Thursday, January 2, 2014

Tutti morimmo a stento:
   Terzo intermezzo - Third Interlude

La polvere il sangue le mosche e l'odore
per strada fra i campi la gente che muore
e tu, tu la chiami guerra e non sai che cos'è
e tu, tu la chiami guerra e non ti spieghi perché.

L'autunno negli occhi l'estate nel cuore
la voglia di dare l'istinto di avere
e tu, tu lo chiami amore e non sai che cos'è
e tu, tu lo chiami amore e non ti spieghi perché.

Terzo intermezzo © 1968 Fabrizio De André/Gian Piero Reverberi

Per De André's comments, "Third Interlude" speaks of love and war, which arise out of two separate human impulses, the desire to give and the instinct to have.

The dust, the blood, the flies, the smells
on the street, among the fields, the people who die . . .
and you, you call it war and don’t know what it is.
And you, you call it war and don’t explain to yourself why.

Autumn in the eyes, summer in the heart,
the desire to give, the instinct to have . . .
and you, you call it war and don’t know what it is.
And you, you call it war and don’t explain to yourself why.

English translation © 2014 Dennis Criteser


Tutti morimmo a stento, released in 1968, was one of the first concept albums in Italy. In De André's own words, the album "speaks of death, not of bubble gum death with little bones, but of psychological death, moral death, mental death, that a normal person can encounter during his lifetime." After the success of Volume I, De André was provided for this next album a cutting edge recording studio complete with an 80-member orchestra, directed by Gian Piero Reverberi, and a children's chorus. The whole project was under the direction of Gian Piero's brother Gian Franco Reverberi. This album also met with commercial success, becoming the highest selling album in Italy in 1968. In 1969 a version of the album was made with De André re-recording the vocals in English. The album was not officially released.
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