Wednesday, July 3, 2019

23 coppie di cromosomi - 23 Copies of Chromosomes

La matematica è il tribunale del mondo.
Il numero è ordine e disciplina.
Ciò con cui si indica lo scopo della scienza,
tradisce col termine la cosa.
L'ordine già il termine ha qualcosa di bieco,
che sa di polizia, adombra negli adepti
le forze dell'ordine cosmico, i riti cosmici.
L'autentico sentimento scientifico
è impotente davanti all'universo.
L'inflazione che caccia
nelle mani dell'individuo,
in un gesto solo, miliardi di marchi,
lasciandolo più miserabile di prima,
dimostra punto per punto
che il denaro è un'allucinazione collettiva.

To be a kangaroo
To be a spider
Metamorphosis is coming

23 coppie di cromosomi © 2004 Franco Battiato & Manlio Sgalambro

The Italian text in "23 coppie di cromosomi" is an extract from Sgalambro's 1996 book La Morte del Sole (The Death of the Sun). The song begins with a clear musical nod to Karlheinz Stockhausen's seminal work "Gesang der Jünglinge im Feuerofen" ("Song of the Youths in the Furnace").

Mathematics is the courtroom of the world.
The number is order and discipline.
That with which is indicated the scope of science,
it reveals with terms the thing.
Order, already the term is somewhat sinister,
it smacks of police, it overshadows in the followers
the forces of cosmic order, the cosmic rites.
The authentic scientific sentiment
is impotent in front of the universe.
The inflation that hunts
in the hands of the individual,
in a single gesture, billions of brands,
leaving it more miserable than before,
proves point by point
that money is a collective hallucination.

To be a kangaroo
To be a spider
Metamorphosis is coming

English translation © 2020 Dennis Criteser



Dieci stratagemmi - Attraversare il mare per ingannare il cielo was released in 2004. The title is a takeoff on the Chinese essay Thirty-Six Stratagems, which discusses strategies used in war and politics. The lyrics were mostly co-written by Battiato and the Sicilian philosopher Manlio Sgalambro.
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