Terra mia - My Land

Comm'è triste, comm'è amaro Assettarse pe guardà' Tutt'e ccose tutt'è parole ca niente pònno fa' Si m'accido ie agg'jettato chellu ppoco 'e libertà Ca sta' terra, chesta gente 'nu juorno m'adda da' Terra mia terra mia Comm'è bello a la penzà' Terra mia terra mia Comm'è bello a la guardà Nun è overo nun è sempe 'o stesso Tutt'e juornë po' cagnà' Ogge è deritto, dimane è stuorto E chesta vita se ne và 'E vecchie vanno dinto a chiesa Cu' a curona pe' prià' E 'a paura 'e chesta morte Ca nun ce vo' lassà' Terra mia terra mia Tu si' chiena 'e libbertà Terra mia terra mia I' mò sento 'a libbertà © 1977 Pino Daniele "Terra mia" tells of a young man or boy in an existential crisis, feeling powerless, who is given strength to carry on by his land, by his people, who will give him his freedom.

How sad it is, how bitter it is to sit and watch everything, all the words that can do nothing. If I kill myself, I’ve thrown away that little bit of freedom that this land, this people, one day should give to me. My land, my land, how beautiful it is to think of it. My land, my land, how beautiful it is to see it. It isn’t the truth, it isn’t always the same, every day it can change. Today it’s straight, tomorrow it’s bent, and this life goes away. The old go inside the church with a rosary to pray and the fear of this death that doesn’t want to let us be. My land, my land you are full of freedom. My land, my land, now I feel the freedom. English translation © 2020 Dennis Criteser Terra mia was released in 1977. The songs are in the local dialect of Naples and the music reflects a strong grounding in the centuries-old song tradition of the city - canzone napoletana - with an infusion of blues. The album was well received and several of its songs became mainstays in Pino Daniele's long career. Indeed, "Napule é" became a contemporary theme song of Naples; it's the only song on the album not arranged by Daniele himself. He said of the album that it "represents the birth of a new Neapolitan song, and also the social condemnations of a new generation that didn't accept compromises and that, through music, was able to express its own discontents." One of Daniele's ambitions at the time was to "write songs like Luigi Tenco."