venerdì 29 ottobre 2010

Le nuvole ~ The clouds

"The clouds" is the intro of the homonymous music album (Ricordi-Fonit Cetra, 1990) written and performed by Fabrizio De André (1940-1990).

Italian lyrics:

Vanno, vengono
ogni tanto si fermano
e quando si fermano
sono nere come il corvo
sembra che ti guardano con malocchio

Certe volte sono bianche
e corrono
e prendono la forma dell'airone
o della pecora
o di qualche altra bestia
ma questo lo vedono meglio i bambini
che giocano a corrergli dietro per tanti metri

Certe volte ti avvisano con rumore
prima di arrivare
e la terra si trema
e gli animali si stanno zitti
certe volte ti avvisano con rumore

Vanno, vengono
ritornano
e magari si fermano tanti giorni
che non vedi più il sole e le stelle
e ti sembra di non conoscere più
il posto dove stai

Vanno, vengono
per una vera
mille sono finte
e si mettono li tra noi e il cielo
per lasciarci soltanto una voglia di pioggia.

English translation:

They go, they come
sometimes they stop
and when they stop
they're black like the crow
it seems they're putting a jinx on you

Sometimes they are white
and run
and take the shape of the heron
or the sheep
or some other beast
but this is better noticed by children
who play at running after them for a lot of metres

Sometimes they warn you with noise
before they come
and the land trembles
and the animals stay in silence
sometimes they warn you with noise

They go, they come
the come back
and maybe they stay so much days
that you don't see the sun and the stars anymore
and it seems you don't ever know
where you are

They go, they come
for a real one
there're thousand fakes
and they stay there, between us and the sky
letting us only a desire of rain

Comment:

The lyrics were written by De André, but they're performed by two women, a old one and a young one:

« I choosed Lalla Pisano and Maria Mereu because i thought their voices could well represent the "Mother Earth", which always watches the clouds running in the sky, and waits for the rain. It's explicit that "they stay there, between us and the sky": we are forced to look up to see them, but at the same time, bcause of them, we can't see something different or higher place    above them. So the clouds become something that makes decisionswithout consulting us, and we must obey but, even if they influence the life of all of us, actually they're made of nothing, they only are appearance going above us with indifference and carelessness, because we're whishing the rain... »
   
(Fabrizio De André, interviewed by Matteo Borsani and Luca Maciacchini)

The song takes inspiration from Νεφέλαι (Nephélai), a comedy written by the greek Aristophanes in 421~418 B.C.

« The "clouds", for the aristocratic Aristophanes, were those bad advisors that teach to the youngs how to contest; in particular, Aristophanes had it with sophists that teach to the new generations a new type of mental and behavioural innovative and provoking attitude with the conservative government of Athens in those days. The more dangerous "cloud" was Socrates, that Aristophanes unbelievably considered a sophist too.
But aside this, and aside the fact that aristophanes was an artist and so he was unconsciously a big innovator too, my "clouds" otherwise are those intrusive and looming people in our social, political and economical life; they are all the people afraid of the new, because tha new could subvert their social status.

[...]
The lower classes are affected by the "clouds", without any evident sign of protest. »
   
(Fabrizio De André, interview, 1990)

So Fabrizio De André represents with the "clouds" everything (and everyone) that is obstructing our freedom, especially the freedom of the weak people not able to protest and defend themselves.

lunedì 25 ottobre 2010

La donna cannone ~ The cannon woman

For my first translation, I'd like to write about the most famous song by Francesco De Gregori: La donna cannone (1983, music and lyrics © by Francesco De Gregori and RCA Italy). This is one of my favourite italian songs, and probably the more beautiful song writted by De Gregori.

Listen this song on YouTube!

