Protesilaos Stavrou

Interpretation of “I need” by Vasilis Papakonstantinou

For this article, I have chosen another gem of a song from the voluminous collection of Vasilis Papakonstantinou, titled I need (Έχω ανάγκη): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ki-SCanwoA. This particular version is from the live performance at the ancient Odeon of Herodes Atticus that took place in 2005. It is superlative throughout: the overall acoustics, the crisp voice of Vasilis, the vocals from the choir, the rock instrumentation, and the electric guitar solo by Christophoros Krokidis.

Below are the original lyrics in Greek, my faithful translation of them, and some additional philosophical comments.

Also check the other entries in my series that cover songs of Vasilis Papakonstantinou:

Έχω ανάγκη

Ερμηνεία:  Βασίλης Παπακωνσταντίνου
Στίχοι:    Βασίλης Γιαννόπουλος
Μουσική:   Χριστόφορος Κροκίδης


Έχω ανάγκη μια σου λέξη
μια αλήθεια μες τις αυταπάτες
και μια αγκαλιά να με γιατρέψει
από θανάσιμες αγάπες

Έχω ανάγκη να βουλιάξω
μέσα στο πιο βαθύ σου βλέμμα
απ'την αλήθεια να τρομάξω
και να φουντάρω σ'ένα ψέμα

Έχω ανάγκη να σου δείξω
πως είμαι πλέον οπαδός σου
με την παλάμη μου ν'αγγίξω
τον πυρετό στο μέτωπό σου

Έχω ανάγκη να σε νιώσω
σαν μια προσωπική μου νίκη
με πόσα βράδια να πληρώσω
τη μοναξιά που μου ανήκει

Μια κρύα νύχτα του Σεπτέμβρη
ένα σακατεμένο βράδυ
μόνο τα μάτια σου θυμάμαι
δυο φλόγες μέσα στο σκοτάδι

Μια κρύα νύχτα του Σεπτέμβρη
που όσο θυμάμαι με πονάει
έχουν περάσει τόσα χρόνια
μ'αυτή η αγάπη δεν περνάει

Απόψε δε θα βγω στους δρόμους
στα όνειρα μου θα σε ψάξω
ότι δεν έφυγες ποτέ σου
έχω ανάγκη να φωνάξω

Σ'όποια αγκαλιά και να κοιμάσαι
εγώ μαζί σου θα ξυπνάω
την πιο γλυκιά σου απουσία
έχω ανάγκη ν'αγαπάω

Κι έτσι για πάντα θα σαλπάρω
στην πλάτη του δικού σου ανέμου
σαν να ‘σουν όρκος θα σε πάρω
που δε θα πάταγα ποτέ μου

I need

Singer:   Vasilis Papakonstantinou
Lyrics:   Vasilis Yiannopoulos
Music:    Christophoros Krokidis


I need a word of yours
a truth among the delusions
and a hug to cure me
from lethal loves

I need to sink
in your deepest stare
to be frightened by the truth
and to rush to a lie

I need to show you
that I now am your supporter
with my palm to touch
the fever on your forehead

I need to feel you
as a personal victory
with so many nights
to pay the loneliness I own

On a cold September night
on a wrecked evening
I only remember your eyes
two flames in the darkness

A cold September night
that hurts the more I remember
there have been all these years
but this loves does not cease

Tonight I will not go to the streets
I shall search for you in my dreams
that you never left
I need to shout

Whichever hug you sleep in
I shall wake up with you
your sweetest absence
I need to love

And thus I shall forever sail
at the back of your own wind
as if you were an oath I shall take you
that I would never violate

Vasilis Papakonstantinou is probably the most accomplished rock singer in Greece. He does not have that teddy boy appeal of pop stars who specialise in love songs. Yet I need is a deeply erotic piece. “Erotic” in the sense of pertaining to the phenomenon of “falling in love” (i.e. erotas (έρωτας)): a kind of love that is distinct from love at-large (agape (αγάπη)).

As is often the case with appropriated cultural artefacts, “erotic” is a misunderstood term in English. At least nowadays, the word and its derivatives function as euphemisms for pornography, even though erotas is the opposite of what porn represents. Porn is misanthropic. It expresses the objectification—and, ultimately, the deep-seated loathing—of the sexual “self” and the “other”. It commodifies people, turning them into nothing more than outlets for lust.

Erotas is none of this. It consists in innocence, is underpinned by benevolence, and unfolds through wonder. This is what inspires, say, an eight-year-old boy to dedicate a poem to his “special one” at school. It even has an impersonal dimension, in how one commits to their passions with incessant intensity and an unwavering desire for excellence.

When it does become physical, erotas involves respect. Unlike a one-night-stand, there is a sense of care for the other person and a desire for continuity. It is neither opportunistic nor exploitative.

Against this backdrop, we can understand the lyrics of I need as acknowledgements of the multifacetedness of erotas: sincere, mutual or one-sided, yet always altruistic.

At first, lovers are drawn to each other more than to anything else, including the truth. What would even be the truth, anyway? To fall in love with someone is to have unmistakable feelings for them. Whereas many intellectuals, hierarchs, bureaucrats, revolutionaries, and tyrants of all kinds, have claimed to possess the truth throughout the ages, only to be proven wrong. Erotas is the bane of intellectualism and the cure for overthinking: you know it when you feel it and you benefit from it even if you do not realise it.

Then, I need shows us how caring erotas is, in wanting to support your lover and to take care of them while they are ill. Even when there is an element of vanity to it, when it needs to be felt as a personal achievement of sorts, erotas never becomes possessive: it remains benevolent throughout.

Its pure intentions are best discerned when the feeling is no longer mutual. The person who falls in a one-sided love still shows respect and care. They do not become vindictive nor do they harbour ill wishes, despite the suffering of not having their feelings met.

Ultimately, erotas subsists in the realm of the imagination, the world of dreams. There you shall find the others devoid of ulterior motives and freed from the burdens of happenstance. Everything else will sooner or later become intertwined with duties, role playing, and pettiness.

Previous:
See all: Interpretations and critiques