Interpretation of “Palm trees” by Vasilis Papakonstantinou
For the present article, I have picked a seemingly bizarre song from the vast corpus of Vasilis Papakonstantinou: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv28XE7tGJo.
Palm trees is written and composed by Apostolos Boulasikis. All of the songs I have heard from Apostolos are surreal in the images they evoke and profound in the interpretations they withstand. This one is no exception.
Below are the lyrics, my faithful translation of them, and some philosophy.
Also check the other interpretations I have written related to Vasilis Papakonstantinou:
- I need (2025-09-01)
- Minor adulterations (2025-03-01)
- Sophie (The wild crowd) (2023-03-22)
- Porto Rico (2022-07-28)
- Trench coat (2022-07-09)
Φοινικιές
Ερμηνεία: Βασίλης Παπακωνσταντίνου
Στίχοι: Απόστολος Μπουλασίκης
Μουσική: Απόστολος Μπουλασίκης
Να φεύγεις, να φεύγεις, να φεύγεις
ώσπου να βρεις τις ακτές
που χρόνια, τα χρόνια στολίζουν
με σημαιάκια του χτες
Οι αιώνες
ξεβαμμένες, αρχαίες εικόνες
Μεγαλεία
σκονισμένα σε ράφια βιβλία
Μα εσύ πρέπει πάντα να φεύγεις
να βρίσκεις τις φοινικιές
που κάθε τους λόγχη σου δείχνει
μια απ'τις παλιές σου μορφές
Γόνος νόθος του θεού του ήλιου
Καπετάνιος σε πλωτό του Νείλου
Αλχημίστας κι ιερέας δικαστής
Νέγρος ταξιτζής μέσα στο Χάρλεμ
Αριβίστας ζιγκολό στο Σάλεμ
Καζανόβας και Λατίνος εραστής
Λαδωμένος παλαιστής του Σούμο
Πακιστανός μούτσος σ'ένα τσούρμο
που βυθίζεται ανοιχτά των Αντιλλών
Γελαστός παλιάτσος και ακροβάτης
Μες το Σόχο ζόρικος προστάτης
Γόης εξαθλιωμένων γυναικών
Όλα γυρίζουν, ξαναγυρίζουν
λειώνουν, τελειώνουν
και ξαναρχίζουνε
Ίωνας φιλόσοφος και ρήτωρ
Στη Σεβίλλη ταύρος επιβήτωρ
Που πεθαίνει στου τορέρο το σπαθί
Δολοφόνος ενός πρώην τσάρου
Φύλακας ενός σβησμένου φάρου
Αμανές σε Οθωμανικό τζαμί
Στα βουνά της Αφρικής αντάρτης
Ήρωας πολεμιστής σακάτης
τα παράσημα του βγάζει στο σφυρί
Μάγος του Αμαζονίου, μάντης
Κολασμένος συγγραφέας, Δάντης
Σαμουράι πέρα στην Ανατολή.
Όλα γυρίζουν, ξαναγυρίζουν
λειώνουν τελειώνουν
και ξαναρχίζουνε
Κι όμως πρέπει πάντα να φεύγεις
να βρίσκεις τις φοινικιές
Φλεγόμενες βάτους που λένε
σαν τις σειρήνες ψευτιές
Να φεύγεις, να φεύγεις, να φεύγεις
ν'ακολουθείς τις φωνές
στους δρόμους που πάντα φωτίζουν
φλεγόμενες οι φοινικιές
Palm trees
Singer: Vasilis Papakonstantinou
Lyrics: Apostolos Boulasikis
Music: Apostolos Boulasikis
To leave, to leave, to leave
until you find the shores
which years, the years adorn
with small flags of yesterday
The centuries
worn out, ancient icons
Grandeurs
dusty books on shelves
But you must always be leaving
to be finding the palm trees
whose every spear shows you
one of your old forms
Illegitimate offspring of the sun god
Captain of a riverboat on the Nile
Alchemist and priest-judge
Black taxi driver in Harlem
Arrivist gigolo in Salem
Casanova and Latin lover
Oiled up sumo wrestler
Pakistani sailor in a crew
that sinks off the Antilles
Smiling clown and acrobat
In Soho a tough guardian
Charmer of immiserated women
All goes round, and round again
they melt, they end
and they restart
Ionian philosopher and rhetorician
At Seville a bull rider
who dies by torero's sword
Assassin of a former tsar
Keeper of an extinguished lighthouse
Amanes at an Ottoman mosque
Rebel at the mountains of Africa
Hero crippled fighter
who auctions his decorations
Magician of the Amazon, seer
Damned author, Dante
Samurai far to the East
All goes round, and round again
they melt, they end
and they restart
And still you should always be leaving
to be finding the palm trees
Burning bushes who tell lies
like the sirens
To leave, to leave, to leave
to follow the voices
to the paths that are luminated
by burning palm trees
The titular palm trees symbolise the end of a journey. They represent the exotic life one finds away from their homeland or the realm of the knowable more broadly. “Exotic” in its root as “exo” (έξω), which is outside, thus strictly foreign, unknown yet conceivable as unknown, otherworldly.
The song speaks of flight and makes an exhortation to that end. To leave one’s place, in the hope of finding the altogether different world that lies beyond their current reach. As such, Palm trees invites one to embark on an open-ended adventure in pursuit of an elusive goal.
This is not necessarily a boat trip to the other side of the ocean. One can perform such a journey while physically staying where they are. What matters is that they open their mind to fresh ideas and new possibilities. Practically speaking, though, one needs to abandon their immediate locale to undergo such a transformation. The reason is that people eventually stick to what they used to do because it grants some benefits within the given society.
Someone may be, for example, the cool edgy kid in high school. They gain a reputation to that end, which itself carries expectations. Others now see and want edginess. This person then has the incentive to continue to be edgy, to effectively play the role, rather than, say, pause and become more contemplative.
Travel will help break this loop. The person will have the freedom to become another as their preoccupations are no longer tied to the expectation of specific patterns and outcomes. Modern societies understand this and is why children switch schools after each level and eventually go to university, should they choose to. At each level there is a chance of rediscovering oneself anew, even if only marginally.
A journey in pursuit of the exotic is neverending, because there can be no discovery of the exotic as exotic. Once one enters the other world, they already are conditioned accordingly. They have become another in the process of (i) escaping from the confines of their comfort zone and then in (ii) reaching that world. That which once was distant has become proximate.
Such travels have no terminus. The exotic is not a specific entity, but the notional other of one’s lifeworld. If one moves from inside to a specific outside, then that becomes their new inside as the realm of the familiar and the proximate, which shall have its own outside, and so on.
As people, we change over time to take on certain qualities and leave others. What once was a defining feature now is not characteristic of who we are. There may still be traces, but more pronounced patterns have since taken form.
It thus does not matter where exactly one finds those palm trees, i.e. who they become exactly. The point is to develop a certain consistency such that they can be that person in earnest and feel they are performing their function well. This is described at length in the lyrics through the references to all the figures one can be. Each leaf of the palm tree points to a persona.
To what end? There is none. The journey is not better than staying exactly in place. Those who leave as well as those who stay still meet the same fate. It then comes down to what feels right or what the song describes as the path luminated by the palm trees: one can only follow what they discern.
For instance, I am the journeyman type who leaves home in pursuit of discovering myself by losing the self I was, as merchant on the silk road, pirate at the Horn of Africa, sellsword in one of the many European wars, all as the same person. I thrive in openendedness. This is what makes me a philosopher and a polymath, after all. It is exuberance that comes with the requisite courage to embark on the adventure, to not be deterred by the challenge, and to not be held back by any promise of comfort either.