pat68

Pat, March 2018

Hey hey all you lovers of the greek light!

My name is Pat Zanetti and I am a Danish singersong writer

I had just turned 18 when I arrived in that magical place called Matala

in the summer of 1968 having hitchhiked from Copenhagen with a friend

What a scene! All the caves were occupied so we had to sleep on the beach

like so many others - waiting for a cave to become vacant

We did a lot of hiking between Matala and Red beach where people were

literally living in holes in the ground!!Back to nature!The native indian hippy regime

Wonderfull mini-coves along the coastline with heavenly turquoise sea water

you just couldn't keep from diving into right on the spot - now! - Jump!

I had my guitar with me - without a case! - and I started writing songs about these

Supernatural days in this Super nature, so different from what I was used to -

So I wrote: ‘It’s a fine fine day’! - and OMG were these fine fine days!:

It’s a fine fine day to take a walk outside

It’s a fine fine day to do anything you like

It’s a fine fine day to walk up and down the hill

It’s a fine fine day to do exactly what thou wilt

It’s a fine fine day to get high without a pill

Now something’s in the air something’s telling me now

something close to bliss but I’m not sure what it is

something’s in the air and it isn’t just the sun

it’s so hard to explain but it's there all the same

it’s so hard to explain I just can't give it any name (The Matala Vibe!)

Have you ever been to Matala the bay

and did you ever see them green trees softly sway (Tamarisks!)

did you ever drink retzina on the beach

while the sun goes down and the girls are within reach

while the sun goes down deep beneath that restless sea

Now if you ever go down south please visit my friend Janis

in his souvlaki shop you know his ouzo's good enough

he's got a funny smile beneath his black moustachio

please give him my regards on his shoulder slap him hard

and if you see his wife tell her everything’s allright

Oh yes those were the days my friend - 50 years ago in a couple of months!

I allso wrote the genuine ‘Matala song’ - though that was a few years later

Joni Michell didn’t write about Matala she wrote about Carrot the Radish!

While living in Sivas - Matala had started to degenerate! - I wrote the song:

‘Morning song’ as a tribute to the whole area - both songs are on youtube

with the lyrics under the video screen - if you want to dive back into those

glorious days we thought would never end...

Later again I changed location to the islands of Paros - Samos and Leros

continuing to write songs about my aegean experiences - and they are all

uploaded on youtube - except: ‘It's a fine fine day’ - I never recorded that song

- maybe I should do that now: on its 50th anniversary!

All the best to you Lovers of the greek Light