The blood-red cover with the letters 666 prominently displayed in black and white was striking, and brought immediate accusations of occultism from various quarters. Any suspicions of occultism could be dispersed by simply reading the lyrics, which were fairly faithfully based around the Book of Revelations, but the accusations undoubtedly helped sell the album in the United States. The album met with less controversy overseas and sold reasonably well on its own merits.
The music itself was an impressive display of Vangelis' abilities, combining psychedelic and progressive rock with ethnic instruments, choral chanting, recitations, and very advanced use of synthesizers and keyboards for the time. In time the album became recognized as one of the most important early progressive rock works, and a defining example of the concept album. 666 also made Vangelis an underground name to watch, and earned him an offer from Jon Anderson to join Yes. Vangelis turned down the offer in order to concentrate on a solo career. However, he and Anderson later created several duet albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
After the band split, both Vangelis and Demis Roussos pursued successful solo careers, Roussos as a pop singer and Vangelis as one of the pioneers in progressive electronic music. Kolouris worked with both on occasion. Lucas Sideras pursued a less successful solo career, releasing the single "Rising Sun" after the break-up.
Discography
End of the World (1968)
It's Five O'Clock (1969)
666 (The Apocalypse Of John,13/18) (1971)
Best Of Aphrodite's Child (1980)
Aphrodite's Child's Greatest Hits (1995)
The Complete Collection (Aphrodite's Child) (1996)
Babylon the Great (2002)
Song Highlights:
"Four Horsemen", from the album 666, was a minor hit on FM radio in the United States, receiving AOR airplay to this day. "Babylon", from the same album, was released as a single, and found similar acceptance on AOR radio in the 1970's. "Hic and Nunc" and "Break", from the same album, were also tried out as singles but did not chart well at the time.
"Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall" - the final single before the release of 666 and the last of the band's singles to chart significantly in their European home base.
"Rain and Tears" - based on Pachelbel's Canon in D major, this song was probably their biggest hit as a single release.
"It's Five o Clock" and "Such a Funny Night" also charted in Europe. All of the above songs can be found on various compilation/greatest hits discs. The band's singles were aimed squarely at the pop market, and do not bear any significant resemblance to the music on 666.
Quando L'Amore Diventa Poesia
Aphrodite's Child Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Questa notte diventa poesia
La mia voce sarà
Una lacrima di nostalgia
Non ti chiederò mai
Perché da me sei andata via
Per me è giusto tutto quello che fai
Io ti amo e gridarlo vorrei
Io ti amo e gridarlo vorrei
Ma stasera non posso nemmeno parlare perché piangerei
Io canto la tristezza che è in me
Questa notte sarà melodia
Piango ancora per te
Anche se ormai è una follia
Non ti chiedo perché
Adesso tu non sei più mia
Per me è giusto tutto quello che fai
Io ti amo e gridarlo vorrei
Ma la voce dell'anima canta piano lo sai
Io ti amo e gridarlo vorrei
Ma stasera non posso nemmeno parlare perché piangerei.
The lyrics to Aphrodite's Child's Quando L'Amore Diventa Poesia (When Love Becomes Poetry) are a lament from a person who has lost the love of their life. The singer begins by stating that they sing their love for the person, and that tonight it becomes poetry. They recognize that their voice will be filled with nostalgia and sadness, but they will not ask the person why they left. They accept whatever the person does as it is "right" for them, but they still want to shout their love for them out loud.
The singer becomes emotional and cannot even speak because they would cry. The night turns melancholy for them as they sing melodies of sadness and love for the person who has left. They cry for the person, even though it may seem like foolishness to continue doing so, and they do not ask why the person left because it is of no use. Despite the pain, the love is strong, and the singer wants to shout from the rooftops how much they love the person. The soulful voice of the singer portrays the helplessness and internal conflict of the emotions they are experiencing.
