Mouskouri's family lived in Canée, Crete, where her father, Constantin, worked as a film projectionist in a local cinema. Her mother, Alice also worked in the same local cinema as an usherette. When Mouskouri was three, Constantin moved the family to Athens. Mouskouri's family worked extremely hard in order to send Nana and her elder sister, Jenny, to the prestigious Athens Conservatoire. Mouskouri had displayed exceptional musical talent from the age of 6. However her sister, Jenny, appeared to be more the more gifted of the two. In fact Mouskouri only had one 'working' vocal chord (rather than the normal two). This a rare condition gives her voice its particularly original timbre.
Mouskouri's childhood was colored by the Nazi occupation of Greece. Her father became part of the Nazi resistance movement in Athens. Mouskouri began singing lessons at age 12. Despite the flaw in her vocal cords, Mouskouri took singing lessons regularly. During the Nazi German occupation, her family no longer had the financial means to pay for her singing lessons. But her teacher saw that she had a certain talent and continued to give her lessons free of charge. As a child, she listened to radio broadcasts of American jazz singers such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday as well as French chanson stars like Edith Piaf.
In 1950, she was accepted at the Conservatoire. She studied classical music with an emphasis on singing opera. The young Mouskouri committed herself into classical music studies with a passion, perfecting her vocals with extraordinary self-discipline as well as taking piano and harmony classes. After 8 years at the Conservatoire, Mouskouri was encouraged by her friends to experiment with jazz music. She soon began singing with her friends' jazz group at night and they even managed to get a radio slot. However, when Mouskouri's Conservatory professor found out about Mouskouri's involvement with a genre of music that he considered to be absolutely worthless, he flew into a fury and prevented her from sitting her end of year exams. Consequently, the Conservatoire expelled her. Mouskouri's dreams of becoming an opera singer were dashed.
Mouskouri left the Conservatoire and began performing at the Zaki club in Athens. She began singing jazz in nightclubs with a bias on Ella Fitzgerald repertory. It was at the Zaki in 1958 that Mouskouri met the famous Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis. Hadjidakis was immensely impressed by Nana’s original voice and immediately offered to write songs for her. He became her mentor. In 1959 Mouskouri performed Hadjidakis' Kapou Iparchi Agapi Mou (co-written with poet Nikos Gatsos) at the inaugural Greek Song Festival. The song won first prize, and Mouskouri began to be noticed. At the 1960 Greek Song Festival, she performed two more Hadjidakis compositions, Timoria and Kiparissaki. Both these songs tied for first prize. Mouskouri soon ventured further and participated at the Mediterranean Song Festival, held in Barcelona where she performed Kostas Yannidis' composition Xypna Agapi Mou. The song won first prize. Her wins attracted interest from several international record companies. Mouskouri wound up signed a recording contract with the Paris-based Philips-Fontana axis.
In 1961, Mouskouri performed the soundtrack of a German documentary about Greece. This resulted in the German-language single Weisse Rosen aus Athen ("The White Rose of Athens"). The song was originally adapted from a folk melody by Hadjidakis. It became an enormous hit, selling over a million copies in Germany. The song was later translated into several different languages and it went on to become one of Mouskouri's signature tunes. Mouskouri married Yorgos Petsilas in 1961. Mouskouri and Petsilas have two children, son, Nicolas born in February 1968 and daughter, Hélène born in 1970. In 1974, Mouskouri and Petsilas separated and she moved to Geneva, Switzerland. In 1975, Mouskouri and Petsilas were officially divorced.
In 1962, she met renowned American song producer Quincy Jones. Jones got her to go to New York to record an album of American jazz titled, The Girl From Greece Sings. Following that she scored another hit in the United Kingdom with My Colouring Book.
In 1963, she left Greece to live permanently in Paris, France. Mouskouri performed Luxembourg's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest that year, À Force de Prier. The song became an international hit, and helped win her the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque in France. Mouskouri soon attracted the attention of French composer Michel Legrand, who composed her two major French hits Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964) and L'Enfant au Tambour (1965).
In 1965, she recorded her second English-language album that was released in the United States entitled, Nana Sings. Jamaican-American Calypso musician Harry Belafonte heard and liked the album. Belafonte brought Mouskouri on tour with him through 1966. They teamed for a live duo album entitled, An Evening With Belafonte/Mouskouri. During this tour, Belafonte told Mouskouri to remove her signature black-rimmed glasses when on stage. She was so unhappy with the request that she wanted to quit the show after only two days. Finally, Belafonte relented and respected her wishes to perform with her glasses.
