Inverno: Quando avevo vent'anni / Eravamo sempre insieme / Ho incontrato la Tristezza / Voglio morir malato [English translation]

When I was twenty

I looked like

Someone who was leaving on a great journey

Those who looked at me then saw a small boy

With long hair, and a child's eyes

And those who look at me now

No longer see the same thing

Because, just like a wave,

Life has already passed by

And yet there's still people

Who see me as I was then

And don't realize

How much has changed

~ ~ ~

We were always together

But almost never got along

It was great to fight

Over answers you don't have

Over questions almost no one

Asks when they're older

All of this back and forth

With the sea always being blue

I'm full of memories,

I'm enriched by my friends,

Who are alive now as they were then,

Even though they're no longer here.

And even now that tomorrows

Become a little bit shorter,

There's still so much time to dream

There's still so much time to love.

~ ~ ~

I met Sadness

And I pretended not to know her.

I fell asleep and I had

A long caress as a bedsheet.

What do I care

About the things others are saying?

What do I care

With all the friends I have?

What do I care,

About those who are against me?

What do I care,

As long as I have you on my side?

And if, for once,

Everyone agreed with me,

That means I must've written

Something wrong.

What do I care,

About those who only know how to hate?

What do I care,

About those who only know how to envy?

What should I care,

I, who live on the Moon,

About those who have never

Seen the Moon?

What I really care about

I, who have no certainties,

Is that nothing's more important

Than a long caress of yours.

~ ~ ~

I want to die ill

Not healthy as a fish

That may be good for fish

But not for me.

I want to die ill

After doing everything

The good and the bad

But what's the bad?

After all, the bad is not doing anything,

Not giving anything to anyone,

And dying rich and in good health

For no reason.

I want to die ill,

Because of love and poetry,

And also due to bronchitis

Because I smoke.

• Artist:Gino Paoli
• Album:Appunti di un lungo viaggio