Thursday, December 6, 2018

Fornicazione - Fornication

Fornicammo mentre i fiori si schiudevano
Al mattino e di noi prendemmo piacere
Sì, l'un l'altro. Libero
Ora la mia mente andava
Seguiva le orme delle cose che pensava
Una canzoncina ardita mi premeva
Le ossa del costato...
E, il desiderio di tenere
Le tue tenere dita
Libero, libero

Vorrei tra giaculatorie di versi spirare -
E rosari composti di spicchi d'arancia
E l'aria del mare
E l'odore marcio di un vecchio porto
E come pesce putrefatto putrefare

Libero, libero, libero, libero.

Fornicammo mentre i fiori si schiudevano
Al mattino e di noi prendemmo piacere
Sì, l'un l'altro, sì, l'un l'altro,
Sì, l'un l'altro, sì, l'un l'altro,

Libero, libero, libero, libero.

Fornicazione © 1995 Franco Battiato & Manlio Sgalambro

After the first verse, there appears a fragment of a poem by Rafia Rashed recorded in a Cairo museum and used by the Italian prog rock/fusion band Area at the beginning of their song "Luglio, agosto, settembre (nero)" - "Come and let's live my beloved / and peace will be our cover. / I want you to sing, light of my eyes."

We fornicated while the flowers unfolded
in the morning and we took pleasure in ourselves.
Yes, each other. Free.
Now my mind went,
followed the tracks of the things it thought.
A daring little ditty pressed
the bones of my chest . . .
and the desire to hold
your tender fingers.

I'd like between ejaculations of verses to expire –
and rosaries made of orange slices
and the sea air
and the fetid smell of an old port,
and like rotting fish, to decay.

Free, free, free, free.

We fornicated while the flowers unfolded
in the morning and we took pleasure in ourselves.
Yes, each other, yes, each other.
Yes, each other, yes, each other.

Free, free, free, free.

English translation © 2020 Dennis Criteser



L'ombrella e la macchina da cucire was released in 1995. It was recorded at Battiato's home using only electronic instruments, and for him it was somewhat of a return to the musical experimentation that characterized his 1970s work. The lyrics were written by Manlio Sgalambro, the Sicilian philosopher who said that, for him, Hegel's The Phenomenology of Spirit sung like music in his ears. References to philosophy and literature abound; the title of the album is taken from a line by the French poet Isidore Ducasse: "Beautiful as a chance encounter between a sewing machine and an umbrella on an operating table." This line, according to Max Ernst, is the key to understanding surrealist poetry - "the search for beauty through the pairing of two seemingly irreconcilable realities." Battiato felt liberated by not having to write lyrics, and he was stimulated to explore and discover new musical realms by the different aesthetic that Sgalambro brought to wordsmithing, one that flows from a man in many ways his opposite. Sgalambro described it this way: "Spiritual, transcendent, ascetic the first [Battiato]. Materialist, fleeting, anti-poetic, even cynical, the second [Sgalambro]."
Back to Album List         Back to Song List

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comment and input. In order to keep the site clean, I don't post comments, but if you're interested in connecting with me I can be reached at dieselcats@email.com.