After having taken piano lessons, Vangelis began his professional musical career working with several popular bands of the 1960s such as the Forminx and Aphrodite's Child, with the latter's album 666 going on to be recognized as a psychedelic classic. Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis composed music scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse des Animaux, La Fête sauvage and Opéra sauvage; the success of these scores brought him into the film scoring mainstream. In the early 1980s, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson, the lead singer of progressive rock band Yes, and the duo went on to release several albums together as Jon & Vangelis.
In 1981, he composed the score for the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Score. The soundtrack's single, the film's "Titles" theme, also reached the top of the American Billboard Hot 100 chart and was used as the background music at the London 2012 Olympics winners' medal presentation ceremonies. Vangelis also received acclaim for his synthesizer-based soundtrack for the 1982 film Blade Runner.
Having had a career in music spanning over 70 years and having composed and performed more than 50 albums, Vangelis is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of electronic music.
Vangelis was born 29 March 1943, in Agria, near Volos, Greece. Largely a self-taught musician, he reportedly began composing at the age of three. His earliest memory is "playing piano, some percussion and whatever else that was available that made a noise. Right from the start, I was only interested in playing my own music". He refused to take traditional piano lessons, and throughout his career did not have substantial knowledge of reading or writing musical notation. When he was six, Vangelis's parents enrolled him at a specialist music school in Athens. He recalls "I was lucky not to go because music schools close doors rather than open them". He studied painting, an art he still practices, at the Athens School of Fine Arts.
In 1989 received Max Steiner Award. France made Vangelis a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1992 and promoted to Commander in 2017, as well Chevalier de la Legion d’ Honneur in 2001. In 1993 received music award Apollo by Friends of the Athens National Opera Society. In 1995, Vangelis had a minor planet named after him (6354 Vangelis) by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; the name was proposed by the MPC's co-director, Gareth V. Williams, rather than by the object's original discoverer, Eugène Joseph Delporte, who died in 1955, long before the 1934 discovery could be confirmed by observations made in 1990. In 1996 and 1997 was awarded at World Music Awards.
NASA conferred their Public Service Medal to Vangelis in 2003. The award is the highest honour the space agency presents to an individual not involved with the American government. Five years later, in 2008, the board of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens voted to make Vangelis an Honorary Doctor, making him Professor Emeritus at their Faculty of Primary Education. In June 2008, the American Hellenic Institute honoured Vangelis with an AHI Hellenic Heritage Achievement Award for his "exceptional artistic achievements" as a pioneer in electronic music and for his lifelong dedication to the promotion of Hellenism through the arts. On 16 September 2013, he received the honour of appearing on the Greek 80 cent postage stamp, as part of a series of six distinguished living personalities of the Greek Diaspora.
Not A Bit
Vangelis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Stress, neurosis
Pplease give a better impression with clever use of cosmetics
Among others at this very happy wedding
Were Mr. and Mrs [peep]
The bride looked very pretty
Wearing a dress of old lace, designed by [peep]
Last week I had been to this beautiful memorial service held at [peep]
for the late [peep]
Laaaa, la da dia haoo ...
This man is a professional singer
We think his voice will develop
La, lala lala lalala
Here is the bride
La la la la la la la la
All in white
Tra la la la la la la la
Not a bit
La la la la la la la la
All of it
Here is the bride
La la la la la la la la
All in white
Tra la la la la
Not a bit
all of it
I made myself interesting again today
Obviously
, the lyrics of Vangelis's Not A Bit are quite cryptic and open to interpretation. The first few lines talk about Hysteria, Insomnia, Stress, and Neurosis, suggesting that these are common issues faced by people. The next line is intriguing: "Please give a better impression with clever use of cosmetics." This line could suggest that people often cover up their mental health issues with a facade of happiness and beauty using makeup, implying that people may hide their true feelings behind a mask of joy and glamour.
The following lines describe a happy wedding that took place and mentions a few attendees such as a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Peep and the beautiful lace dress worn by the bride, designed by someone named Peep. The song then shifts to the singer's personal experiences, describing a beautiful memorial service at an unknown location by someone who is now deceased.
Next, there is a break in the lyrics with a series of 'la' sounds that could be interpreted as an expression of the singer's emotions or merely a musical element. The lyrics then shift to a description of a man who is a professional singer, and the expectation is that his voice will develop over time. The song ends by returning to the bride and how she wears her dress of old lace, indicating a sense of nostalgia and classic beauty.
Some potential morale of the song may be that people often mask their real emotions with the help of instruments like make-up, creating an unrealistic facade that often leads to Hysteria, Insomnia, Stress, and Neurosis. The song emphasizes how we put our focus on making the external world appealing, often at the cost of our internal well-being.
Line by Line Meaning
Hysteria and insomnia
Extreme emotional disturbance and sleeplessness
Stress, neurosis
Nervous disorders due to excessive stress
Pplease give a better impression with clever use of cosmetics
Requesting to appear more attractive by using cosmetics
Among others at this very happy wedding
Among many people who attended a joyous marriage ceremony
Were Mr. and Mrs [peep]
There were married couples whose names are not specified
The bride looked very pretty
The woman getting married looked very beautiful
Wearing a dress of old lace, designed by [peep]
She was wearing an old-fashioned dress made of lace, and it is not disclosed who designed it
Last week I had been to this beautiful memorial service held at [peep] for the late [peep]
I attended a beautiful ceremony honoring someone who had passed away at a venue that is not specified
Laaaa, la da dia haoo ...
Nonetheless, this part of the song is only an instrumental break and does not have any intelligible lyrics
This man is a professional singer
An assertion that a male person is skilled in singing as a profession
We think his voice will develop
The opinion that this person's vocal potential will improve
La, lala lala lalala
Again, this part is just an instrumental break and does not contain any meaningful lyrics
Here is the bride
Introducing the bride to the listeners
La la la la la la la la
These lines do not carry any semantic meaning but are used to create musical harmony
All in white
Describing that the bride is wearing a white color dress
Tra la la la la la la la
Another arrangement of words that only serve a musical purpose
Not a bit
It means the bride is perfect and there is nothing lacking in her appearance
all of it
The idea that everything about the bride is perfect, including her dress and overall appearance
I made myself interesting again today
The assertion that he or she made themselves engaging or captivating once more on the present day
Obviously
Used to indicate that what was said is clear and undeniable
Contributed by Jackson W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Marin Korzeniowski
This man/Vangelis/ is't make Bad music at all
Christiane Ferrando
écoute ce morceau trop bon
Marcos Ramírez Mejía
"See you Later" est un album trop différent et assez expérimental mais n'est pas mauvais. J'aime beacuop cette chant; "Multi Track Suggestion " pour moi est le mieux de tout le album.
ethansblood
not a bit - all of it!
Don Juan Contreras
Some people aren't wired to handle stress...obviously.
Owen McGee
sometimes having nothing to say can seem all a bit too obvious
Sonja Adamson
They fucking took out the "obviously" part in the remastered version! wHaT tHe fUCK