L'autorevole compagno guarda in camera
dice di armarsi, sì, ma di di pazienza
poi con fare solenne imposta la voce
e rende onore alla Resistenza
sia ben chiaro solo a quella di ottant'anni fa
E sventola come un trofeo
il fiore secco del partigiano
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao (1)
Impiccati sui viali a Bassano
Spazzati via dai panzer a Montefiorino
ad Alba duemila anime diventano duecento
Per chi suona la campana quando fischia il vento?
Bersargli facili al poligono a Bologna
braccati e accoppati in montagna
traditi, rastrellati, fucilati,
torturati in via Tasso e poi finiti
Morti per la Libertà
perché senza Libertà si muore
morire per un sogno, un'idea
una medaglia postuma al valore
Poi alle cave l'odio cieco che esplode
anche a Sant'Anna e Marzabotto si uccide
Si muore a Vinca, Fucecchio, Cavriglia
vestiti di nero i fantocci di paglia
Rappresaglie di ferocia impunita
Ma fa niente, dai, si ritorna alla vita
Ma poi a Portella i banditi di Scelba
sparano sulla folla
a Reggio Emilia i boia di Tambroni
cantano in coro boia chi molla
Morti per la libertà
ché la libertà è spesso un sogno
un'illusione come la democrazia
quella che tu festeggi ogni 2 giugno
Saltano treni, banche e stazioni
E chi non salta è Berlusconi
e gli anarchici che non saltano dalla finestra
ingozzati forzati a mangiar la minestra
Con quella faccia un po' così
quell'espressione incredula
che abbiamo noi che vi abbiamo visti a Genova (2)
che abbiamo visto voi, nazisti senza svastica
nei rastrellamenti di chi faceva ginnastica
Eh già il fascismo è sempre là
non è mai stato spazzato via
è un cancro dentro ogni Stato
e ogni stato è uno stato di polizia
Morti per niente
morti per niente
morti per niente
morti per niente
dice di armarsi, sì, ma di di pazienza
poi con fare solenne imposta la voce
e rende onore alla Resistenza
sia ben chiaro solo a quella di ottant'anni fa
E sventola come un trofeo
il fiore secco del partigiano
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao (1)
Impiccati sui viali a Bassano
Spazzati via dai panzer a Montefiorino
ad Alba duemila anime diventano duecento
Per chi suona la campana quando fischia il vento?
Bersargli facili al poligono a Bologna
braccati e accoppati in montagna
traditi, rastrellati, fucilati,
torturati in via Tasso e poi finiti
Morti per la Libertà
perché senza Libertà si muore
morire per un sogno, un'idea
una medaglia postuma al valore
Poi alle cave l'odio cieco che esplode
anche a Sant'Anna e Marzabotto si uccide
Si muore a Vinca, Fucecchio, Cavriglia
vestiti di nero i fantocci di paglia
Rappresaglie di ferocia impunita
Ma fa niente, dai, si ritorna alla vita
Ma poi a Portella i banditi di Scelba
sparano sulla folla
a Reggio Emilia i boia di Tambroni
cantano in coro boia chi molla
Morti per la libertà
ché la libertà è spesso un sogno
un'illusione come la democrazia
quella che tu festeggi ogni 2 giugno
Saltano treni, banche e stazioni
E chi non salta è Berlusconi
e gli anarchici che non saltano dalla finestra
ingozzati forzati a mangiar la minestra
Con quella faccia un po' così
quell'espressione incredula
che abbiamo noi che vi abbiamo visti a Genova (2)
che abbiamo visto voi, nazisti senza svastica
nei rastrellamenti di chi faceva ginnastica
Eh già il fascismo è sempre là
non è mai stato spazzato via
è un cancro dentro ogni Stato
e ogni stato è uno stato di polizia
Morti per niente
morti per niente
morti per niente
morti per niente
(1) i primi 8 versi sono ripresi da Circondati dello stesso Canali dall'album Venti (2020)
(2) citazione di Paolo Conte, "Genova per noi" :
(2) citazione di Paolo Conte, "Genova per noi" :
inviata da Lorenzo - 16/9/2023 - 23:44
Lingua: Inglese
English translation / Traduzione inglese / Traduction anglaise / Italiankielinen käännös:
Riccardo Venturi, 19-09-2023 12:05
Riccardo Venturi, 19-09-2023 12:05
Translator’s note.In translating this song for English speakers, I warn the English reader that the original lyrics are literally full of quotations (and self-quotations), as well as references to historical events and Italian idiomatic expressions that are not always easy to be adequately translated into English. References to historical events are generally expressed through direct links pointing to site songs that talk about them (often provided with English translations); but there are also specific notes explaining idiomatic expressions and other points that could be difficult to understand for those who are not fully at home in the sad history of Italy in the post-war period up to nowadays.
