“The album of my head is full of pictures of you”

The Colombian group Los Aterciopelados (The Velvety Kids) have a beautiful song in their 2001 album Gozo Poderoso, titled simply “The Album”. Besides the groovy mix of rock and folk as well as the beautiful images in the clip, it’s interesting to note that the lyrics are made almost exclusively out of photographic terms. The song is about love and the refrain says: “The album of my head is full of pictures of you”. You can say a lot with photography, even word-wise 🙂

Some passages from the lyrics, in English:

The album of my head is only filling up with photos of you.

In the dark, separate room
I develop and enlarge the past.
If I hold onto the negatives
I’ll be able to reproduce you next to me.

So absent and so present
undeletable in my mind
your features are printed in me.

Perfect framing, balanced composition,
in black & white or in color,
I don’t need flash even at night,
because you don’t switch off, you are a splash of light.

The album of my head is filling up with photos of you,
one is a landscape from an unforgettable trip,
and this one, a full-size portrait signed with “I love you”.

I am convinced the photographer character in the clip is supposed to be Leo Matiz.