Pink Martini has twelve instrumentalists (and sometimes travels with string sections), and performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia and New Zealand and North America. Pink Martini made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998 under the direction of Norman Leyden. Since then, the band has gone on to play with over 30 orchestras around the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center and the BBC Concert Orchestra in London. Other appearances include the grand opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, with return sold-out engagements for New Year’s Eve 2003, 2004 & 2008; two sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall; the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in NYC; the Governor’s Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; and the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in Australia.
Lauderdale met China Forbes, Pink Martini’s lead vocalist, at Harvard. He was studying history and literature while she was studying English literature and painting. Late at night, they would break into the lower common room in their college dormitory and sing arias by Puccini and Verdi – and the occasional campy Barbra Streisand cover –thus sealing their creative collaboration. Three years after graduating, Lauderdale called Forbes who was living in New York City, where she’d been writing songs and playing guitar in her own folk-rock project, and asked her to join Pink Martini. They began to write songs together for the band. Their first song “Sympathique”– with the chorus “Je ne veux pas travailler” (”I don’t want to work”) – became an overnight sensation in France, and was even nominated for “Song of the Year” at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards. Forbes, though fluent only in English, sings in 15 different languages.
Pink Martini’s debut album Sympathique was released independently in 1997 on the band’s own label Heinz Records (named after Lauderdale’s dog), and quickly became an international phenomenon, garnering the group nominations for “Song of the Year” and “Best New Artist” in France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards in 2000.
In October 2004, the group released its second album, Hang on Little Tomato.
In May 2007, it released its third album, Hey Eugene!.
A fourth studio album, Splendor in the Grass, followed on October 27, 2009.
Sympathique, Hang on Little Tomato and Hey Eugene! have all gone gold in France, Canada, Greece and Turkey; collectively, Pink Martini's records have sold more than two million copies worldwide.
On New Year's Eve 2005, Pink Martini performed live at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon. This performance was aired live on National Public Radio's Toast of the Nation, and in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting was recorded for a live DVD and later broadcast on US public broadcasting and French television.[citation needed] The DVD has been rereleased to retail as Discover the World: Live in Concert, featuring not only the full concert, but several vignettes and a short documentary of the band's history.
The band has collaborated and performed with Jimmy Scott, Carol Channing, Henri Salvador, Jane Powell, Chavela Vargas, Georges Moustaki, Michael Feinstein, DJ Dimitri from Paris, clarinetist and conductor Norman Leyden, Hiroshi Wada, DJ Johnny Dynell and several drag queens from New York City, among others. On June 1, 2007, the band appeared on the long-running BBC Two Later with Jools Holland TV music program. On June 14, 2007, Pink Martini performed on Late Show with David Letterman, performing "Hey Eugene".
Pink Martini played Walt Disney Concert Hall on New Year's Eve for the first two years it was open (2003/4 and 2004/5). They returned to play NYE there again in 2008/9.
In May 2009, the band recorded three concerts with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Carlos Kalmar for the band’s fifth album … a symphonic record which is slated for a 2011 release.
Pink Martini songs appear in such films as In the Cut, Nurse Betty, Josie and the Pussycats, Tortilla Soup, Shanghai Kiss, Mary and Max, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith and have been used on television shows such as Dead Like Me, The Sopranos and The West Wing, among others.[citation needed] Their song "Una notte a Napoli" is an integral part of the Italian movie Mine Vaganti (2010), by the Italian-Turkish director Ferzan Özpetek. The song "No Hay Problema" is included as background/setup music for Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 and was also used as the background/setup music for an early build of Windows Longhorn, now known as Windows Vista.[citation needed]
In February 2011, the group's lead singer, China Forbes, recorded a video greeting to the European Space Agency's Italian astronaut, Paolo Nespoli, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Kaleri, on board the International Space Station. The astronauts were preparing to oversee the docking of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) cargo vessel, Johannes Kepler, which took place at 17:08 CET on 24 February. The greeting was set to the sound track of Dosvedanya Mio Bombino - one of Pink Martini's signature songs - and was mixed with footage of the actual docking.
In November 2011, they played at the Balboa Theater with the Bonita Vista High School band, Club Blue.
Sunday Table
Pink Martini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Like there's some place she must be.
In her eyes there's no one,
There is no one she needs.
He sits with his paper
At a sunday table.
Just another morning..
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment they could almost fall in love.
Not a word is spoken,
No touch, no heart broken.
Just another morning
Of a beautiful day.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment they could truly fall in love.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is stillness in the world .. turning
World turning .. round ..
Around ..
