Un galantuomo - A Gentleman

Nel mio corpo ci son delle fognature Tutti quanti le chiamano vene Ma dentro ci sono dei topi che corrono E come un cane che ha le pulci Io mi gratto continuamente Mi gratto la schiena mi gratto la pancia Ma io non cedo io sarò sempre Un galantuomo sino alla morte Un galantuomo sino alla morte Però quei topi mi danno un gran fastidio Mi turbano fortemente dal mattino alla sera Mi rodono il cervello Ora mi decido prendo un martello Me lo picchio sulla testa Ed ecco i topi che mi escono dal naso I topi mi escono dalle orecchie Ma ora ora me ne pento perché ormai Io sono troppo vecchio Ma ora ora me ne pento perché ormai Io sono troppo vecchio E come una pianta che perde le foglie Io perdo i capelli io perdo le dita Io perdo il controllo della lingua Un galantuomo © 1974 Juri Camisasca

In my body there are some sewers – everyone calls them veins, but inside there are mice that run about. And like a dog with fleas, I scratch myself continually, I scratch my back, I scratch my belly. But I won’t give in, I will always be a gentleman unto death, a gentleman unto death. But these mice really bother me, they upset me mightily from morning to night, they gnaw on my brain. Now I make up my mind, I grab a hammer, I bang it on my head. And look, the mice that exit from my nose, the mice that exit from my ears. But now, now I regret it because now I am too old. But now, now I regret it because now I am too old. And like a plant that loses its leaves, I am losing my hair, I am losing my fingers, I am losing control of my tongue. English translation © 2021 Dennis Criteser La finestra dentro (The Window Within) was released in 1974 on the independent Bla Bla label, known for its progressive rock and avantgarde releases. Juri Camisasca met Franco Battiato during their military service, after which Battiato used Camisasca on a couple of projects and introduced him to the recording world. This album shows how the boundaries of traditional Italian pop music were being obliterated in pursuit of more personal, idiosyncratic, and non-commercial musical expressions. The songs themselves are in the singer/songwriter vein, but the lyrics are well outside the mainstream, and Camisasca's vocal experimentation and explorations take this album into another realm, with Camisasca expressing the existential discomfort that he felt in the years prior to his discovery of Christ and his becoming a Benedictine monk. The album was produced by Franco Battiato and Bla Bla's founder, Pino Massara.