Il tavolo d’avorio [English translation]

1

If you go to the house of wealthy people,

the dinner has no taste,

the fish has no taste,

the meat has no taste;

even perfumes and flowers

effuse only a stench

unless you all sit down

at an ivory table.

An ivory table

on an ivory leopard

with its mouth wide open,

a huge mouth;

a table bought

at the gates of Egypt,

a nice, elegant table

made of elephant teeth.

I don’t even have ivory

pawns or dice,

nor knife handles

- they, too, are made of bone -

yet it never happened to me

to have rotten dishes;

to me, the taste of chicken

is never a disaster.

I don’t have an ivory table

on an ivory leopard

with its mouth wide open,

a huge mouth;

a table bought

at the gates of Egypt,

a nice, elegant table

made of elephant teeth.

I even lack a servant

who quarters rams and hares,

who quarters steers and pigs

using special techniques;

yet, when I’m eating,

you can smell a perfume in the air,

a perfume you can catch

all over the Suburra.2

I don’t have an ivory table

on an ivory leopard

with its mouth wide open,

a huge mouth;

a table bought

at the gates of Egypt,

a nice, elegant table

made of elephant teeth.

I don’t have an ivory table

on an ivory leopard

with its mouth wide open,

a huge mouth;

a table bought

at the gates of Egypt,

a nice, elegant table

made of elephant teeth.

1. This song was inspired by Satire XI by Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis).2. Suburra was a highly populated area of ancient Rome.

• Artist:Giorgio Gaber
• Album:Sexus et politica