Exuvia [English translation]

It's an inspiring night, a night that calls out to the wood

It's a spying night, a night of eyes on me

Of memories barking as if they'd seen the devil

I'm digging in me so deep, oil is coming out

It's my initiation, but I have no needles in me 1

I'm going from "mea culpa" to "ego me absolvo" 2

I'm a larva, dirty because of the world

I'm like Manolo on that log, I might tumble down 3

And everything is going to be brand new, like a baby with his belly up

After my passage from the belly to the air 4

My eyes popped out from the head, Lamia 5

I'm almost jumping out of my skin, mama

Out of me, exuvia 6

Spreading my wings, au revoir 7

Another chance? Forget it

I'm on a level playing field with my age

Withered pasts,8 melted like Dalí's clocks 9

Parasite pasts, parasites, hungry for myself, cannibals

Exuvia

Exuvia

Look at the video I've made, I look and sound like someone else

The colours of my self-portrait are in an eternal contrast

I took my own space, but I let the time pass by

I change a lot, so call me "coach" now 10

I'm still at the driving wheel, I keep my foot off that brake

Even if I'm always living on the backseat

What once was I already sacked it

I regularly make false starts

I don't forget roots because I care for my roots

But I'll get back there when they'll bury me

All my doubts have bad manners

They're invasive and they're too many

The secret is doing like a tree:

First you grow, then you cut off 11

What's pushing you beyond that threshold?

If it's not boredom, it must be your pain

It's a good chance to go somewhere else, like outside

Out of me, exuvia

Spreading my wings, au revoir

Another chance? Forget it

I'm on a level playing field with my age

Withered pasts, melted like Dalí's clocks

Parasite pasts, parasites, hungry for myself, cannibals

Exuvia

Undergoing the ritual, I obey

As if it were a subordinate's ritual 12

And I start singing my new record

Just like these cicadas from the brushwood

Undergoing the ritual, I obey

As if it were a subordinate's ritual

And I start singing my new record

Just like these cicadas from the brushwood

Exuvia

1. a reference to those initiation rituals where the initiates are pierced with needles.2. two Latin expression, coming from Christian religion, which respectively translate as "my fault" (used to admit one's sin) and "I absolve myself" (parody of the expression "ego te absolvo", "I absolve you", used by Catholic priests at the end of the confession sacrament).3. "Manolo" is the nickname of Maurizio Zanolla, an Italian free climber.4. pun on the expression "pancia all'aria" ("belly up to the air", meaning "supine"). Babies usually sleep on their back. The pun is on the fact that birth can be described as passing from the "belly" (of one's mother) to the "air" of the outside world.5. Lamia, according to Greek mythology, was a beautiful woman. Zeus fell in love with her, and Hera, out of jealousy, took away her sleep. Zeus tried to compensate for that by giving her the ability of removing her eyes. The reference is to the idiom "to have the eyes popped out from the head", meaning "to be shocked".6. Exuviae are the remains left by certain insects and other animals after the moult. It has been chosen by Caparezza as a symbol of his transition to a new style.7. French for "goodbye".8. pun on "passati" ("pasts"), "appassiti" ("withered") and "parassiti" ("parasite", both as adjective and noun, used in the following verses), three words that sound alike in Italian.9. the word "appassiti" gives the idea of something flaccid, as some fruits when they're not edible anymore. The reference is to the "melted clocks" from the famous painting by Salvador Dalí, "The persistence of memory".10. "Cambio" ("[ex]change") is used to indicate the substitution of two players during a football match. In Italian, the English word "mister" is used to refer to football coaches since 1912, when the English coach William Garbutt was appointed to Genoa C.F.C. It was still quite uncommon to have foreigners as players or coaches, so people were so fascinated by him that they'd call him "mister Garbutt", to emphasize his origins. The word "mister" then turned out so popular it became a synonym of the Italian term "allenatore".11. pun on the words "cerchi" and "tronchi", which respectively mean "(tree) rings" and "logs", but they're also two verbs: "you search" and "you cut off (with something or someone)".12. pun on the two meanings of the word "sottoposto": "underwent" and "subordinate".

• Artist:Caparezza
• Album:Exuvia