[Deleted]
I like this Italian song...

I like this song:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVxUalafFEw

 

<em>E' una questione di qualità </em>(x3)
<em>O una formalità non ricordo più bene una formalità</em>

<em>Come decidere di tagliarsi i capelli</em>
<em>Di eliminare il caffè o le sigarette</em>
<em>Di farla finita con qualcuno o qualcosa</em>
<em>Una formalità una formalità una formalità</em>
<em>O una questione di qualità</em>

<em>Io sto bene io sto male io non so dove stare</em>
<em>Io sto bene io sto male io non so cosa fare</em>
<em>Non studio non lavoro non guardo la tivù</em>
<em>Non vado al cinema non faccio sport</em>
<em>Non studio non lavoro non guardo la tivù</em>
<em>Non vado al cinema non faccio sport</em>

<em>E' una questione di qualità </em>(x3)
<em>O una formalità non ricordo più bene una formalità</em>
<em>Come decidere di tagliarsi i capelli</em>
<em>Di eliminare il caffè o le sigarette</em>
<em>Di farla finita con qualcuno o qualcosa</em>
<em>Una formalità una formalità una formalità</em>
<em>O una questione di qualità</em>

<em>Io sto bene io sto male io sto bene io sto male</em>
<em>Io sto bene io sto male ma è una formalità</em>
<em>Una formalità una formalità una formalità...</em>
<em>Io sto bene io sto male io sto bene io sto male...</em>

 

If anybody also likes it, help me translating it in English.

 

Here is the first stanza. Correct it if wrong

<em>It is a matter of quality (x3)</em>

<em>or it is a formality, I can't remember well anymore, a formality.</em>

<em>Like deciding to cut your hair</em>

<em>to eliminate coffee or sigarettes</em>

<em>to break* with somebody or something.</em>

<em>A formality a formality a formality</em>

<em>or a matter of quality
</em>

 

(*Is "break" ok here? If not, which English verb meaning "to stop with" may work with both persons and things without any further preposition?)

 

Jul 11, 2014 3:19 PM
Comments · 5
1

Ciao Daniele,

 

I like the song!  Sounds like a case of existential anxiety.  Grazie!

July 22, 2014
1

Daniele, I hope this helps. I think I ended up with a different version. On the version I had it said "Radersi i capelli" and on yours it says "tagliare"

 

It’s a matter of quality or a formality

I don’t remember a formality very well

like deciding to shave your head

eliminating coffee and cigarettes

to break up with somebody

or something

a formality,

a formality or a matter of quality

I am well, I am well

I am not well, I am not well

I don’t know, I don’t know

How to be, where to be

I don’t study, I don’t work, I don’t watch T.V.

I don’t go to the movies, I don’t exercise

I’m well, I am not well, I don’t know

what to do, I don’t have art, I don’t take part

I don’t have anything to teach

It’s a matter of quality

Or a formality

I don’t remember very well, a formality

July 12, 2014

Sono perfettamente d'accordo con te, Joe, anch'io interpreto questo testo come un caso di ansietà esistenziale. E' un'ottima definizione. Grazie a te.

July 22, 2014

Did you like the song?
They used to say: "
"Italiani, braccianti, cosa fate, cincischiate?
E' una cosa seria! Deponete la vanga e sostenete questa band!"

-> "Italians, hired hands (peones?), what are you doing, waisting time?
This is serious thing! Put down your shovel and support this band!"
You can hear it there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfSxUGJopo8
at 2'59''.
Here they joke about being some kind of dictator coming out from some forgotten peasants' trade union.
Like Mussolini, who was from Emilia, like them, and, by the way, they absolutely are not sustaining any kind of dictatorship, they are just trying to exorcise certain antisocial feelings throught the use of rock music.

Here's another song:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbVuFeNTCKQ

"Fedele alla lira"

"La lira" is the lyre, emblem of the poet, so something very abstract and celestial, but it is also the name of the italian money before euros (1euro = 2000lire), so something very concrete and pragmatic, down to earth. I think they played with this double meaning.
Question: may I say that a concept is "down to earth" or it fits only for persons?

Bello ti sembro già abbastanza
ma sono gli occhi tuoi
intelligente ti sembro poco
non sono affari tuoi
onnipresente onnipotente
così mi vorresti tu
nè troppo cotto nè troppo al dente
tuo sempre di più

ma tu cosa mi dai?

e poi mi vuoi fedele a te
all'avanguardia alle novità
adorante il progresso
le mode la modernità
mi sono sviluppato già abbastanza
non ne posso più
mi sono sviluppato anche troppo
anche di più

ma tu cosa mi dai?
cosa mi dai di te?

 

July 12, 2014

Thanks Ettore (are you an Italian American?). Your Italian is very good, as I can see from your notes. Anyway you translated a wrong transcription of the lyrics, I've found that too around the web, it contains wrong words and in the wrong order. 

The lyrics above are what they actually sing in that song. If you listen to the link you'll hear him say "tagliarsi i capelli"
He says "Io sto bene, Io sto male", like  "I feel well, I feel bad" (I don't like "I don't feel well" because it would have been "Io non sto bene" in italian, not "io sto male").

As you can see this part is nowhere in the original song:

"I don’t have art, I don’t take part

I don’t have anything to teach"

I appreciate your effort to give me a quick translation of that, but I didn't actually need a translation of the song, it was meant as a game for someone who maybe happened to appreciate this Italian punk rock band and wanted to play with me at translating their song, for cultural exchange. It was as an ice breaker. I didn't explain it, though, sorry for that.
Hope it worked with you, anyway, and we'll be language partners in the future. Of course I'd like to help you / being helped by you

 

 

July 12, 2014