This is a light-hearted tune beloved by Gail Holst, author of Road To Remebtika: "I wore out the records I had of Sotiria Bellou -- for me she is still the best of the female rembetika singers, with a voice as deep as a man's and as full of pain as Billie Holiday's. ... Her version of "San pethano sto karavi" -- "If I Die on the Boat" -- makes my hair stand on end, although I must have listened it a thousand times."
"San Penthano Sto Karavi" ("If I Die on the Boat")
"Ah, if I die, what will they say? Some fellow died,
A fellow who loved life and enjoyed himself. Aman! Aman!
Ah, if I die on the boat, throw me into the sea,
So that the black fish and the salt water can eat me. Aman! Aman!"
Anonymous, circa 1920
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