LT → Italian, Neapolitan, Italian (Southern Italian dialects) → Eugenio Bennato → Mon père et ma mère → English
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Proofreading requested
Original lyrics
Mon père et ma mère
Mon père et ma mère
se sont connus dans la galère
comme héritage ils m'ont laissé
m'ont laissé dans la misère
Ed è con mio padre e con mia madre
che ho cominciato a maledire
la geometria di questo mondo
che non è esattamente tondo
Perché è un mondo fatto a scale
e c'è chi scende e c'è chi sale
perché è una giostra che gira sempre
e c'è chi sale e c'è chi scende
E chi è baciato dalla fortuna
chi non gliene va bene una
perché la scala da scalare
non è per tutti eguale
Mon père et ma mère
se sont connus dans la galère
comme héritage ils m'ont laissé
m'ont laissé dans la misère
Mon père et ma mère
pour faire la vie que moi j'espère
comme héritage ils m'ont laissé
sans passeport et sans papier
Et en partant de Douala
du Cameroun au Nigeria
pour traverser le Sahara
jusqu'à la Méditerranée
et attraper la patera
pour accoster à Tarifa
t'as pas besoin de ton visa
mais de ta chance pour y arriver
E non si può vivere senza amare
ma si può vivere senza padrone
e da mio padre e da mia madre
che ho imparato questa canzone
E c'è chi è libero di viaggiare
e chi se viaggia è irregolare
con la sua carta d'identità
di Camerun e Senegal
Perché nel mondo fatto a scale
c'è il superfluo c'è l'essenziale
c'è il nord ovest che comanda
e c'è il sud che canta
Mon père et ma mère
se sont connus dans la galère
comme héritage ils m'ont laissé
m'ont laissé dans la misère
Mon père et ma mère
pour faire la vie que moi j'espère
comme héritage ils m'ont laissé
sans passeport et sans papier
Au Sahara nous sommes cent mille
à fuir toujours de la famine
et du démon qui nous retient
emprisonnés dans notre pays
Αllons enfants de la patrie
nous vers la liberté d'autrui
ensemble dans le même chemin
les musulmans et les chrétiens
E c'è la politica e c'è l'arte
e c'è chi resta e c'è chi parte
e c'è la guerra e c'è la festa
e c'è chi parte e c'è chi resta
E c'è una favola del potere
e c'è una favola popolare
e da mio padre e da mia madre
me la son fatta raccontare
E c'è una musica di fanfare
nel grande esercito coloniale
e c'è una musica della terra
nel sud che si ribella
Submitted by Christos Alexandridis on 2019-01-21
Translation
My father and my mother
My father and my mother
met in jail
as inheritance, they left me
they left me in poverty
And it with my father and with my mother
that I started to curse
the geometry of this world,
which is not exactly round
In fact, this world is made of stairs
and some people go down and some go up
in fact, it is a carousel, always going round
and some go up and some go down
And some are just lucky
and for some, nothing works out
because the stairs we have to climb
are not the same for everyone
My father and my mother
met in jail
as inheritance, they left me
they left me in poverty
My father and my mother
to find a life that I wish for
as inheritance, they left me
without passport and without papers
Leaving from Douala,
from Cameroon to Nigeria,
to cross the Sahara
up to the Mediterranean
and boarding on the barge
to touch Terifa
in order to arrive, you don't need your visa
you need your luck
And you can't live without loving
but you can leave without a master
and from my father and my mother
I learned this song
And some are free to travel
and others, if they do, they are outside of the law
with their identity card
issued in Cameroon or Senegal
Because, in this world made out of stairs,
there is what is superfluous and what is essential
there is the North-West, ruling
and there is the South, singing
My father and my mother
met in jail
as inheritance, they left me
they left me in poverty
My father and my mother
to find a life that I wish for
as inheritance, they left me
without passport and without papers
In the Sahara, there are a hundred thousand us
always running from hunger
and from the devils who hold us
prisoners in our own country
Forward, children of the fatherland,1
us towards someone else's freedom
together, bound by the same chains
Muslims and Christians
And there is politics and there is art
and those who stay and those who leave
and there is war and there is celebration
and those who leave and those who stay
And there is a fairy tale of those in power
and there is a fairy tale of the people
and by my father and my mother
I had it told to me
And there is a music of military bands
in the great colonial army
and there is a music of the land
in the South rebelling.
- 1. The first verse of the Marseillese, the French national anthem (from the 1789 Revolution)
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Eugenio Bennato: Top 3
1. | Che il Mediterraneo sia |
2. | Brigante se mòre |
3. | Mon père et ma mère |
Comments
About translator
Name: Alessio
Role: Expert
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You can use my translation however you see fit as long as you cite the source. If you do, I would appreciate if you also let me know through a comment or message, just because I'm curious! Thanks!
Potete usare questa traduzione come volete, citando la fonte. Mi fareste contento facendomolo sapere lasciando un messaggio o un commento, giusto per curiosità. Grazie!