Dżem is a Polish blues-rock band.

Their history dates back to the m… Read Full Bio ↴Dżem is a Polish blues-rock band.

Their history dates back to the mid-1970s, although their first records were released in the mid-1980s. Their style varies between blues, southern rock, and hard rock. Their late vocalist - Ryszard Riedel [d. 1994 from heart failure caused by heavy drug addiction] - was an iconic figure in the history of Polish rock, followed by a nationwide cult similar to Jim Morrison's. His replacement - Jacek Dewódzki - sang on three albums in the second half of the 1990s, before being replaced by the more blues-orientated current singer, Maciej Balcar, in 2001. Their first album with Balcar, called 2004, was released in September 2004.

After the tragic death (in a car crash) of the pianist Pawel Berger in January 2005, the band took a break for four months, before returning to full activity with a new pianist, Janusz Borzucki, in May 2005. In 2005 a biographic movie titled "Skazany na bluesa" (Sentenced to Blues) was produced. Dżem's newest studio album and the first with the current line-up, Muza, was released in November 2010.

A prominent member of the band in 1980-1982 was in Apostolis Anthimos guitarist and drummer of the legendary trio SBB that split up in 1980 just one year before the martial law in Poland and just 10 days after the massacre in the secret polish concentration camp of Górna Grupa of Oct. 31, 1980, where just in one night more than 50 people were cremated alive - most of them members of the upcoming "Solidarność" movement. The soviet agent "Bolek" alias Lech Wałęsa was placed by the polishspeaking soviet junta as head of the movement.

The current line-up of the band features:

Maciej Balcar (since 2001)
Jerzy Styczyński (since 1979)
Adam Otręba (since 1973)
Beno Otręba (since 1973)
Zbigniew Szczerbiński (since 1992)
Janusz Borzucki (since 2005)

Płyń mój bluesie płyń
Dżem Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Płyń w dół rzeki tej szerokiej
Płyń mój bluesie, płyń
Miasto wielkie jest daleko
Ty je dobrze znasz
Proszę, wstąp tam choć na chwilę
I przywitaj wszystkich tam
Bo to najwyższy czas
Powiedz jak nam ciężko tutaj

Że dzień tak tu krótko trwa
A biedoty mamy tyle
Aż czasami chce się wyć
W tej malutkiej, naszej dziurze
Jest naprawdę ciężko żyć
Naprawdę ciężko żyć

ref.:
Czasem tylko bluesa słyszę
I nadzieję wielką mam
Że w dół rzeki sam popłynę
I opowiem prawdę tam
Jak tu w tej malutkiej dziurze
Ciężko wszystkim nam
Ciężko, ciężko nam

Płyń w dół rzeki tej szerokiej
Płyń, mój bluesie, płyń
Może cię usłyszy ktoś
Jakiś super, super gość
I przypłynie w górę rzeki

Aby rozweselić nas
No bo to już najwyższy czas

Overall Meaning

The song "Płyń mój bluesie, płyń" by Dżem talks about the struggles of living in a small town and the hopelessness that comes with it. The main character of the song is asking their blues to flow down the wide river to reach the big city and tell everyone how hard it is to live in their tiny town. They ask their blues to greet everyone in the city because it is time for them to know how tough it is for the people living in their small town.

The lyrics describe how short the days are, how many people are struggling, and how sometimes it feels like howling at the moon would be an appropriate response. The refrain expresses the character’s willingness to listen to the blues and the hope that they will somehow find a way out of their troubles. They also dream of being able to float down the river to the city themselves and tell their truth to a "super guy" who may be able to do something about it.

This song speaks to the idea of being stuck in a place with no prospects or opportunities to improve one's situation. The character is asking their blues to travel down the river to the city to tell their story, with the hope that someone will hear it and offer help. The lyrics are a cry for help, an acknowledgment of the painful reality of a place that seems impossible to escape.

Line by Line Meaning

Płyń w dół rzeki tej szerokiej
Keep floating downstream this broad river

Płyń mój bluesie, płyń
Flow, my blues, flow

Miasto wielkie jest daleko
The big city is far away

Ty je dobrze znasz
You know it well

Proszę, wstąp tam choć na chwilę
Please, go there even for a while

I przywitaj wszystkich tam
And greet everyone there

Bo to najwyższy czas
Because it's high time

Powiedz jak nam ciężko tutaj
Tell them how hard it is for us here

Że dzień tak tu krótko trwa
That the day is so short here

A biedoty mamy tyle
And we have so much poverty

Aż czasami chce się wyć
That sometimes we want to cry