Frammenti - Fragments

Le vecchie con le scope rincorrono i ragazzi cattivi per la strada I telegrafi del posto mandano segnali incomprensibili La donzelletta vien dalla campagna in sul calar del sole (1) Che gran comodità le segretarie che parlano più lingue E che felicità ci dà l'insegna luminosa quando siamo in cerca di benzina Deve sentirsi imbarazzato un vigile nella divisa il primo giorno di lavoro Me ne andavo una mattina a spigolare quando vidi una barca in mezzo al mare (2) I cipressi che a Bolgheri alti e schietti vanno da San Guido in duplice filar (3) Hanno veduto una cavalla storna riportare colui che non ritorna (4) La donna schiuse senza resistenza gli occhi abituati a prendere collirio Hai mai veduto a Borgopanigale un'aurora simile alla boreale Perché bella ragazza padovana ti vuoi fare una comune giù in Toscana? D'in su la vetta della torre antica passero solitario alla campagna cantando vai... finché non muore il giorno (5) Frammenti © 1980 Franco Battiato "Frammenti" includes lyrics taken from several Italian works: (1)“Il sabato del villaggio” by Giacomo Leopardi; (2) “La Spigolatrice di Sapri” by Luigi Mercantini; (3) “Davanti a San Guido” by Giosuè Carducci; (4) “La Cavalla Storna” by Giovanni Pascoli; (5) “Il passero solitario” by Giacomo Leopardi.

The old women with their brooms chase the bad kids through the streets. The local telegraphs send incomprehensible signals. The damsel comes in from the field at the setting of the sun. What great convenience the secretaries who speak more languages, and what happiness the lighted sign gives us when we’re in search of gasoline. A watchman ought to feel embarrassed in uniform on the first day of work. I left one morning to bundle wheat when I saw a ship out in the middle of the sea. The cypresses that at Bolgheri, tall and erect ranging from San Guido in double file, saw a grey mare carrying back someone who's not returning. The woman half-opened, without resistance, her eyes, well used to taking eye drops. Did you ever see at Borgo Panigale a dawn similar to the borealis? Why, pretty Padua girl, do you want to make for yourself a township down in Tuscany? From the top of the ancient tower, blue rock thrush, to the field singing you go . . . until the dying day. English translation © 2020 Dennis Criteser Patriots was released in 1980. In the lyrics of this album, there emerge a greater emphasis on irony, the use of foreign languages, and the stringing together of disconnected phrases into montages that may or may not yield meaning upon further analysis, and whose purpose may at times be as much musical as semantic. As is typical with Battiato, there are references to literature, art, philosophy, religion, and music, along with snapshots of personal memories, that form a mix of both high and everyday culture.

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