Burattino senza fichi [English translation]

I'm a popular marionette 1

Who never tells the truth

I'm a puppet with no stick 2

But Geppetto disagrees

I suffer a lot, without a peepee

I'd have a lot of fun with a dick

Here comes my daddy, he'll make me one. 3

I'm a new marionette

With my brand new little branch

I'm a log with a log

Thanks to Geppo, my dad

If the Fairy with Turquoise Hair bends over

I can feel a force in me

That even I can't explain

And I emit some kind of milkshake...

"Ah, ah, what the fu-, aaah..."

I'm chipping away, I can feel it chipping away 4

If only Candlewick could see

How hard I'm trying 5

I'm chipping away, I'm causing a scandal

Uollano, uollano, uollano 6

My Captain's Toothpaste 7

In the Land of Toys

I'm undoubtedly popular as a playboy

My house is a whale

I'll invite you, one of these days

I don't really give a fuck about Mangiafuoco

I blackmail the Fox and the Cat

Then I'll put the Cricket inside my ass 8

The more I think about it

The more I feel like...9

Chipping away, guys, I'm chipping away

If only Candlewick could see me

With this swan face 10

I 'jaculate, thanks to my pinnacle

Uollano, uollano, uollano

I'll greet you with my other hand

And then I go to the disco

I'm chipping away, down at the disco

Emperor of a kingdom

Of a thousand wooden pussies 11

They plot, in the shadow they crave

They dance, dance, dance

On the Captain's Toothpaste

Ué! 12

1. the song is full of jokes about the characters of the famous "Pinocchio", novel for children written by the Italian Carlo Collodi. The title of the song is a parody of the song "Burattino senza fili" ("Marionette without strings") by Italian singer Edoardo Bennato. The "fig" is arguably a pun on the Italian words "fico" and "fica", which respectively means "fig" and "pussy, cunt".2. the "picio" is a kind of pasta, a thicker version of the spaghetti.3. these lyrics are written in the Tuscan dialect, as the author of Pinocchio was Tuscan.4. "truciolo" lit. means "wood shaving". The joke here is on the fact that a wooden marionette like Pinocchio would create a lot of shavings if he ever tries to masturbate. This is also a pun on the fact that another word used to refer to masturbation in Italian is "sega", which literally means "saw", a tool commonly used to cut wood (this lead to a number of jokes in Italian, such as "how could Geppetto have a child with nothing but a saw?").5. the song here features a brilliant joke. The Italian lyrics goes like "fare mi do", and the notes played in the background are F, D, E, C (or, using the Italian names, "fa re mi do"). [F#, cf. http://marok.org/Elio/Discog/phikis.htm#burattinosenzafichi]6. misinterpretation of the words "hold on", from the song G Spot (Don Lloydie & Lewi Remix) by Wayne Marshall. The member of the group liked the sound and just used it as a filler in some of their songs' lyrics.7. reference to a popular brand of toothpaste. The joke is on the fact that toothpaste is white, like semen. This probably works better in Italian, as "pasta" ("toothpaste") does not include "tooth" as it does in English.8. the Talking Cricket is one of Pinocchio's characters (just like Mangiafuoco, the Fox, the Cat, the whale...). In Italian, there is a pun on the word "grillo", which means "cricket", but also "dick".9. reference to the lyrics of a 1974 song by Italian singer Gianni Bella, "Più ci penso".10. probably a joke on the face people makes while masturbating.11. being Pinocchio a marionette, he would probably date wooden girls. But there is a pun on the expression "figa di legno" ("wooden pussy"), which is used for women who are haughty with men and pull an attitude with most of them.12. an interjection typical of the Neapolitan dialect. It is common in Neapolitan folk songs and it has been chosen (ironically) by the Elio&LST band as a symbol of the whole Italian music tradition.

• Artist:Elio e le Storie Tese
• Album:Eat the phikis