Ciàmel amuur [English translation]

1

To give you time to flee,

I tried to stop them with my Sunday best skirt,

the only one I had during war time.

To give you time to reach the border,

that skirt lifted

though there was no wind.

They did things I would have never thought,

without even taking off their boots;

I was scared but I kept saying [to myself] ‟hold on”.

I kept looking at the wall with rifles leaned against it,

and there were so many soldiers all in a hay barn,

and I felt ashamed in looking at the belfry.

You, you can call it love,

though you never knew about it.

You, you can call it love,

though I’ve never seen you again.

Call it love, call it love.

Call it love, or call it nothing.

It’s been difficult getting about the village:

they’ve been condemning me without saying it;

at night, someone would come to the hay barn.

And I learned to become like a stone,

to stand any step,

to roll without complaining.

They did things I would have never thought,

and they had smiles that looked like cuts,

and I couldn’t explain my motives.

And never mind that they cut my hair,2

never mind that they harassed me,

that this house can no longer be mine.

I’ve wetted this hay with so many tears,

but I’ve heard you’re doing fine

in that country among foreigners.

You, you can call it love,

though they’ve never understood it.

Please, call it love,

though I’ve never said that.

Call it love, call it love.

Call me ‛love’.

1. The song is about a girl who gave herself to the ‟enemy” during World War II in order to give her lover time to escape across the border, though he never knew about her sacrifice.2. At the end of the war, many women who had cooperated with the nazi-fascists one way or another became victims of retaliation; for instance, some of them had their hair cut and were forced to parade on the streets.

• Artist:Davide Van de Sfroos
• Album:Yanez