Il testamento di Tito [English translation]

1

‟Thou shalt have no other gods before me”

it often made me think:

different people who had come from the east

said that in the end it was the same;

they believed in another one, different from you,

and they didn’t hurt me,

they believed in another one, different from you,

and they didn’t hurt me.

‟Thou shalt not take the name of God, shalt not take it in vain”

With a knife stabbed in my side,

I cried out my pain and his name,

but maybe he was tired, maybe too busy,

and he didn’t listen to my pain,

but maybe he was tired, maybe too distant,

I really took his name in vain.

‟Honour thy father and honour thy mother”

and honour their cane, too,

kiss the hand that broke your nose

because you were asking for a mouthful.

When my father’s heart stopped

I felt no grief.

When my father’s heart stopped

I felt no grief.

‟Remember the sabbath day”

It’s easy, for us thieves,

to enter the temples regurgitating psalms

of slaves and their masters,

without ending up being tied to the altars,

slaughtered like animals,

without ending up being tied to the altars,

slaughtered like animals.

The fifth says ‟Thou shalt not steal”,

and maybe I have abided by it,

by emptying the already overfull pockets

of those who had stolen,

yet I, with no law, I stole in my name,

those others [did it] in the name of God,

yet I, with no law, I stole in my name,

those others [did it] in the name of God.

‟Thou shalt not commit impure deeds”,

namely do not scatter your semen;

fecundate a woman each time you love her,

so you’ll be a man of faith;

then the desire vanishes and the son remains,

and many of them die of starvation.

I may have mixed up pleasure and love,

but I didn’t cause any pain.

The seventh says ‟Thou shalt not kill”

if you want to be worthy of Heaven.

Look at this law of God today:

nailed three times into wood.

Look at the end of that Nazarene,

and a thief dies no less!

Look at the end of that Nazarene,

and a thief dies no less!

‟Thou shalt not bear false witness”

and help them kill a man.

They know the divine law by heart,

and always forget about forgiveness.

I perjured on God and my honour,

and no, I don’t feel sorry about it.

I perjured on God and my honour,

and no, I don’t feel sorry about it.

‟Thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s stuff, shalt not covet his wife”

Tell it to those - demand it of the few -

who have a woman and something.

In other people’s beds already warm for love

I didn’t feel remorse.

Yesterday’s envy is not over yet:

tonight I’m envying your life.

But now that evening is coming,

and darkness takes the pain away from my eyes,

and the sun drifts beyond the dunes

to make violence to other nights,

I, in seeing this man dying,

mother, I feel grief;

in his compassion that does not surrender to rancour,

mother, I’ve learnt about love.

1. Titus is a thief crucified alongside Jesus.

In this song, during his last moments, he harshly criticizes religion, demolishing the 10 commandments one by one by showing their contradictions and the hypocrisy of people who should be abiding by them.

• Artist:Fabrizio De André
• Album:La buona novella (1970)