FLAMENCO PARANOIA Lyrics in English by Samurai Jay, Vito Salamanca

Balaclava refers to a type of headwear that covers the whole head and neck, with openings only for the eyes and mouth. It's a striking and somewhat unusual word to find in a song, making it memorable.

In "FLAMENCO PARANOIA," the line "Balaclava sui sensi di colpa" (Balaclava on the feelings of guilt) uses the word metaphorically. It suggests an attempt to cover up or hide feelings of guilt, much like a balaclava conceals one's identity. This imagery adds a layer of intrigue to the song's emotional landscape.

Samurai Jay opens by asking someone else to do the work he cannot: "Dammi un motivo / Per provare a dimenticare, a dimenticarmi di te" (Give me a reason / to try to forget, to forget about you). What gets in the way is small and domestic. "C'è il tuo sorriso dentro al fondo di un caffè" (Your smile is there at the bottom of a coffee cup). He counts time the way you check a wound, "Conto i giorni, mesi e gli anni e mi chiedo ancora se" (I count the days, months and years and I still wonder if), and the question never closes: "Tu mi passerai, io ti passerò" (You will get over me, I will get over you).

Then the chorus stops pretending. "Bruciasse il mondo torno da te" (If the world were burning I would come back to you) is the whole argument, and the title turns all of it into a dance nobody chose: "Balliamo un flamenco paranoia" (Let us dance a flamenco paranoia). Vito Salamanca takes the second verse into masks and bad omens, "Balaclava sui sensi di colpa" (A balaclava over the guilt) and "Ma l'amore porta mala suerte" (But love brings bad luck). That Spanish phrase sitting inside an Italian line is doing to the language what the flamenco is doing to the beat.