Fabrizio De André in English

Fabrizio De André, the revered Italian singer/songwriter, created a deep and enduring body of work over the course of his career from the 1960s through the 1990s. With these translations I have tried to render his words into an English that reads naturally without straying too far from the Italian. The translations decipher De André's lyrics without trying to preserve rhyme schemes or to make the resulting English lyric work with the melody of the song.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

La Buona Novella:
Laudate Dominum

Laudate Dominum
Laudate Dominum

Laudate Dominum © 1970 Fabrizio De André/Gian Piero Reverberi

The album begins with a brief Latin prayer, as if in a church service.

Third edition

Praise the Lord
Praise the Lord

English translation © 2014 Dennis Criteser

First edition

Second edition

La Buona Novella, released in 1970, was written in the thick of the student protests and social upheavals of 1968/1969 including "May 68" in France and Hot Autumn in Italy. The album is based on the Biblical apocrypha. De André reminded his compatriots that Jesus was the greatest revolutionary in history, and the album was meant to be an allegory for the times. "La Buona Novella" means The Good Book, and in Italian refers specifically to the New Testament.