When Dionysis Savvopoulos burst onto the Greek music scene in the early sixties, his highly original songs defied classification. There were no precedents in the music genres then common in Greece. He was initially seen as part of the ‘new wave’ group of composers and singers who emerged at that time and who were influenced by their French counterparts. But Savvopoulos created a genre all his own with his mix of modern and traditional rhythms and with his lyrics at times tender, at times playful and at times filled with biting social criticism. His influence on later singer-songwriters was enormous.

He has enjoyed an almost mythical status with the Greek listening public during the last sixty years and it would be no exaggeration to say that he has been the voice of several generations, given that his lyrics reflect the struggles, frustrations, hopes and sentiments of a broad stratum of Greek society. Indeed, many of his verses have become proverbial in everyday language.

His language is often zany, surrealistic and highly inventive and its inherent poetical quality has not been lost on the critics, who have included his lyrics in anthologies of contemporary Greek poetry.

This is the first representative anthology of his lyrics to be published in English translation. The book also includes texts by Dr Dimitris Papanikolaou (Professor of Modern Greek and Comparative Cultural Studies, Fellow of St. Cross College) and essayist Dimitris Karambelas.

Cover artwork: Alexis Kyritsopoulos