Super Boor: Er Piotta

After Fabrizio De André, Le luci della centrale elettrica, Gianmaria Testa and Francesco Guccini it’s time for some amusing stuff. Here is Er Piotta, an MC from Rome, with his hit Supercafone Superboor, the quintessential of Italian bad taste. But since this bad taste is ironic, and since this song is a parody, I found it pretty funny and entertaining.

Translation of the first dialogue, a mock of Saturday Night Fever:

– Where are you going? It’s not even six o’clock!
– Spartaco, can’t you see I’m ill?
– Really? And what sort of illness you have today?
– I’ve got the Saturday night fever
– Today they call it Saturday night fever… We used just to call it will to f**k!

Today it’s also the first time I try to share a post on tumblr!

Religious themes in Italian songwriters: Francesco Guccini

Themes inspired by Christian religion are often present in songs of many Italian singer-songwriters, especially on those of the old generation like De André, De Gregori and Francesco Guccini. They treats this topics not in the sense of church music and without any devotion, but in a poetic way, usually critic towards the Roman Church and often  expression of a personal and deep approach to the figure of Jesus. Many people consider Guccini just a songwriter of (good) songs inspired by politis, but if you listen to his albums you will find that the majority of them are about feelings and people.

This song of Guccini is instead inspired by a verse of Isaiah 21, literally Shomèr ma mi-llailah and is about… well, explain a song is like cutting it into slices, so I’m only leaving you the Isaiah verses and a video where Guccini himself talks about it.

Mi gridano da Seir:
“Sentinella, a che punto è giunta la notte?
Sentinella, a che punto è giunta la notte?”.
La sentinella risponde:
“Vien la mattina, poi anche la notte.
Se volete interrogare, interrogate
pure, ritornate, venite”.

Someone calls to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
The watchman replies,
“Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask;
and come back yet again.”

Emigrant songs part two: Gianmaria Testa

Miniera is an old song, composed during the 30s by Cesare Andrea Bixio and Bixio Cherubini. It is about the homesickness of a emigrated miner (refrain) and a fictional episode of a fire inside a mine in a foreign country (strophe), probably inspired by one of the several tragedies in mining towns (like Monongah and Dawson in the USA or the later Marcinelle in Belgium) that killed hundreds of Italians.

This version of the song is the one of Gianmaria Testa, contained in his 2006 concept album Da questa parte del mare From this side of the sea about immigration and emigration.