La ballata del Miché [English translation]

When they opened his cell

It was already late

Because hanging with a rope around his neck

Miché was cold

Every time I hear the song

Of a rooster, I'll think

About that night in jail

When Miché hung himself

Tonight Miché

Hung himself to a nail because

He didn't want to spend twenty years in jail

Far away from you

I know that Miché

Has chosen to die so that you

Would be left with the memory of the great love

He felt for you

Although Miché

Didn't write to you to explain why

He left the world, you know he did it

Only for you

They sentenced him to twenty years

That was the court's verdict

Because one day he killed

The one who wanted to steal his Marì

That's why they sentenced him

To rot in jail for twenty years

But now that he hung himself

They'll have to open his door

In darkness Miché

Flew away knowing that he

Could never tell you he had killed

Only for you

Tomorrow at three

He will be put in a mass grave

Without a priest or a mass because

They have no mercy for suicides

Tomorrow Miché

Will be in the wet ground

And someone will put upon him

A cross with his name and the date

• Artist:Fabrizio De André
• Album:La ballata del Miché/La ballata dell’eroe (1961)