Il primo cd prodotto dalla Mellow Records. Un disco affrancato dalle influenze più chiaramente progressive, ma senza per questo voler rinnegare il passato.
Erewhon
Erewhon is the place we live in.
It's a very strange country:
thieves and killers are admired
while the honest lives in the shadow
and he's blamed by everyone.
Erewhon where nothing is as it looks
Erewhon where people enjoy violating rules
Erewhon where injustice always wins
health is a virtue, malady a crime
wealth is rewarded poverty punished
lies are wisdom and truth is madness
Erewhon is the place we live in
bad surprise in paradise
Before awakening
Before awakening life seems so good
and you live in enchanted gardens
you take the dreams for reality
like a frightened child who refuses to grow
advancing in your misty day-dreams
you could never imagine how cruel
your awakening will be
It's time to awake.
Before awakening you're pleased to live in this place
you feel like you were in heaven
while you live in an imaginary place:
words mean nothing
you must pay attention to their looks
you pretend to ignore what's happening
around you.
What will be of your life?
The end of your hopes
goodbye to them
welcome to real life,
the end of your hopes
sand in your hands
welcome to real life.
Wake up my friend
though life seems absurd
and people are so mean
though we're victims of our virtues
stay awake my friend
I know there's nothing to believe in
it's useless to search for praise in their eyes.
They were born blind
they are still blind
The end of your hopes
goodbye to them
welcome to real life, the end of your hopes
sand in your hands
welcome to real life.
Wide open eyes
Don't be so proud of your faults
fight in silence your battle
be honest to say what your really think
don't be rhetorical, empty, cynical
don't be so Italian.
"In tutta l'Europa (massime in Italia dove tutti gli assurdi e gli inconvenienti sociali sono maggiori che altrove) non reca infamia l'essere o l'essere stato vizioso ne l'aver commesso delitti (massime trattandosi di alcuni tali vizi e delitti, certi dei quali anche atroci fanno piuttosto onore, stima e rispetto che altro) ma bensì l'essere o l'essere stato punito di qualsivoglia vizio o misfatto, anzi pure della virtù"
"Everywhere in Europe (especially in Italy where nonsense and social disease are bigger) is not shameful to be or have been a depraved person neither to commit a crime (especially some vices or crimes, some of them, even dreadful, give you honour and respect) but to be or have been punished for any vice or misdeed, or even for your virtue"
(Giacomo Leopardi)
Good at the art of surviving
They're good at the art of surviving
cunning enough not to say what they think
so cynical to have a double morality:
unprincipled conformist, anarchist sheep
ready to follow the new fashion.
Nothing but their family
and their idea of power is like the one
in the middle ages
power in the middle ages
"La nostra bandiera nazionale dovrebbe recare una grande scritta: tengo famiglia"
"On our flag we should write: I have a family"
(Leo Longanesi)
Dreams' hunters (part I)
We were like dreams' hunters
we the sons of mother utopia
we half killers, half poets
in search of a kind of revolutionary purity
the believers trying to make
heaven on earth.
There was a time when it seemed
a big change could happen here
even here
one more northern wind seemed to blow
it cried out rage: it was our last chance
we fought for the big dream to come true
but really with no hope for the future.
We wasted our lives
We wanted to change this country
just like our fathers tried to do
but now these words are not enough
to explain our disillusion
we dreams' hunters
we were the priests and we were waiting
for the kingdom to begin.
This was our dream and now we know it was a nightmare, but we believed in something.
Now you see a sleeping generation.
Men without a dream: we were strangers in this land.
We fought for the big dream…
"Smania di fare e bisogno di scelte radicali sono una spinta difficilmente governabile che alla prova dei fallimenti e delle frustrazioni si tradurrà in un terrorismo sempre più alto per arrivare a quel desiderio di morte e di martirio che è il destino ultimo di molti gruppuscoli rivoluzionari"
"The longing to do something, the need of radical choices were a kind of push that they could hardly control. After many failures and frustrations all this became an increasing terrorism till it became a wish of death and ordeal which is the last fate of many revolutionary party"
(Giorgio Bocca)
The protector
If you're weak or strong
you can't survive without protection,
if you're honest & wise
even if you're clever
nothing that you can do without protection
no escape from this trap.
Feeling low as they say what we have to do
there's no room for your right.
You learn the lines he loves to hear
from his slaves
and you're so glad to be a soldier
in his field.
The man who made the miracle
the giant who gave you the gift of power
you were nothing but a poor dwarf.
Feeling low as they say what we have to do
there's no room for your right
There are some old laws that we learn
as we grow
the golden rules to keep you safe
away from the storm:
just winners are all right
blame it on the losers and after all
you need protection to survive.
Feeling low as they say what we have to do
there's no room for your right
His favourite ones can be just
the most faithful, obedient, the meanest men
you the pupil and he's your saviour.
You learn the lines he loves to hear
from his slaves
and you're so glad to be a soldier
in his field
the man who made the miracle
you're in heaven if you hear his call
but you're whetting knives in case he falls:
the dream of your life.
"In Italia c'è bisogno di un protettore anche per essere lasciati in pace"
"In Italy you need a protector even to be left in peace"
(Luigi Barzini)
Rhetorical questions
What's the use of all those churches
in a country where there's none of us to believe in anything?
Can you explain to me why there are so many theatres
in a place where each one plays shouting their roles
How can a honest man live in here?
I'm so sick with their pretensions of holyness
and everyday you see malice in their eyes
how can't we feel humiliated
watching this place ruled by a bunch of satraps
and full of slaves.
Nothing is left of humanity but all this stench around us
it's full of worms, nothing human here
but all this stench around us.
How can I believe you when you talk of human honesty
when we're revolted by too many swindles?
What mysterious reason let injustice always win
so we submit to the triumph of the worst?
Could you talk to people who always move their hands,
'cause you know they ignore what conversation is
How can a honest man live in here?
"Li detesto in modo indicibile. Sono il teschio di Yorick, pieno di vermi, dell'umanità non rimane altro che il fetore"
"I hate them more than I can say. They are like the Yorick's skull, full of worms, nothing's left but the stench"
(John Ruskin)
Right or wrong my country
Heaven or hell
such a wild place
this is my country
we are just acting the same ancient lines.
"Il sospetto che quanto ti circonda possa essere talvolta una messa in scena è preoccupante. Empie di angoscia gli adolescenti che hanno ricevuto un'educazione seria, quando crescono e se ne accorgono. Il piacere che gli stranieri provano nel nostro paese rimane amareggiato quando essi prolungano il soggiorno dai dubbi e dalla diffidenza"
“The suspicion all that surrounding us could sometime be a showing off is worrying. This suspicion causes anguish to the teenagers who received a reliable education, when they grow up and realize it. The pleasure that foreigners in our country is disturbed by doubts and wariness when they live for a long time here"
(Luigi Barzini)
