Rembetiko - Sthn Amfiali (Στην Αμφιάλη)
Μια βραδιά στην Αμφιάλη του τη φέραν του Μιχάλη του τη φέραν του Μιχάλη μια βραδιά στην Αμφιάλη. Πως πουλούσε με το δράμι κουλουράκια με σουσάμι Κουλουράκια με σουσάμι τα πουλούσε με το δράμι. Ένα κι ένα κάνουν δύο πέστε του Μιχάλη αντίο Δύο κι ένα κάνουν τρία τον γραπώσαν τα θηρία. Άλλη μια βραδιά στην Τρούμπα αμολύσανε καλούμπα Αμολύσανε καλούμπα άλλη μια βραδιά στην Τρούμπα Πούλαγε ζεστή τουλούμπα κι έτσι έπεσε στη λούμπα Έτσι έπεσε στη λούμπα γιατί πούλαγε τουλούμπα Ένα κι ένα κάνουν δύο πέστε του Μιχάλη αντίο Δύο κι ένα κάνουν τρία τον γραπώσαν τα θηρία. Ποιος του φταίει του Μιχάλη το ξερό του το κεφάλι Το ξερό του το κεφάλι να ποιος φταίει του Μιχάλη. Είχε κρύψει στο συρτάρι φούντες φούντες το χορτάρι Φούντες φούντες το χορτάρι είχε κρύψει στο συρτάρι. Ένα κι ένα κάνουν δύο πέστε του Μιχάλη αντίο Δύο κι ένα κάνουν τρία τον γραπώσαν τα θηρία. Θα του στείλουμε λουκούμια τώρα που `γινε σαν μούμια Τώρα που `γινε σαν μούμια θα του στείλουμε λουκούμια Να τα τρώει στο κελί του να χτυπάει την κεφαλή του Να χτυπάει την κεφαλή του στο μακρόστενο κελί του Ένα κι ένα κάνουν δύο πέστε του Μιχάλη αντίο Δύο κι ένα κάνουν τρία τον γραπώσαν τα θηρία. Μια βραδιά στην Αμφιάλη του τη φέραν του Μιχάλη του τη φέραν του Μιχάλη μια βραδιά στην Αμφιάλη. Άλλη μια βραδιά στην Τρούμπα αμολύσανε καλούμπα Αμολύσανε καλούμπα κι έτσι έπεσε στη λούμπα Ένα κι ένα κάνουν δύο πέστε μας κι εμάς αντίο Δύο κι ένα κάνουν τρία και τελειώνει η ιστορία
One night at Amfiali they did Michalis in, they did Michalis in, one night at Amfiali. For he was selling by the dram little rings with sesame, little rings with sesame, he was selling by the dram. One and one make two — say goodbye to Michalis, two and one make three — the beasts grabbed him by the scruff. Another night in Trouba they let the snare loose, they let the snare loose, another night in Trouba. He was selling hot tulumba and so he fell in the puddle, so he fell in the puddle because he was selling tulumba. One and one make two — say goodbye to Michalis, two and one make three — the beasts grabbed him by the scruff. Who's to blame for Michalis? That thick head of his, that thick head of his — there's who's to blame for Michalis. He had hidden in the drawer bunches upon bunches of the grass, bunches upon bunches of the grass he had hidden in the drawer. One and one make two — say goodbye to Michalis, two and one make three — the beasts grabbed him by the scruff. We'll send him Turkish delights now that he's become a mummy, now that he's become a mummy we'll send him Turkish delights. So he can eat them in his cell and bash his head, bash his head in his long narrow cell. One and one make two — say goodbye to Michalis, two and one make three — the beasts grabbed him by the scruff. One night at Amfiali they did Michalis in, they did Michalis in, one night at Amfiali. Another night in Trouba they let the snare loose, they let the snare loose, and that's how he fell in the puddle. One and one make two — say goodbye to us too, two and one make three — and the story comes to an end.
Historical context
A Nikos Gatsos / Stavros Xarchakos composition for the 1983 Ferris film Rembetiko. The setting is geographically precise:
- Αμφιάλη is the industrial waterfront strip of Piraeus near Skaramangas — port traffic, shipyards, working-class housing.
- Τρούμπα was the red-light district of Piraeus, named after a τρούμπα (water pump, from Italian tromba) that once stood there. From the late 19th century through the 1960s, it was the most notorious entertainment quarter in Greece: sailors’ bars, brothels, hashish dens, and the rebetiko clubs that grew up alongside them. The Greek state shut it down in 1967 under the Junta as part of a “morality” crackdown.
The song belongs to a recognizable rebetiko sub-genre: the comic narrative ballad about someone getting busted. Classic examples include Πέντε Έλληνες στον Άδη (Five Greeks in Hades) and Έφτασες σκυλογαμένε. They share a structural trick — pretend innocence, mock the unfortunate hero, and use slang so dense that the police censors couldn’t quite pin it down. Hashish becomes κουλουράκια, τουλούμπα, φούντες — pastries and bunches and grass.
After Metaxas’s 1937 ban on hashish lyrics, this register went underground in commercial recording. Gatsos’s 1983 song is a deliberate retrieval of it — a deadpan tribute to a form the state once tried to erase.
Reading
The whole song runs on one collision: a children’s counting-rhyme structure crashing into an adult criminal narrative.
The arithmetic refrain — Ένα κι ένα κάνουν δύο / Δύο κι ένα κάνουν τρία (one and one is two, two and one is three) — is borrowed straight from παιδικά τραγουδάκια, Greek nursery rhymes. The form is sing-song, easy to chant, almost playground-friendly. Underneath, it counts off Michalis’s doom: say goodbye to Michalis, the beasts grabbed him. The lightness is the joke.
