Argentovivo [English translation]

I'm sixteen years old, but it's already been more than ten

since I've been living in a prison

I've committed no crime out there

I was convicted of it well before I was born

I was forced to remain seated for hours,

immobile and mute for hours

I was argento vivo1, Lord

'Cause I was argento vivo and inside here, you die.

This prison corrects and prepares for a life

that no longer exists since at least twenty years ago

Sometimes I think of getting it over with

and sometimes I think that I should get revenge

But at night, they send me back home, you know

because I can reconnect with all my loved ones

as if home weren't a cage as well

and as if family weren't my house arrest.

I'm sixteen years old, but it's already been more than ten

since I've been living in a prison

I've committed no crime out there

I was convicted of it well before I was born

And time flows to the side, but I don't even watch it

And I keep myself sedated so I won't hear anyone

I put music on maximum volume and I fly

'cause with music on maximum volume, I remain alone

And they always keep telling me that I must keep busy

because ultimately you leave and I wouldn't know where to go

but they don't understand shit, no

I don't recognize myself here and I don't want to imitate them

You all have taken a child who never stood still

and you put him all alone in front of a screen

and you now ask yourselves if it's normal

that the only world I appreciate is a virtual world

I was argento vivo, Doctor

I was so agitated, so wrong

With such a tiny attention span

but you all cured me and now

only a grudge has remained with me

I'm sixteen years old, but it's already been more than ten

since I stopped believing

that there's still something out there

Let me go, everyone!

It’s so easy to explain

I'm able to imagine

and when I dream, I can see

how I will be

You say that I'll come to understand

how to swim in the sea

but it's a lie, you cannot learn

to cross what I will be

You say that I'll come to understand

It'll make you feel better

It'll only make me feel worse

to have to say how I will be

Thoughts turn in my head that I don't turn off

It's not a screen, they don't interact if you touch them

I have a device in my pocket which mirrors this Hell

where I journey, where I live, where I eat, with my eyes

flowers and scribbles in my notebook

a backpack like ball and chain, a classroom like a cell

My name in the appeal will sound like a paternal call

and like a maternal voice, the bell will sound

Deep down, it's a virtuous world

Maybe because of this, "virtual"

isn't something that makes it special

And they say that much is a chemical movement

or a mental matter

I did not lie,

'cause I thanked at every one of my breaths

and at every junction, and at every natural shiver

I was argento vivo in this vampiric world

Liquid mercury, if you're reading the nomenclature2

I'm sixteen years old, but it's already been more than ten

I live in a prison

There is a mistake in the structure

And they pretend that there's a cure or a

tailor-made drug and they talk, and they talk, and they talk, and they talk

While my father explains to me why it's important to study

While my mother drowns in her same old words

I still put music on maximum volume

But they don't understand shit, no

And so, I'll tell you a communication trick,

to treat the entire world like a distracted child

With a distracted child, really, it's normal

that it's easier to turn off instead of searching for contact

I was argento vivo, Lord

I was so agitated, so wrong

to continue to pay in an exemplary way

for something I don't remember ever doing

I'm sixteen years old, sixteen years old

And I live in a prison

If a crime is committed out there

it was the crime of being born

1. "avere l'argento vivo addosso" is an idiom speaking about a child who refuses to stay still; this is what the title is referring to. However, "argento vivo" refers to quicksilver, as well.2. Liquid mercury is quicksilver

• Artist:Daniele Silvestri