Volume I: Si chiamava Gesù - His Name Was Jesus

Venuto da molto lontano a convertire bestie e gente non si può dire non sia servito a niente perché prese la terra per mano vestito di sabbia e di bianco alcuni lo dissero santo per altri ebbe meno virtù si faceva chiamare Gesù. Non intendo cantare la gloria né invocare la grazia e il perdono di chi penso non fu altri che un uomo come Dio passato alla storia ma inumano è pur sempre l'amore di chi rantola senza rancore perdonando con l'ultima voce chi lo uccide fra le braccia d'una croce. E per quelli che l'ebbero odiato nel Getsemani pianse l'addio come per chi l'adorò come Dio che gli disse sia sempre lodato, per chi gli portò in dono alla fine una lacrima o una treccia di spine, accettando ad estremo saluto la preghiera l'insulto e lo sputo. E morì come tutti si muore come tutti cambiando colore non si può dire che sia servito a molto perché il male dalla terra non fu tolto Ebbe forse un po' troppe virtù, ebbe un volto ed un nome: Gesù. Di Maria dicono fosse il figlio sulla croce sbiancò come un giglio. Si chiamava Gesù © 1967 Fabrizio De André/Vittorio Centanaro "Si chiamava Gesù" was another of De André's songs censored by Italian radio and television (RAI). Interestingly, the song was played on Vatican Radio; interesting because De André's anti-conformist concept of Christ was that he was not a deity, but rather a common man who, simply with the power of love, was able to rise above his own human-ness. To De André, Jesus as a common man was someone he could relate to and emulate, and whose teachings and example were thus far more powerful and immediate.

Coming from far, far away to convert beasts and humans, you can’t say it was for naught, because he took the earth by its hand. Dressed in sand and in white, some said he was a saint, for others he had less virtue - he went by the name of Jesus. I don’t intend to sing of the glory nor to invoke the grace and forgiveness of one who I think was not other than a man, like God passed into history. Yet inhuman, it is still forever, the love of one whose last gasps are without ill will, pardoning with his final voice those who kill him in the arms of a cross. And for those who had hated him, in Gethsemane he wept farewell, as for those who adored him as a God and who said to him, "Praise be to you always," and for whoever brought to him as a gift at the end a tear or a braid of thorns, accepting at the final farewell the prayer, the insult and the sputum. And he died like everyone dies, like everyone, changing color. You can’t say it did much good, because the evil from the land wasn't removed. He had perhaps a few too many virtues, he had a face and a name: Jesus. Of Maria they say he was the son, on the cross he turned white as a lily. English translation © 2014 Dennis Criteser Volume I is De André’s first full studio album, released in 1967 on the Bluebell label. It was produced by Gian Piero Reverberi and Andrea Malcotti. Reverberi shares writing credits on the music of six of the songs.

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