Edmundo Paz Soldán
El pasado domingo escuché y vi por primera vez a The Decemberists. La pasé muy bien con esta banda de Oregon, de canciones "indie pop" con letras muy literarias. ¿El mejor momento? Cuando cantaron su canción más nueva, "Valerie Plame". El nombre, claro, es el de la espía de la CIA que, debido a que su esposo se oponía a la guerra en Irak, fue "descubierta" por el periodista conservador Robert Novak. En la interpretación del carismático Colin Meloy, y en la de sus fervorosos seguidores –casi todos estudiantes universitarios liberales, un sólido bloque de apoyo a Obama– esa noche en Ithaca, la canción se convirtió en el símbolo del final de una era y el principio de otra.
Ésta es la letra de la canción:
Oh Valerie Plame
If that really is your name
I would just shout the same
To the world
Dear Valerie Plame
So they made a wreck of you
But give me the rest of you
And I’ll give the world
But you were just some silly girl
Taking in the sights of your empire’s colony
So I took you into my confidence
Without a thought of consequence
To my heart or to my mind
But Valerie Plame
If that really is your name
I would just shout the same
To the world
La da da de da
la de da da
la de da da da da dada da
Oh Valerie Plame
If that really is your name
I would just shout the same
From up high
Dear Valerie Plame
I’ll look for that long exchange
Outside of the Bureau Change
In Shanghai
But I was just some stupid boy on a bus
When your nom de guerre was Codename Caroline
And so my Vespa became your chariot
From the Green Zone Marriott
To be etched upon my mind
But Valerie Plame
If that really is your name
I would just shout the same
To the world
And when they flashed your picture ‘cross the screen
How my heart seemed to leap out of me
And they attached a list of your identities
But the one you’ll always be
Is Valerie Plame
If that really is your name
I would just shout the same
To the world
Valerie plame
If that really is your name
I would just shout the same
To the world
La da da da da da da.. hey hey Valerie Plame (x3)
