Recitativo / Corale [English translation]

Recitative (Two invocations and an act of accusation)

Choral (Legend of the unhappy king)

Men with no flaw, demigods

who live in silvered castles,

you who reach up to the apogees of glory,

we, who are begging for mercy, are the drug addicts.

Crossing the border of inhumanity,

prematurely, we knew the carrion

that puts an end to each happy dream:

may mercy be not a shame for you.

There was once a king

who had

two castles,

one of silver

one of gold

but for himself

not even the heart

of a friend

never any love nor happiness.

Bankers, shopkeepers, notaries,

with obese bellies and sweaty hands,

with moneybox-shaped hearts,

we, who are begging for mercy, are misled women.

We sailed on fragile vessels

to face the world's storms

and our eyes were too beautiful:

may mercy not remain in your pocket.

Chosen judges, lawmen,

we who are still dancing in your dreams

are the dejected human herd

of those who died with a knot at their throat.

How many innocents did you destine

to the dreadful agony, deciding their fate,

and how fair do you think is

a judgment that decrees death?

He gave

one castle

and found

hundreds of friends

and the other

brought him

a thousand loves

but he couldn’t find

happiness.

Men with whom mercy doesn’t always agree,

badly accepting the common destiny

you go, on November evenings,

and spy, in the dim starlight,

the death and the wind amid the cemeteries

moving the tombs and putting them close

as if they were huge pieces

of a domino that will never end.

Men, in order that at the last minute

the belated remorse for never having

had mercy may not assault you,

and that your breath may not become a rattle,

know that death is watching you

while you’re rejoicing in the fields or among lime walls,

as well as the peasant watches the growing wheat

until it isn't mature for the scythe.

Don’t look for happiness

among all those

whom you’ve given

to get a reward

but only in yourself

inside your heart

if you’ll have given

only for mercy

for mercy.

• Artist:Fabrizio De André
• Album:Tutti morimmo a stento (1968)