Sunday, May 4, 2014

Storia di un impiegato:
   Canzone del padre - Father's Song

-"Vuoi davvero lasciare ai tuoi occhi
solo i sogni che non fanno svegliare".
- "Sì, Vostro Onore, ma li voglio più grandi."
- "C'è lì un posto, lo ha lasciato tuo padre.
Non dovrai che restare sul ponte
e guardare le altre navi passare
le più piccole dirigile al fiume
le più grandi sanno già dove andare."
Così son diventato mio padre
ucciso in un sogno precedente
il tribunale mi ha dato fiducia
assoluzione e delitto lo stesso movente.

E ora Berto, figlio della Lavandaia,
compagno di scuola, preferisce imparare
a contare sulle antenne dei grilli
non usa mai bolle di sapone per giocare;
seppelliva sua madre in un cimitero di lavatrici
avvolta in un lenzuolo quasi come gli eroi;
si fermò un attimo per suggerire a Dio
di continuare a farsi i fatti suoi
e scappò via con la paura di arrugginire
il giornale di ieri lo dà morto arrugginito,
i becchini ne raccolgono spesso
fra la gente che si lascia piovere addosso.

Ho investito il denaro e gli affetti
banca e famiglia danno rendite sicure,
con mia moglie si discute l'amore
ci sono distanze, non ci sono paure,
ma ogni notte lei mi si arrende più tardi
vengono uomini, ce n'è uno più magro,
ha una valigia e due passaporti,
lei ha gli occhi di una donna che pago.
Commissario io ti pago per questo,
lei ha gli occhi di una donna che è mia,
l'uomo magro ha le mani occupate,
una valigia di ciondoli, un foglio di via.

Non ha più la faccia del suo primo hashish
è il mio ultimo figlio, il meno voluto,
ha pochi stracci dove inciampare
non gli importa d'alzarsi, neppure quando è caduto:
e i miei alibi prendono fuoco
il Guttuso ancora da autenticare
adesso le fiamme mi avvolgono il letto
questi i sogni che non fanno svegliare.
Vostro Onore, sei un figlio di troia,
mi sveglio ancora e mi sveglio sudato,
ora aspettami fuori dal sogno
ci vedremo davvero,
io ricomincio da capo.

Canzone del padre © 1973 Fabrizio De André/Giuseppe Bentivoglio/Nicola Piovani

Per the album notes, the worker "has understood that he is a finished man with no possibility of recovery, that his acts will always be individualistic, striving for his own personal needs, and that by attaining more power one doesn't escape one's condition of isolation and anxiety. The bomb that was tossed with force, with anger and with a sense of vendetta in the dream, now in reality becomes a moment of exhilaration and, obviously of lucidity."

“Do you really want to leave to your eyes
only the dreams that don’t wake them up?”
“Yes, Your Honor, but I want them bigger.”
“Over there there is a seat, your father left it.
You don't have to do anything but stay on the bridge
and watch the other boats passing,
the smaller ones direct them to the river,
the bigger ones already know where to go.”
Thus I became my father,
killed in a previous dream.
The tribunal put their trust in me,
acquittal and crime the same motive.

And now Berto, son of the laundrywoman,
school-mate, he prefers to learn
how to count on cricket antennae.
He never uses soap bubbles for playing;
he buried his mother in a cemetery of washers
rolled up in a sheet almost like the heroes;
he stopped himself a moment to suggest to God
that He continue to attend to His own affairs,
and he ran away afraid of rusting.
Yesterday’s paper noted his rusty death.
The gravediggers collect some often
amongst people who let the rain fall on themselves.

I invested my money and my affections -
bank and family give safe yields.
With my wife, love is discussed.
There are distances, there are no fears,
but every night she surrenders to me later.
Men come, there is one of them thinner,
he has a suitcase and two passports,
she has the eyes of a woman that I pay.
Commissioner, I pay you for this,
she has the eyes of a woman who is mine.
The thin man has busy hands,
a suitcase of pendants, an expulsion order.

He no longer has the face of his first hashish,
he is my last son, the least wanted.
He has few rags where to falter,
standing up is not important to him, nor when he fell:
and my alibis catch fire
the Guttuso painting still to be authenticated.
Now the flames envelop me in bed,
these the dreams that don’t wake you up.
Your Honor, you are a son of a sow,
I still wake up and I wake up sweaty.
Now wait for me outside of the dream.
We’ll see each other indeed,
I’ll start again from the top.

English translation © 2014 Dennis Criteser


Storia di un impiegato, released in 1973, tells the story of a worker who, inspired by a song about the French student riots of May/June 1968, decides to become a revolutionary. De André hoped to make a poetic interpretation of the events of 1968, but wanted to burn the album upon its release because he felt it ended up as a political album, with him telling people how to act. The lyrics were co-written with Giuseppe Bentivoglio, and the resultant anarchist/Marxist texts are sometimes confusing and obscure. The music was co-written with Nicola Piovani, who also co-wrote Non al denaro non all'amore né al cielo.
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