Italian lyrics:

Butterò questo mio enorme cuore tra le stelle un giorno,
giuro che lo farò,

e oltre l'azzurro della tenda, nell'azzurro io volerò.
Quando la donna cannone d'oro e d'argento diventerà,
senza passare dalla stazione l'ultimo treno prenderà.
E in faccia ai maligni e ai superbi il mio nome scintillerà,
dalle porte della notte il giorno si bloccherà,
un applauso del pubblico pagante lo sottolineerà
e dalla bocca del cannone una canzone suonerà...

E con le mani amore, per le mani ti prenderò
e senza dire parole nel mio cuore ti porterò
e non aver paura se non sarò come bella come dici tu
ma voleremo in cielo in carne ed ossa, non torneremo più.
E senza fame e senza sete,
e senza aria e senza rete voleremo via...
 

Così la donna cannone, quell'enorme mistero volò,
sola verso un cielo nero s'incamminò.
Tutti chiusero gli occhi nell'attimo esatto in cui sparì,
altri giurarono e spergiurarono che non erano mai stati lì...


E con le mani amore, per le mani ti prenderò
e senza dire parole nel mio cuore ti porterò
e non aver paura se non sarò come bella come vuoi tu
ma voleremo in cielo in carne ed ossa, non torneremo più...
E senza fame e senza sete
e senza aria e senza rete voleremo via...


English translation:

One day I'll throw my huge heart in the stars,
I swear I will do,

and behind the blue of the tent, in the blue I'll fly.
When the Cannon Woman will become of gold and silver,
without entering in the station,
she'll catch the last train.
And my name will sparkle on evil and arrogant men,
the day will stop at the gates of the night,

an applause by the paying public will underline it
and from the mouth of the cannon a song will play...

And with my hands I'll grab you by yor hands,
and without a word i'll bring you to my heart,
and don't be afraid if i'll not be beautiful as you think,
but we will really fly in the sky, we'll never come back.
And without hunger nor thirst,
and without wings nor net we'll fly away...
 

So the Cannon Woman, that huge mistery flew,
she steered towards a black black sky.
Everybody closed their eyes exactly in the moment when she disappeared,
other people swore and perjured they never stayed there...


And with my hands I'll grab you by yor hands,
and without a word i'll bring you to my heart,
and don't be afraid if i'll not be beautiful as you want,
but we will really fly in the sky, we'll never come back.
And without hunger nor thirst,
and without wings nor net we'll fly away...


Comment:

With this song, De Gregori was able to describe a love story in a very simple way, without banality or too honeyed sentences, a mistake that happens too many times in love songs.
The author was inspired by a news item: he red about a circus being on the brink of bankrupt because of the elopement of the Cannon Woman, the bigger actractive of the "freakshow".
The woman talks about her elopement and her need of love and normal life, even if it's not a beauty ("
beautiful as you think", "beautiful as you want"), escaping from her label of "freak" ("my name will sparkle on evil and arrogant men"), because she doesn't ever want to be the laughing stock of "the paying public".
The song also accuses people that don't want to recognize that "freaks" are normal as any other, they "close their eyes" and don't want to admit that love is possibile also for someone is not like them ("swore and perjured they never stayed there").

Welcome to my blog

Every time I listen a good italian song, I thought it was really a shame that not italian speakers could not know neither understand that little piece of modern art. Yes: modern art. Music and poetry are two of the "seven arts": music, architecture, painting, sculpture, poetry, dance and acting. So modern songs can be defined as a fusion between music and poetry.

Obviously, not every modern song can be art, as like not every painting or every sculpture is art. But some of them are art, without any doubt. As you know, art is a kind of message that can stimulate emotions, senses and intellect, and some modern song can stimulate emotions, senses ad intellect through their music and lyrics.

In this blog I'll choose some italian songs that, in my humble opinion, can be defined as art because of their lyrics. I will also try to translate them correctly in english and comment them with notes and explanations of difficult or hermetic steps.

I hope you'll like my idea, and don't forget to leave some comment: I'll very appreciate it.

So, let's start.