Mouskouri's 1967 French album Le Jour Où la Colombe ascended her to superstardom in France. This album featured many of her French songs, Au Coeur de Septembre, Adieu Angélina, Robe Bleue, Robe Blanche and the French pop classic Le Temps des Cerises. Her rendition of Guantanamera was very well received. Mouskouri made her first appearance at Paris' legendary Olympia concert theater in 1967, with a repertoire blending French pop, Greek folk, and Hadjidakis numbers.
In 1968, Mouskouri turned her attention to the British market and hosted a variety show called Nana and Guests. In 1969, she released her first full-length British LP, Over and Over. It became a smash hit that spent almost two years on the U.K. charts. Mouskouri spent much of the 1970s on the road which helped to broaden her worldwide popularity to levels. In France, she released a series of top-selling albums that included Comme un Soleil, Une Voix Qui Vient du Coeur, Vielles Chansons de France, and Quand Tu Chantes. She also recorded a successful version of Habanera, from Bizet's opera Carmen. She continued to release highly received albums in Europe, including her 1975 album Sieben Schwarze Rosen which was a significant success in Germany, and her English-language album Book of Songs that sold millions of copies worldwide.
In 1979, Mouskouri had another English-language album named Roses and Sunshine. This album was very well received in Canada. She scored a worldwide hit in 1981 with Je Chante Avec Toi, Liberté, which was translated into several languages after its widespread success in France. The momentum from this album also helped boost her following German album, Meine Lieder Sind Meine Liebe. In 1984, Mouskouri returned to Greece for her first live performance in her homeland since 1962.
In 1986, Mouskouri recorded Only Love, the theme song to a BBC TV series that went on to top the U.K. charts. The song was also a hit with its French version, L'Amour en Héritage. That same year, Mouskouri made a play for the Spanish-language market with the hit single Con Todo el Alma. The song was a major success in Spain, Argentina and Chile. She released five albums in different languages in 1987, and the following year returned to her classical conservatory roots with the double LP The Classical Nana (aka Nana Classique), which featured some of her favorite opera excerpts.
Mouskouri's 1991 English album, Only Love: The Best of Nana Mouskouri became her best-selling release in the United States. She spent much of the 1990s with her rigorous global touring schedule. Among her early 1990s albums were spiritual music, Gospel (1990), the Spanish-language Nuestras Canciones, the multilingual, Mediterranean-themed Côté Sud, Côté Coeur (1992), Dix Mille Ans Encore, Falling in Love Again: Great Songs From the Movies. Falling in Love reunited her with Harry Belafonte on two songs.
She recorded several more albums over 1996-1997, including the Spanish Nana Latina (which featured duets with Julio Iglesias and Mercedes Sosa), the English-language Return to Love, and the French pop classics, Hommages. In 1997, she staged a high-profile Concert for Peace at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. This concert was later released as an album, and aired as a TV special on PBS in the U.S.
Mouskouri was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in October 1993 [1]. She took over from the previous ambassador, American actress Audrey Hepburn. Mouskouri's first U.N. mission took her to Bosnia to draw attention to the plight of children affected by Bosnian war. She was deeply moved by her experience in Bosnia and went on to give a series of fund-raising concerts in Sweden and Belgium.
Mouskouri represented Greece in the European Parliament from 1994 until 1999 as a member of the largely conservative New Democracy party.
In 1993, Nana recorded a new album, Hollywood. It was produced by Michel Legrand. Hollywood was a collection of famous film songs. It served was not only a tribute to the world of cinema, but also as a personal reference to childhood memories of sitting with her father in his projection room in Crete.
Between December 11-14, 1997, Mouskouri gave four triumphant performances at the Olympia in Paris to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her singing career. Also in 1997, Mouskouri resigned from her position as a European MP. She explained that a fervent pacifist, she refused to back wars.
Mouskouri currently lives in Switzerland with her second husband, André Chapelle whom she married on January 13, 2003. She still performs about 100 concerts each year. In 2004, her French record company released an unprecedented 34-CD box set of more than 600 of Mouskouri's mostly French songs.
For 2005 and 2007, she plans a farewell concert tour of Europe, Australia, Asia, South America, the United States, and Canada. During an interview with The Australian newspaper, when asked why this would be her final concert series, Mouskouri said she wanted to retire on a high note. "I never thought that I would grow that old. It is better really to stop while you are standing well on your feet. I just want to be proud and in very good form and thank the audience for all this love," she said.
