La Buona Novella: Maria nella bottega d'un falegname - Maria in the Carpenter's Workshop

Maria: "Falegname col martello perché fai den den? Con la pialla su quel legno perché fai fren fren? Costruisci le stampelle per chi in guerra andò? Dalla Nubia sulle mani a casa ritornò?" Il falegname: "Mio martello non colpisce, pialla mia non taglia per foggiare gambe nuove a chi le offrì in battaglia, ma tre croci, due per chi disertò per rubare, la più grande per chi guerra insegnò a disertare". La gente: "Alle tempie addormentate di questa città pulsa il cuore di un martello, quando smetterà? Falegname, su quel legno, quanti corpi ormai, quanto ancora con la pialla lo assottiglierai?" Maria: "Alle piaghe, alle ferite che sul legno fai, falegname su quei tagli manca il sangue, ormai, perché spieghino da soli, con le loro voci, quali volti sbiancheranno sopra le tue croci". Il falegname: "Questi ceppi che han portato perché il mio sudore li trasformi nell'immagine di tre dolori, vedran lacrime di Dimaco e di Tito al ciglio il più grande che tu guardi abbraccerà tuo figlio". La gente: "Dalla strada alla montagna sale il tuo den den ogni valle di Giordania impara il tuo fren fren; qualche gruppo di dolore muove il passo inquieto, altri aspettan di far bere a quelle seti aceto". Maria nella bottega d'un falegname © 1970 Fabrizio De André/Gian Piero Reverberi With "Maria nella bottega d'un falegname," De André jumps forward from the time of Christ's birth to his upcoming death on the cross. In 1979 and 1980, De André combined forces with Italy's premier progressive rock band PFM. Their highly successful tour resulted in two live albums and some interesting rearrangements of De André's songs. Third edition

Mary: “Carpenter with your hammer, why do you go ‘den den’? With the plane on that wood, why do you go ‘fren fren’? Are you building crutches for someone who went to war, who from Nubia, on their hands returned home?” The carpenter: “My hammer doesn’t strike, my plane doesn’t cut to mold new legs and offer them to someone in battle, but three crosses, two for those who deserted to steal, the largest for one who taught to desert from war.” The people: “At the sleeping temples of this city pulses the heart of a hammer. When will it stop? Carpenter, on that wood, how many hits already? How much more with the plane will you thin and refine it?” Mary: “At the sores, at the wounds you make on the wood, carpenter, on those cuts the blood is missing, now, so they explain on their own with their voices which faces will go white upon your crosses.” The carpenter: “These blocks that they brought so my sweat might transform them in the image of three sufferings, they will see tears of Dimaco and of Tito at the eye’s edge. The biggest one you're looking at will embrace your son.” The people: “From the streets to the mountains rises up your ‘den den,' every valley of Jordan learns your ‘fren fren’; some groups of suffering take the uneasy step, others wait to force those thirsty ones to drink vinegar.” 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.

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