Credited on the record as A. Catacchio e F. Mascetti del Nuovo Canzoniere Milanese.
Perché mai parlavi di pace
1972 · I Dischi del Sole DS 1012/14 · Milan, Italy
- Artist
- Nuovo Canzoniere Milanese
- Credited on the record as
- A. Catacchio e F. Mascetti del Nuovo Canzoniere Milanese
- Title
- Perché mai parlavi di pace
- Release
- Compagno Vietnam
- Year
- 1972
- Label
- I Dischi del Sole # DS 1012/14
- Format
- LP · Compilation
- Language
- Italian
- Country
- Milan, Italy
- Songwriter
- Ivan Della Mea
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Italian Folk Music
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Lyrics
English: But why ever / Talk of peace? / You know about it, / About the cold and the children / And the cost of / Shoes and clothes / And the rhythm of / Your hammer. // Why speak to you of peace / When you know the cold, your children, / The cost of shoes and clothes, / And the rhythm of our hammer? // Why speak to you of Vietnam / When you carry it carved upon your faces, / In the swindles that make up your wages, / Bargained for through your own labor? // Why speak to you of Nixon / When you see him in every boss— / With his white teeth, his brotherly smile, / And the insult of his pity? // And the choice—that is the gateway to understanding, / Expressed in a hundred, a thousand, and more voices— / In cries of 'Agnelli!' and 'Vietnam!' / And in the peace that you yourselves sing of. // This peace that you sing of / Is, today, a cry of true violence— / Directed at the Ingraos with their 'clear consciences,' / At the Novellas, the Pirellis, and all the bosses. // Why speak to us of peace / When every single day is a life lived at war— / When for every one of 'them' who falls, / A thousand of 'us' lie dead upon the ground? // Why speak to us of peace? / Why speak to us of peace? / Why speak to us of peace? / Why speak to us of peace? __________ Italian: Ma perché mai / parlar di pace / voi lo sapete / del freddo e dei figli / e il costo di / scarpe e vestiti / e il ritmo del / vostro martello. // Perché mai parlarvi di pace / voi sapete del freddo e dei figli / ed il costo…
Notes
Mono LP issued November 1972, published by Edizioni Musicali Bella Ciao, graphics Gigi Romeo, liner notes Giovanni Pirelli and Ivan Della Mea; the companion songbook "Compagno Vietnam" (Edizioni del Gallo, 1974) prints the lyrics. Track B6. Ivan Della Mea's song (his own 1969 version is on "Il rosso è diventato giallo") sung by A. Catacchio and F. Mascetti.
Themes
Anti-Capitalism · Nixon · Peace · Protest · Vietnam Analogy · Economic
From the release Compagno Vietnam
In collections
European Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years] · Vietnam as Comparison