Friday, March 13, 2020

Napule é - Naples Is

Napule è mille culure
Napule è mille paure
Napule è a voce de' criature
Che saglie chianu chianu
E tu sai ca' nun si sulo

Napule è nu sole amaro
Napule è addore e' mare
Napule è na' carta sporca
E nisciuno se ne importa
E ognuno aspetta a' sciorta

Napule è na' camminata
Int' e viche miezo all'ate
Napule è tutto nu suonno
E a' sape tutto o' munno
Ma nun sanno a' verità.

Napule è mille culure
(Napule è mille paure)
Napule è nu sole amaro
(Napule è addore e' mare)
Napule è na' carta sporca
(E nisciuno se ne importa)
Napule è na' camminata
(Int' e viche miezo all'ate)
Napule è mille culure
(Napule è mille paure)
Napule è nu sole amaro
(Napule è addore e' mare)
Napuleeee

Napule é © 1977 Pino Daniele

"Napule é" is a song that highlights one of the characteristics of Neapolitan music - beautiful melody. This melancholy ballad, which speaks of the contradictions of Naples, has become an almost official hymn of the city and is one of the songs most closely associated with Pino Daniele.

Naples is a thousand colors,
Naples is a thousand fears,
Naples is children's voices
that rise up slowly
and you know that you’re not alone.

Naples is a bitter sun,
Naples is the smell of the sea,
Naples is a dirty wrapper
and nobody cares about it
and everyone awaits their destiny.

Naples is a walk
in the alleys, among the others,
Naples is all a dream
and the whole world knows her
but they don’t know the truth.

Naples is a thousand colors,
Naples is a thousand fears,
Naples is a bitter sun,
Naples is the smell of the sea,
Naples is a dirty wrapper
and nobody cares about it,
Naples is a walk
in the alleys, among the others,
Naples is a thousand colors,
Naples is a thousand fears,
Naples is a bitter sun,
Naples is the smell of the sea,
Naples . . .

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."