La Genesi [English translation]

[Spoken intro]

To understand our history

we must go back to a distant time.

There was an old man with a white beard,

just he, his beard, and the void.

As you can imagine, in such circumstances

that old man up there alone was very bored;

on top of that, inexplicably,

the TV set had not yet been invented.

One day, the old man thought: "Well, that's no big deal,

I'm going to take care of that.

It sounds impossible, but, all modesty aside,

I am divinely good at this kind of stuff".

So he said. But then he touched a live wire,

he received the shock and there was a huge boom.

As a TV set it wasn't worth a thing,

but the Universe had just been created!

"See how good I am? In my spare time

I created the Universe!

It doesn't look bad at all,

I'm truly a genius!

Shut up Lucifer, stop being so annoying,

you don't have to find fault with everything I do!

It's a bit dark, I'll give you that,

but stop saying you can't see a thing."

[Spoken interlude]

But then, as he flew over standing water

and over the seas of that Universe,

as he was thinking of himself thinking

he felt a little lost in all that darkness.

He hit his legs on a heap of gravel

after a tragic plunge into the sea.

When he hit the Himalayas

the blow did hurt him a little.

He made a huge continent crumble

just by nudging it with his foot,

he took comfort in the fact that there was no one there

and after all it hadn't come out that well.

But when all the darkness finally unnerved him

he said, with a grim face:

"You devil of an angel, you were right!

Call ENEL1, let there be light!"

"Switchgears, transformers,

hydropower dams, insulators,

turbines, generators and transistors,

for thousands of floodlights.

Dawns and sunrises and even Northern lights,

days and sunsets, even the tropical ones.

Do it properly, I spare no expense,

since I get a discount at the end of the month.

[Spoken interlude]

But with that light he could see clearly

that there was a ball spinning in space.

He mused about it for a while, because he find it odd,

then he shrugged: "Only those who do nothing never make mistakes".

Lucifer laughed and winked

when he and the other angels were alone:

"Look at that, you can tell he's an old man,

he made it all flattened around the poles".

"In order to fill this nice environment

I want to have many plants in it.

Come on, Lucifer, get to work,

order seeds, fertiliser and a tractor!

I want a garden like no other,

I want to fill it with animals.

What is it with this dog I've just created?

damnit, it bit me!"

[Spoken interlude]

He took some red clay

and modelled flesh and bones out of it,

spit on it and a deep thunder roared.

And this is how man was created.

[Spoken]

It was Friday 13th, of Paradise Year zero.

1. the Italian National Electricity Board, at the time when the song was written. It is now a private company that produces and distributes electricity

• Artist:Francesco Guccini
• Album:Opera Buffa