Dead for Nothing
An influential comrade looks into the camera
Says you’ve to arm yourself, yes, but with patience
Then pitches his voice with solemn gestures
And pays tribute to the Resistance movement
Well, of course, just that of eighty years ago
And he waves like a banner
The withered flower of the Partisan
O bella ciao, yes, good bye, bella ciao [1]
Hanged to avenue trees in Bassano
Swept away by tanks in Montefiorino
Two thousand turned into two hundred in Alba
For whom the bell tolls when the wind blows
Easy targets in Bologna firing ground
Hunted down and killed in the mountains
Betrayed, shot, tortured and then finished in via Tasso [2]
Dead for Freedom
Because you die without Freedom
Dead for a dream, for an idea,
A posthumous medal for valour
And then, blind hatred exploding in the Caves
Massacres in Sant’Anna and Marzabotto
Slaughters in Vinca, Fucecchio and Cavriglia
The straw puppets were all dressed in black
Savage and unpunished reprisals
But doesn’t matter, life retakes its course
But, then, in Portella della Ginestra,
Scelba’s bandits shoot into the crowd
And in Reggio Emilia, Tambroni’s butchers
Sing in choir “Death to traitors” [3]
Dead for Freedom
Well, Freedom often is a dream,
An illusion, like democracy
The thing you celebrate every June 2nd [4]
Trains, banks and stations are blown up
And, look! While you’re jumping, Berlusconi stays unexploded. [5]
And the Anarchists who don’t jump down out from the window
Are stuffed with this bitter, bitter soup [6]
With that iffy face
And that iffy expression
We have after seeing you in Genoa [7]
You, yes you, fascists without swastikas
In the roundups of runners and gym exercisers [8]
Well cuz fascism is still there
It’s never been wiped out
It’s a cancer inside any State
Any State is a police state
Dead for nothing
Dead for nothing
Dead for nothing
Dead for nothing
An influential comrade looks into the camera
Says you’ve to arm yourself, yes, but with patience
Then pitches his voice with solemn gestures
And pays tribute to the Resistance movement
Well, of course, just that of eighty years ago
And he waves like a banner
The withered flower of the Partisan
O bella ciao, yes, good bye, bella ciao [1]
Hanged to avenue trees in Bassano
Swept away by tanks in Montefiorino
Two thousand turned into two hundred in Alba
For whom the bell tolls when the wind blows
Easy targets in Bologna firing ground
Hunted down and killed in the mountains
Betrayed, shot, tortured and then finished in via Tasso [2]
Dead for Freedom
Because you die without Freedom
Dead for a dream, for an idea,
A posthumous medal for valour
And then, blind hatred exploding in the Caves
Massacres in Sant’Anna and Marzabotto
Slaughters in Vinca, Fucecchio and Cavriglia
The straw puppets were all dressed in black
Savage and unpunished reprisals
But doesn’t matter, life retakes its course
But, then, in Portella della Ginestra,
Scelba’s bandits shoot into the crowd
And in Reggio Emilia, Tambroni’s butchers
Sing in choir “Death to traitors” [3]
Dead for Freedom
Well, Freedom often is a dream,
An illusion, like democracy
The thing you celebrate every June 2nd [4]
Trains, banks and stations are blown up
And, look! While you’re jumping, Berlusconi stays unexploded. [5]
And the Anarchists who don’t jump down out from the window
Are stuffed with this bitter, bitter soup [6]
With that iffy face
And that iffy expression
We have after seeing you in Genoa [7]
You, yes you, fascists without swastikas
In the roundups of runners and gym exercisers [8]
Well cuz fascism is still there
It’s never been wiped out
It’s a cancer inside any State
Any State is a police state
Dead for nothing
Dead for nothing
Dead for nothing
Dead for nothing
[1] (Ironic) reference is made to the famous Italian partisan song (see link). These first eight verses are taken word for word from another song by Giorgio Canali, Circondati (2020).
[2] In Via Tasso 145, in Rome, there was a prison, used by the SS and their Italian fascist accomplices, through which approximately two thousand people passed during the German occupation: partisans, soldiers, ordinary citizens (among them approximately 300 women), anti-fascists and their relatives. The prison in Via Tasso is sadly famous also because the Jews rounded up from the Ghetto were locked up there before deportation to German concentration camps.
[3] The expression “Boia chi molla” (lit. “Whoever gives up is a hangman”) is an Italian fascist slogan. Happily enough, there’s no exact rendering in English or other languages.
