Today is the day when young people in the UK took to politics with 50% more voting than in the last three General Elections. It brings to my mind the Culture.pl article I read recently about the updating of Mieczysław Fogg’s music and his song – By Młodym Być, Więcej Nic (To be young and nothing more).  Here’s the original and my own translation of the chorus about being young:

And silver and gold is nothing, the point’s to be young – and nothing more

not celebrity, fame, not parties, nor clothes

just to be young, nothing more

And even have someone kind whom you love – nothing more

Be the poorest one, be the humblest one

have the world before your eyes

to be in love and to be loved back

and still be twenty one!

A smooth baritone singer, he wooed audiences in pre-war Poland with his tangos and songs of love. At the height of his fame he recorded 150 songs a year. A war hero honoured several times, he sang in trains for wounded troops  at the outbreak of war,  in cafes, field hospitals and at the barricades in his beloved Warsaw in the Warsaw Uprising.

In order for his songs to be accessible for today’s audiences his grandson Michał Fogg persuaded several artists to feature his music in remixes on the club scene and the most popular songs were recorded on the albums Café Fogg  and Café Fogg 2.

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/5huMIrjCy7I?list=RD5huMIrjCy7I” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

Although I have an album of Mieczysław Fogg which I bought after I heard his classic „Piosenka o Warszawie” (song of Warsaw) played at the funeral of another Warsaw Uprising Soldier Witold Szablewski, I didn’t know about these newer collaborations until I read the article.

Have a listen – you might get to like this retro-pop.