Sunday, December 7, 2014

Anime salve:
    Anime salve - Saved Souls

Mille anni al mondo mille ancora
che bell'inganno sei anima mia
e che bello il mio tempo
che bella compagnia

sono giorni di finestre adornate canti di stagione
anime salve in terra e in mare

sono state giornate furibonde senza atti d'amore
senza calma di vento
solo passaggi e passaggi
passaggi di tempo

ore infinite come costellazioni e onde
spietate come gli occhi della memoria
altra memoria e non basta ancora
cose svanite facce
e poi il futuro

i futuri incontri di belle amanti scellerate
saranno scontri saranno cacce
coi cani e coi cinghiali
saranno rincorse morsi e affanni
per mille anni

mille anni al mondo mille ancora
che bell'inganno sei anima mia
e che grande il mio tempo
che bella compagnia

mi sono spiato illudermi e fallire
abortire i figli come i sogni
mi sono guardato piangere in uno specchio di neve
mi sono visto che ridevo
mi sono visto di spalle che partivo

ti saluto dai paesi di domani
che sono visioni di anime contadine
in volo per il mondo

mille anni al mondo mille ancora
che bell'inganno sei anima mia
e che grande questo tempo che solitudine
che bella compagnia

Anime salve © 1996 Fabrizio De André/Ivano Fossati

"Anime salve" is sung both by De André and Ivano Fossati, who is responsible for most of the music of this song. De André said that he meant for the words "anime" and "salva" to maintain some of their etymological root meanings of "spirit" and "solitary." After two songs about a person and a people who were forced into a kind of marginalized solitude away from the mainstream world, he meant this song to be a hymn to solitude as a choice that can save one's soul from the worst human failings, solitude as a counterbalance to living in the world, a solitude that gives space for better understanding, learning and reflection about the world, a solitude that counters the tendencies towards violence that result from people banding together and identifying as a group, both at the local/social level and at the level of political states.



A thousand years in the world, a thousand still,
what a fine deception you are, my soul,
and how beautiful my time,
what beautiful company.

They are days of adorned windows, carols of the season,
saved souls on land and at sea.

They were furious days without acts of love,
without calmness of wind,
only passages and passages,
passages of time.

Infinite hours like constellations and waves,
merciless like the eyes of memory.
Another memory and it’s still not enough,
vanished things, faces,
and then the future.

Future encounters of beautiful lovers, unholy,
will be conflicts, will be hunts
with the dogs and the boars,
they will be chases, bites and troubles
for a thousand years.

A thousand years in the world, a thousand still,
what a fine deception you are, my soul,
and how boundless my time,
what beautiful company.

I spied myself deceiving myself and failing,
aborting children like dreams.
I watched myself crying in a mirror of snow,
I saw myself that was laughing,
I saw myself from the back as I departed.

I salute you from domains of tomorrow
that are visions of peasant souls
en route to the world.

A thousand years in the world, a thousand still,
what a fine deception you are, my soul,
and how great this time, what solitude,
what beautiful company.

English translation © 2014 Dennis Criteser



Anime salve was released in 1996, the last of De André's thirteen studio albums. The songs were co-written by De André and Ivano Fossati, and the studio recording was co-produced by De Andrè and Piero Milesi. De André referred to the album both as "a type of eulogy for solitude" and "a discourse on freedom." Here you will discover an album with De André at his full powers as lyricist and singer with his rich baritone in a musical setting that is striking, musically sophisticated and varied, with musical references to South America, the Balkans and the Mediterranean. The album was voted best Italian album of 1997 by the readers of La Repubblica and critics voted De André as the best Italian artist. The album also received the prestigious Targa Tenco prize for best album of 1997.
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