Bella ciao

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"Bella ciao" is an Italian partisan song of World War II. The origins of the song are uncertain. The music seems to come from a predating folk song and the author of the lyrics is unknown. The song has been recorded by various artists in many different languages including Italian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, English, Spanish, German, Kurdish, Turkish, Chinese, and Japanese. .

Contents

[edit] Italian Lyrics

Una mattina mi son svegliato,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
Una mattina mi son svegliato
ed ho trovato l'invasor.
O partigiano, portami via,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
O partigiano, portami via,
ché mi sento di morir.
E se io muoio da partigiano,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
E se io muoio da partigiano,
tu mi devi seppellir.
E seppellire lassù in montagna,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
E seppellire lassù in montagna
sotto l'ombra di un bel fior.
E le genti che passeranno
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
E le genti che passeranno
Mi diranno «Che bel fior!»
«È questo il fiore del partigiano»,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
«È questo il fiore del partigiano
morto per la libertà!»

[edit] English translation

Note: rhymes could not be rendered in English, and several short Italian words (bella, ciao) translate into long English words (beautiful, goodbye), so that the result is quite "heavier" than in the original version.

This morning I awakened
Oh Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye! bye! bye!
This morning I awakened
And I found the invader
Oh partisan carry me away
Oh Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye! bye! bye!
Oh partisan carry me away
Because I feel death approaching
And if I die as a partisan
Oh Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye! bye! bye!
And if I die as a partisan
Then you must bury me
Bury me up in the mountain
Oh Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye! bye! bye!
Bury me up in the mountain
Under the shade of a beautiful flower
And those who shall pass
Oh Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye! bye! bye!
And those who shall pass
Will tell me: "what a beautiful flower"
This is the flower of the partisan
Oh Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye! bye! bye!
This is the flower of the partisan
Who died for freedom

Alternate, less literal and more "singable" translation - which also makes explicit some aspects that are left implicit in the Italian text:

SWEETHEART GOODBYE
One morning when I awakened
Sweetheart goodbye, oh goodbye, oh goodbye-bye-bye!
One morning when I awakened
I found invaders all around
Oh partisan, come take me with you
Sweetheart goodbye, oh goodbye, oh goodbye-bye-bye!
Oh partisan, come take me with you
Because I feel ready to die
If I die fighting as a partisan
Sweetheart goodbye, oh goodbye, oh goodbye-bye-bye!
If I die fighting as a partisan
You must come and bury me
Bury me there, up in the mountains
Sweetheart goodbye, oh goodbye, oh goodbye-bye-bye!
Bury me there, up in the mountains
Shade my grave with a lovely flower
So all the people who pass that way
Sweetheart goodbye, oh goodbye, oh goodbye-bye-bye!
So all the people who pass that way
Will say "Oh see that lovely flower! - "
"Ah that's the flower of the partisan fighter - "
Sweetheart goodbye, oh goodbye, oh goodbye-bye-bye!
"Ah that's the flower of the partisan fighter
who died for freedom's sake!"

[edit] Chumbawamba Remake

The Anarchist punk/pop group Chumbawamba released a contextually similar song for the anglosphere with the same refrain and title (in Italian), but completely different structure and lyrics. This musical adaptation was based on anarchist peers Dog Faced Hermans version, released as single in 1988, though the lyrics was sung as the original in Italian.

Tom Frampton and Mark Gunnery, members of the Riot Folk collective, have each done their own version of the song as well, based on the lyrics by Chumbawamba.

[edit] Grup Yorum's version

The Turkish Communist folk music group, Grup Yorum released the Turkish version of the song and named it "Çav Bella" (written the way it's pronounced) in their "Haziranda Ölmek Zor/Berivan" released in 1988 as the outro of the album. The song is very famous especially amongst the leftist Turks and Kurds.

[edit] KUD Idijoti's Version

KUD Idijoti released a version of this song, sung in Italian, on their album Bolivia RnR in 1989[1].

[edit] Music file

Italian, Yves Montand (mp3)

English re-write, Mark Gunnery (mp3) (same tune, lyrics very loosely based on original)

[edit] External links

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