I began exploring Italian popular songs as part of learning Italian. Here are my translations for some of my favorite "canzoni" by Italian singers, songwriters, and bands whose work I admire. It's a work in progress that can serve as a curated introduction to Italian popular music, with an emphasis on the 1950s through the 1990s. If you speak Italian, send me a message if you see lyrics I've misunderstood.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Cenere - Ashes
Odio sorprendermi
e stare a un passo dal bisogno
di volere fare ancora un passo in più
sei schiuma sulle onde
dei pensieri che si affannano
sulle rocce calde di quest'isola
Comprerei da te...
ogni sorta di magia
ma se tu vendi solo fuoco
brucerò sulla mia stessa cenere
E come anelli intorno al nulla
galleggiamo nell'inganno di un sorriso
che ci schiaccia ma che non c'incastra più
cerchi concentrici se vuoi
remavo contro ai tuoi miracoli
gettavo ombre sui miei limiti
e non ho più...
più pensato ai sogni che ora
Comprerei da te...
ogni sorta di magia
ma se tu vendi solo fuoco
pagherò sulla mia stessa cenere
cenere
I hate surprising myself
and being one step away from the need
to want to take yet one more step.
You are froth on the waves
of thought that are drowned
on the hot rocks of this island.
I would buy from you . . .
every kind of magic,
but if you only sell fire
I will burn on my same ashes.
And like rings around nothing,
we float in the deceit of a smile
that crushes us but that no longer joins us together,
concentric circles if you want.
I rowed against your miracles,
I cast shadows on my limits
and I no longer . . .
no longer thought about the dreams that now
I would buy from you . . .
every kind of magic,
but if you only sell fire
I will pay on my same ashes,
ashes.
C'è gente che deve dormire (There are People Who Should Sleep) was Marta sui tubi's second album, released in 2005 on the Eclectic Circus Records label. Between their first and second album, the band relocated from Bologna to Milan, a city more packed with people and their business pursuits . . . and perhaps with people who should be sleeping and not keeping their neighbors up.