If You Go Away
Nana Mouskouri Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Then you might as well take the sun away
All the birds that flew in the summer sky
When our love was new and our hearts were high
When the day was young and the night was long
And the moon stood still for the night-bird' s song
If you go away, if you go away If you go away,
Like no day has been, or will be again
We will sail the sun, we will ride on the rain
We will talk to the trees, and worship the wind
Then if you go, I'll understand, leave me just
Enough love to fill up my mind
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away,
If you go away, as I know you will
You must tell the world to stop turning till
You return again, if you ever do
For what good is love without loving you
Can I tell you now, as you turn to go
I' ll be dying slowly till the next hello
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away
But if you stay, I'll make you a night
Like no night has been, or will be again
I'll sail on your smile, I'll ride on your touch
I'll talk to your eyes, that I love so much
But if you go, go, I won' t cry, though the
Good is gone from the word goodbye
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away
If you go away, as I know you must
There will be nothing left in the world to trust
Just an empty room, full of empty space
Like the empty look I see on your face
I' d have been the shadow of your shadow if I thought
It might have kept me by your side
If you go away
Please don' t go away
Please don't go away
The song "If You Go Away" by Nana Mouskouri is a melancholic ballad about a person pleading with their lover not to leave them. The song is filled with vivid imagery that depicts the happiness and love the two shared when their relationship was new. The opening verse, "If you go away on this summer day, then you might as well take the sun away," makes it clear that the person singing cannot imagine a life without their lover.
As the song progresses, the lyrics describe the joy they will have if their lover stays. They will do things that most couples don't get the chance to experience, like talking to trees and worshiping the wind. The singer promises to make the day or night much more special than it could ever be without their love. However, the bittersweet tone of the lyrics is unavoidable, as the singer acknowledges that even if their lover goes, they'll still hold on to the love they shared in the hopes that one day they will return.
The bridge of the song acknowledges the inevitability of the lover's departure. The singer knows that the world will keep turning regardless of whether or not their lover is there. Ultimately, the song is a plea to a lover to stay, albeit with an understanding of how difficult that decision may be.
Overall, "If You Go Away" is a poignant reminder of the pain of lost love, and the memory of what was once present but is now distant. It is a song that has the power to stir feelings of heartache and loss in those who have ever experienced a similar situation.
Line by Line Meaning
If you go away on this summer day
If you leave me on this beautiful day,
Then you might as well take the sun away
My heart will feel just as dark and empty.
All the birds that flew in the summer sky
All the happiness we shared when we were in love,
When our love was new and our hearts were high
When we were head-over-heels in love with each other.
When the day was young and the night was long
When time seemed to stand still because we were so happy in love.
And the moon stood still for the night-bird' s song
Even nature seemed to acknowledge our love and pause for us.
But if you stay, I'll make you a day
If you stay, I promise you a day that will be unforgettable and unlike any other.
Like no day has been, or will be again
It will be a unique and unrepeatable day of wonder and romance.
We will sail the sun, we will ride on the rain
Together, we'll experience the beauty and awe of the natural world.
We will talk to the trees, and worship the wind
We'll find tranquility and inspiration in the world around us.
Then if you go, I'll understand, leave me just enough love to fill up my mind
If you must leave, I'll accept it, but please let my love for you be enough to comfort me.
If you go away, as I know you will
I know in my heart that you will leave me eventually.
You must tell the world to stop turning till you return again, if you ever do
It will feel like the world has stopped moving without you here, and I hope you'll come back to me someday.
For what good is love without loving you
Love is meaningless without you to share it with.
Can I tell you now, as you turn to go
Before you leave, I want to say one last thing.
I'll be dying slowly till the next hello
Without you, my life will feel incomplete and painful, and I'll eagerly await the next time we meet.
But if you stay, I'll make you a night
If you stay with me, I'll show you a night of love and passion that you'll never forget.
I'll sail on your smile, I'll ride on your touch
Your every move and expression fills me with joy and desire.
I'll talk to your eyes, that I love so much
When I look into your eyes, I see everything I love most in the world.
But if you go, go, I won' t cry, though the good is gone from the word goodbye
If you must leave me, I'll be strong and won't cry, even though saying goodbye will take away all the good from the word.
If you go away, as I know you must
I know that you have to leave eventually, and I must accept it.
There will be nothing left in the world to trust
Without you, there will be no one left that I can truly love and trust.
Just an empty room, full of empty space
My life will feel empty and hopeless without you here with me.
Like the empty look I see on your face
Just like the sadness and emptiness I see in your eyes as you leave me.
I' d have been the shadow of your shadow if I thought it might have kept me by your side
If being your loyal shadow would have kept you with me, I would have done it without hesitation.
If you go away, please don' t go away, please don't go away
Please don't leave me, my love, even though I know you must eventually. I can't bear the thought of being without you.
Contributed by Noah K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Craig Uprichard
Love this song
Rony Kappa
Νανα μουσχουρη κυρία αηδονακι και μοναδική καρδούλα μας και καμάρι μας 🌹 💕 ❤️ 🌹 ✌️ 🎶
G6JPG
As good as Dusty, isn't it!
Dirk Spaapen
wow