In summary, Quando L'Amore Diventa Poesia is a sad ballad about lost love. The singer's voice is filled with emotions, and they sing their heart out with melancholic melodies that express the sadness of losing someone they loved deeply. Despite feeling helpless, they still want to declare their love out loud.
Line by Line Meaning
Io canto il mio amore per te
I sing about my love for you
Questa notte diventa poesia
Tonight becomes poetry
La mia voce sarà
My voice will be
Una lacrima di nostalgia
A tear of nostalgia
Non ti chiederò mai
I will never ask you
Perché da me sei andata via
Why you left me
Per me è giusto tutto quello che fai
Everything you do is right for me
Io ti amo e gridarlo vorrei
I love you and I want to scream it
Ma la voce dell'anima canta piano lo sai
But you know the voice of the soul sings softly
Io ti amo e gridarlo vorrei
I love you and I want to scream it
Ma stasera non posso nemmeno parlare perché piangerei
But tonight I can't even speak because I would cry
Io canto la tristezza che è in me
I sing the sadness that is within me
Questa notte sarà melodia
Tonight will be melody
Piango ancora per te
I still cry for you
Anche se ormai è una follia
Even though it's madness now
Non ti chiedo perché
I don't ask you why
Adesso tu non sei più mia
Now you are no longer mine
Per me è giusto tutto quello che fai
Everything you do is right for me
Io ti amo e gridarlo vorrei
I love you and I want to scream it
Ma la voce dell'anima canta piano lo sai
But you know the voice of the soul sings softly
Io ti amo e gridarlo vorrei
I love you and I want to scream it
Ma stasera non posso nemmeno parlare perché piangerei
But tonight I can't even speak because I would cry
Contributed by Brooklyn V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
themoon147
I sing, my love for you
on this night it becomes poetry,
my voice will be
a teardrop of nostalgia.
I’ll never ask you
why you went away from me,
for me, everything you do is fine.
I love you and would like to shout it
but the voice of the soul sings softly, you know it.
I love you and would like to shout it
but this evening I can’t even speak because I would cry.
I sing, the sadness that’s in me
on this night will be a melody,
I still cry for you
even if, by now, it’s madness.
I don’t ask you why
now, you’re no longer mine,
for me, everything you do is fine.
I love you and would like to shout it
but the voice of the soul sings softly, you know it.
I love you and would like to shout it
but this evening I can’t even speak because I would cry.
I love you, I love you.
English lyrics
Maria Georgina Silva
Demis Roussos é nosso patrimônio tombado. Voz encantadora .
rosa gagliardi
Voce celestiale . Da non dimenticare
Carlos Ferreira
Quer voz linda sempre gostei muinto
Maria Tereza Huber
Lindo!!!!! Lindo!!!!
Rosa Infantino
L'ho amato tantissimo e lo amo ancora!
Daniele Ferri
La voce di Demis è una carezza di Dio sulle nostre anime ....❤️❤️❤️
themoon147
I sing, my love for you
on this night it becomes poetry,
my voice will be
a teardrop of nostalgia.
I’ll never ask you
why you went away from me,
for me, everything you do is fine.
I love you and would like to shout it
but the voice of the soul sings softly, you know it.
I love you and would like to shout it
but this evening I can’t even speak because I would cry.
I sing, the sadness that’s in me
on this night will be a melody,
I still cry for you
even if, by now, it’s madness.
I don’t ask you why
now, you’re no longer mine,
for me, everything you do is fine.
I love you and would like to shout it
but the voice of the soul sings softly, you know it.
I love you and would like to shout it
but this evening I can’t even speak because I would cry.
I love you, I love you.
English lyrics
Samo Istina
what's the chords?
servodelpadrone2
Meravigliosa
Francesc Carol Garriga
The best afrofite , super super super cool and beautiful and exelent and maravallosa and macnifique.
Macnifique cançone d'amore👍👍👏👏👏👏👏👏🎉👏🎉👏👏👏