[4] The Italian national feast, celebrating the day (June 2, 1946) when the Republic was proclaimed.
[5] A common Italian derogatory slogan for enemies (originating in stadiums) is: “Chi non salta, [XXX] è”. The crowd starts jumping howling the occasional enemy’s name.
Peter Punk: Chi non salta Berlusconi è!
Silvio Berlusconi: "Chi non salta nerazzurro (= FC Inter supporter) è!
"Chi non salta comunista è! (the crowd at Berlusconi's burial ceremony)
There’s an untranslatable joke here: while the crowd is jumping (“saltare” in Italian; = "exploding"), Berlusconi is not (“saltare” means also “explode, blow up” in Italian, just like French sauter).
[6] The Italian idiomatic expression: “O mangiar questa minestra, o saltar dalla finestra” (lit. “Eat this soup, or jump down from the window”) means that you are obliged to do something, by force and willy-nilly. Reference is made here to the death of the Anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli (December 15, 1969), who fell from a 4th floor window in Milan police headquarters after being falsely accused to be among the authors of Piazza Fontana bombing, is expressed through this bitterly ironical idiom that cannot be rendered in any way in English.
[7] These verses are slightly paraphrased from a well know song by Paolo Conte, “Genova per noi”:
Reference is made to the events of July 20-22, 2001.
[8] During the 2020 “pandemics” lockdown, the Italian police forces ruthlessly hunted anyone who left their homes without permission (runners, gym exercisers, bikers, people walking dogs etc.), often using disproportionate means.
[2] In Via Tasso 145, in Rome, there was a prison, used by the SS and their Italian fascist accomplices, through which approximately two thousand people passed during the German occupation: partisans, soldiers, ordinary citizens (among them approximately 300 women), anti-fascists and their relatives. The prison in Via Tasso is sadly famous also because the Jews rounded up from the Ghetto were locked up there before deportation to German concentration camps.
The SS prison in via Tasso 145, Rome
[3] The expression “Boia chi molla” (lit. “Whoever gives up is a hangman”) is an Italian fascist slogan. Happily enough, there’s no exact rendering in English or other languages.
[4] The Italian national feast, celebrating the day (June 2, 1946) when the Republic was proclaimed.
[5] A common Italian derogatory slogan for enemies (originating in stadiums) is: “Chi non salta, [XXX] è”. The crowd starts jumping howling the occasional enemy’s name.
Peter Punk: Chi non salta Berlusconi è!
Silvio Berlusconi: "Chi non salta nerazzurro (= FC Inter supporter) è!
"Chi non salta comunista è! (the crowd at Berlusconi's burial ceremony)
There’s an untranslatable joke here: while the crowd is jumping (“saltare” in Italian; = "exploding"), Berlusconi is not (“saltare” means also “explode, blow up” in Italian, just like French sauter).
[6] The Italian idiomatic expression: “O mangiar questa minestra, o saltar dalla finestra” (lit. “Eat this soup, or jump down from the window”) means that you are obliged to do something, by force and willy-nilly. Reference is made here to the death of the Anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli (December 15, 1969), who fell from a 4th floor window in Milan police headquarters after being falsely accused to be among the authors of Piazza Fontana bombing, is expressed through this bitterly ironical idiom that cannot be rendered in any way in English.
[7] These verses are slightly paraphrased from a well know song by Paolo Conte, “Genova per noi”:
Reference is made to the events of July 20-22, 2001.
[8] During the 2020 “pandemics” lockdown, the Italian police forces ruthlessly hunted anyone who left their homes without permission (runners, gym exercisers, bikers, people walking dogs etc.), often using disproportionate means.
È uscito l'album "Pericolo giallo" di Giorgio Canali e Rossofuoco, vi consiglio quindi di ascoltare la versione registrata in studio di questa canzone e mi riprometto nei prossimi giorni di aggiungere nel sito varie altre canzoni decisamente in tema.
Lorenzo - 13/10/2023 - 22:45
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dall'album Pericolo Giallo
Una canzone molto significativa che abbiamo voluto inserire prima ancora che fosse pubblicata quando se ne trovava solo una versione in cui Canali si esibisce da solo.
L'ho ascoltata dal vivo a Firenze a luglio, con tutto il gruppo, ed è ancora più potente.
Il titolo viene da una frase scritta a vernice nel ’68 da un anonimo anarchico sul muro bianco di un sacrario francese per i caduti della seconda guerra mondiale: “Morts pour rien, fascisme toujours là, états policiers partout!” (morti per niente, fascismo sempre qua, stati di polizia ovunque).
Giorgio Canali