Around ..
The lyrics of Pink Martini's "Sunday Table" paint a picture of fleeting, almost-moments between two people at a café. The first verse sets the scene with the woman frantically walking as though she has somewhere to be, yet her eyes betray no sense of urgency or attachment. The second verse introduces the man who is enjoying his newspaper or perhaps seeking solace in it. As the woman steps into his gaze, their eyes lock, and a moment of raw, mutual attraction ensues. With the lyrics "for a moment, there is nowhere she is going," the song encapsulates the notion of two people who are momentarily captivated by each other but do not act on their feelings.
The chorus of the song repeats the same set of lyrics twice. It's an acknowledgment that not a single word is spoken between the two characters, but still, something happens. There is no touch or heartbreak, but there's an unspoken connection that fills the space between them. The final verse repeats the first and second verses, with some additional details inserted. The lines "For a moment, they could truly fall in love," touch upon the idea that the humans we cross paths with in our lives could have been something more if only our timing was right or if we let ourselves take that chance. The song concludes with the man and the woman looking at each other, once again creating a moment of stillness in a busy world that is constantly turning.
Line by Line Meaning
She is walking quickly
Like there's some place she must be.
In her eyes there's no one,
There is no one she needs.
She is in a hurry, as if there's a destination she must reach. She appears to be alone and not seeking anybody's attention or company.
He sits with his paper
At a sunday table.
Just another morning..
She steps into his gaze.
He is sitting and reading his newspaper at a table on a Sunday morning. Suddenly, she catches his attention and comes into his view.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
Their eyes meet and they both pause. At that moment, neither of them seem to have a particular destination or goal in mind.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment they could almost fall in love.
As they continue to gaze at each other, there's a sense that they could fall in love with each other. However, it remains just a momentary possibility.
Not a word is spoken,
No touch, no heart broken.
Just another morning
Of a beautiful day.
Despite their intense moment of eye contact, neither of them speak to each other or make a physical move. Their hearts are not broken either. It's just another beautiful day for them.
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
Once again, it's emphasized that she has no particular destination planned and could stay in that moment indefinitely.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment they could truly fall in love.
Their eyes are still locked, and for a moment it feels like they could genuinely fall in love with each other.
For a moment there is stillness in the world .. turning
World turning .. round ..
Around ..
Around ..
Their eyes meeting causes a moment of stillness in a constantly moving world. It's a beautiful reminder that despite the chaos and craziness of life, there can be moments of peacefulness and calmness.
Contributed by Riley M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
方一菲
She is walking quickly
Like there's some place she must be.
In her eyes there's no one,
There is no one she needs.
He sits with his paper
At a sunday table.
Just another morning..
She steps into his gaze.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment they could almost fall in love.
Not a word is spoken,
No touch, no heart broken.
Just another morning
Of a beautiful day.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment they could truly fall in love.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is stillness in the world .. turning
World turning .. round ..
Around ..
Around ..
Madam Zajj
Pink Martini's best, in my ears. It's funky, melancholy, hopeful and dreamy and very very Sunday-ish.
方一菲
She is walking quickly
Like there's some place she must be.
In her eyes there's no one,
There is no one she needs.
He sits with his paper
At a sunday table.
Just another morning..
She steps into his gaze.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment they could almost fall in love.
Not a word is spoken,
No touch, no heart broken.
Just another morning
Of a beautiful day.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment they could truly fall in love.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is nowhere she is going.
He looks at her,
She looks at him,
For a moment there is stillness in the world .. turning
World turning .. round ..
Around ..
Around ..
khunji lin
Thanks for the lyric ^^
khunji lin
I fall in love with this song since the first I heard it. Thank you for this beautiful song.
Madison Mosbaugh
I heard this song for the first time in the bathroom at Olive Garden, I have no regrets to vibing to this song in there.
LNotElle
Lol I work at olive garden and I hear this everyday
Karen Troidl
I work at olive Garden and I hear this song all day lol
It's a catchy tune, so I wanted to look up the song and add it to my Playlist
Janigha Israel
my first interview at olive garden i heard this song, now that i work there 5 days a week i hear it almost everyday lol
Chris
Lol. Me too. In the bathroom at olive garden! Downloaded as soon as I left. My intro to jazz I guess?
Nina Desianti
Simply beautiful! and represents what I feel right now,
Not a word is spoken,
No touch,
No heartbroken,
but for moment there’s nowhere I’m going.
I’m enjoying this temporary feeling, but not to let it take over.
My New Year resolution: practicing pomodoro from the moment I wake up until I fall asleep.