A canzone 'e Tonino [English translation]

Tonino used to wait for me

on the top of a red Lambretta,

a cigarette turned nervously on the top of his snout.

So we used to run away together

to search for new days

and to leave the void that was there, where it still is.

Tonino didn't know

that under our faces we were black

and when he embraced me

his arms were sincere.

Tonino used to work hard,

he had never been a child

and he never used to talk about love.

One day he got enchanted

in front of a mouth of fire,

it has been that fire

what put him out little by little.

Tonino could swallow

any lie that he heard,

when he lost his hearth (he turned sad)

he melted as the snow.

So he used to sing with me

a love song

to go up and then fall down

to touch the illusion,

he didn't want to know

what they were the wrong and the right

he used to delete the "why?"s

to write there "passion".

Tonino got married

under a rain of flowers,

he said Yes

to someone who had already sold him.

And when he found himself

facing the darkest words,

he took courage

and he threw himself onto the neck of fear.

Tonino didn't know

(he didn't know)

that the life of him was short

he used to watch farther

and he could see the sun even when dark.

So he used to sing with me

a love song

to go up and then fall down

to touch the illusion,

he didn't want to know

what they were the wrong and the right

he used to delete the "why?"s

to write there "passion".

• Artist:Nino D'Angelo