Maria nella bottega d’un falegname [English translation]

1

[Mary]

«Carpenter, with your hammer,

why are you going like den den?

With your plane on that wood,

why are you going like fren fren?

Are you making crutches

for the people who went to war,

who came back home

from Nubia on their hands?»2

[Carpenter]

«My hammer is not striking,

my plane is not cutting

to fashion new legs

for people who offered them in battle;

[to fashion] three crosses instead: two for people

who deserted to steal,

the biggest one for him who

taught to desert war.»3

[People]

«In the sleeping temples4

of this city,

a hammer’s heart is pounding;

when will it stop?

Carpenter, on that wood,

so many blows already,

how much more are you going to slim it

with that plane?»

[Mary]

«The sores, the wounds

that you’re producing on the wood,

carpenter, those cuts

are just missing the blood now

in order to explain by themselves,

with their voices,

which faces will turn white

on your crosses.»

[Carpenter]

«These logs that they brought

so that my sweat

would transform them into the image

of three sufferings,

they will see tears on the eyelashes

of Dismas and Titus;5

the biggest one you are watching

will embrace your son.»

[People]

«From the street to the mountain

your den den is rising,

every valley in Jordan

is learning your fren fren;

some grieving group

is taking worried steps,6

others are waiting to be able

to make those thirsty people drink vinegar.»7

1. The album skips from the time when Mary is pregnant to the moment when Jesus is about to be crucified. Mary enters a carpenter’s workshop where the three crosses are being prepared.

Instead of working to build something useful, the carpenter has to build death devices.2. Nubia is a region south of Egypt.3. The carpenter is making a cross for Jesus (who was a pacifist) and two crosses for the thieves who are going to be crucified next to him.4. tempio = temple (religious building).

tempia = temple (side of the head).

The correct meaning is definitely the latter, referring to the people who ignore the injustice in the world (their mind is not paying attention).5. Titus and Dismas are the names of the two thieves crucified with Jesus; their names appear only in some apochryphal gospels.6. People grieving Jesus are worried that doing so will cause them trouble with the authority.7. Jesus was mocked by Roman soldiers by being made to drink vinegar when he was thirsty (since it just makes the thirst grow).

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