This is an interesting piece: a classic rebetiko song written by a mainstream composer of light music that was recorded by a number of classic era rebetika singers under at least three different titles and with two different sets of lyrics: From Evening to Morning by Anna Pagana in 1934, I Am a Junkie by Rosa Eskenazy in the same year, and by Kitsa Korina in 1935. (The title of the Korina version is Μάγκισσα ματσαράγκισσα, which I haven’t found a translation for, and because it’s slang, my Greek isn’t good enough to figure it out in English.)
Anna Pagana was one of two rebetiko singers nicknamed Politissa. (The other was Marika Frantzeskopoulou.) Anna Pagana married Kostas Roukounas in 1934 and died nine years later, apparently of a heart attack. Her discography at Rebetiko.sealabs lists 34 songs recorded between 1934 and 1937.
Sosos Ioannidis wrote this song (lyrics were by Emilios Savvidis). A classically trained musician and pianist originally from Smyrna, he played for theatrical performances in Athens and wrote over a hundred light popular songs in the 1930s. Sprinkled in among them were a small number of songs that passed into the rebetiko repertoire, including this one, probably his most famous in the genre. The lyrics are about as far from mainstream light music as possible. In the Pagana version: “When you get high / You become straight / A king, dictator, God and world ruler.” And Kitsa Korina sings: “I hang around in the bars / and even if I get drunk and stoned / and even if the whole world disappears / hey, I don’t care.”
The song has had a long life and shows up on recordings from nine countries other than Greece, including Turkey and the U.S, and as part of the repertoire of a number of modern world music-influenced bands, including Australia’s Dead Can Dance.
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