The euphemism layer is the next thing the song is doing. Michalis isn’t accused of selling drugs; he is πουλούσε με το δράμι κουλουράκια με σουσάμι — selling sesame rings by the dram. He’s not caught with hashish; he was πούλαγε ζεστή τουλούμπα — selling hot tulumba. The Greek listener understands instantly: nobody sells koulourakia με το δράμι (a unit of weight used for spices, drugs, and precious things, not for street pastries). The drawer full of φούντες φούντες το χορτάρι finally drops the mask.
The mockery is communal. The voice is plural — we’ll send him Turkish delights, say goodbye to Michalis. A group of his peers is narrating the story over him. They sound amused. They sound a little superior. The cell description (μακρόστενο, long-and-narrow) is even slightly cosy, like a friend giving directions. The whole song is built on the rebetiko habit of using laughter to handle pain.
Then the last verse turns. After three rounds of say goodbye to Michalis, the final refrain pivots: πέστε μας κι εμάς αντίο / και τελειώνει η ιστορία — say goodbye to us too, and the story comes to an end. The singers admit, in the last line, that they are not above this — they are in the same world, doing the same things, and one of them is next. The whole comic narrative collapses inward. Mockery becomes prophecy.
Notes
- Αμφιάλη
- Μια βραδιά στην Αμφιάλη του τη φέραν του Μιχάλη
- Amfiali
- Industrial waterfront neighborhood of Piraeus, near Skaramangas. Working-class and port-side — the kind of place where this story would plausibly play out.
- του τη φέραν
- Μια βραδιά στην Αμφιάλη του τη φέραν του Μιχάλη
- they did him in / they set him up
- Idiom: literally "they brought it on him". Carries the sense of an ambush or a sting — he was caught out, not just unlucky.
- με το δράμι
- Πως πουλούσε με το δράμι κουλουράκια με σουσάμι
- by the dram (tiny amounts)
- δράμι = an old Ottoman-era weight, about 3.2g. Selling "by the dram" means in micro-doses — the unit of street drug retail rather than honest grocery work.
- κουλουράκια με σουσάμι
- Πως πουλούσε με το δράμι κουλουράκια με σουσάμι
- sesame koulourakia (little rings)
- A common Greek street pastry. Here it is a euphemism — the song pretends Michalis was selling sweets while everyone hearing it knows he was selling hashish.
- τα θηρία
- Δύο κι ένα κάνουν τρία τον γραπώσαν τα θηρία
- the beasts (cops)
- Slang for the police. The same political epithet used in Ta Pedia tis Aminas ("who drove the beasts from Athens") here serves the opposite role — the beasts are the law, not the politicians.
- Τρούμπα
- Άλλη μια βραδιά στην Τρούμπα αμολύσανε καλούμπα
- Trouba
- The red-light district of Piraeus, named after the *τρούμπα* (pump, from Italian *tromba*) that once stood there. Synonymous with rough port-side nightlife, sailors, brothels, and rebetiko venues.
- αμολύσανε καλούμπα
- Άλλη μια βραδιά στην Τρούμπα αμολύσανε καλούμπα
- they let the snare loose
- αμολώ (variant of απολύω) = to release, set loose, throw. καλούμπα = a heavy mooring rope or coil. The image is nautical — casting a mooring line — used here for the cops casting a trap.
- τουλούμπα / λούμπα
- Πούλαγε ζεστή τουλούμπα κι έτσι έπεσε στη λούμπα
- tulumba / puddle
- τουλούμπα is a syrup-soaked deep-fried pastry (Ottoman-origin). λούμπα is a muddy puddle, idiomatically a tight spot or fix — to fall into the λούμπα is to get caught. The internal rhyme tulumba / lumba is the whole joke.
- ξερό κεφάλι
- Ποιος του φταίει του Μιχάλη το ξερό του το κεφάλι
- thick head, hard head
- Literally "dry head"; idiomatically a stubborn, thick-skulled person (cf. ξεροκέφαλος). The verdict on Michalis: he has only himself to blame.
- φούντες φούντες το χορτάρι
- Είχε κρύψει στο συρτάρι φούντες φούντες το χορτάρι
- bunches upon bunches of the grass
- φούντα = a tuft, tassel, or top of a plant; in slang, a bud of cannabis. χορτάρι = grass — also slang for marijuana. "Bunches and bunches" leaves no room for the koulourakia euphemism.
- λουκούμια / μούμια
- Θα του στείλουμε λουκούμια τώρα που 'γινε σαν μούμια
- Turkish delights / mummy
- λουκούμι = Turkish delight (the soft sugared sweet). μούμια = mummy. The image is dark-comic: prison has dried him out like a mummy, so the sweets are meant to soften him back up.
- μακρόστενο κελί
- Να χτυπάει την κεφαλή του στο μακρόστενο κελί του
- long narrow cell
- μακρόστενο = long-and-narrow, a standard description of a Greek prison cell of that era. The detail anchors the comic story in a real architecture.
- Ένα κι ένα κάνουν δύο
- Ένα κι ένα κάνουν δύο πέστε του Μιχάλη αντίο
- one and one make two...
- The arithmetic-counting refrain is the song's structural backbone. The form is borrowed from children's counting-rhymes (παιδικά τραγουδάκια) — the lightness of the form clashing with the darkness of the content is the whole joke.