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Self Evident

Ani DiFranco
Lingua: Inglese


Ani DiFranco


Yes,
us people are just poems (1)
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
approaching hyper-distillation
and once upon a time
we were moonshine
rushing down the throat of a giraffe
yes, rushing down the long hallway
despite what the p.a. announcement says
yes, rushing down the long stairs
with the whiskey of eternity
fermented and distilled
to eighteen minutes
burning down our throats
down the hall
down the stairs
in a building so tall
that it will always be there
yes, it's part of a pair
there on the bow of Noah's ark
the most prestigious couple
just kickin' back parked
against a perfectly blue sky
on a morning beatific
in its Indian summer breeze
on the day that America
fell to its knees
after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you
or please

and the shock was subsonic
and the smoke was deafening
between the setup and the punch line
cuz we were all on time for work that day
we all boarded that plane for to fly
and then while the fires were raging
we all climbed up on the windowsill
and then we all held hands
and jumped into the sky
and every borough looked up when it heard the first
blast
and then every dumb action movie was summarily
surpassed
and the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
looked more like war than anything I've seen so far
so far
so far

so fierce and ingenious
a poetic specter so far gone
that every jackass newscaster was struck
dumb and stumbling
over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and
on
and I'll tell you what, while we're at it
you can keep the pentagon
keep the propaganda
keep each and every TV
that's been trying to convince me
to participate
in some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate
retribution
perpetuate retribution even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
is still hanging in the air
and there's ash on our shoes
and there's ash in our hair
and there's a fine silt on every mantle
from Hell's Kitchen to Brooklyn
and the streets are full of stories
sudden twists and near misses
and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
with tales of narrowly averted disasters
and the whiskey is flowin'
like never before
as all over the country
folks just shake their heads
and pour

so here's a toast to all the folks who live in Palestine
Afghanistan
Iraq
El Salvador
here's a toast to the folks living on the Pine Ridge reservation (2)
under the stone cold gaze of Mt. Rushmore (3)
here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of Oklahoma City (4)
just to listen to a young woman's voice
here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
awaiting the executioner's guillotine
who are shackled there with dread
and can only escape into their heads
to find peace in the form of a dream

cuz take away our playstations
and we are a third world nation
under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
who stole the oval office and that phony election
I mean
it don't take a weatherman
to look around and see the weather
Jeb said he'd deliver Florida, folks
and boy did he ever (5)
and we hold these truths to be self evident: (6)
#1 George W. Bush is not president
#2 America is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
cuz I am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
I've got no room for a lie so verbose
I'm looking out over my whole human family
and I'm raising my glass in a toast
here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
and the laundry was waving
the graffiti was teasing us
from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys
under stars
I dream of touring like Duke Ellington
in my own railroad car (7)
I dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
in a grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform
and feeling the air on my face
give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger finally
and relearn how to rock-n-roll

yes, the lessons are all around us
and a change is waiting there
so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets
and clear the air
get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand
of someone else's desert
put it back in its pants
and quit the hypocritical chants of
freedom forever
cuz when one lone phone rang
in two thousand and one
at ten after nine
on nine one one
which is the number we all called (8)
when that lone phone rang right off the wall
right off our desk and down the long hall
down the long stairs
in a building so tall
that the whole world turned
just to watch it fall

and while we're at it
remember the first time around? (9)
the bomb?
the Ryder truck?
the parking garage?
the princess that didn't even feel the pea? (10)
remember joking around in our apartment on avenue D?
can you imagine how many paper coffee cups
would have to change their design
following a fantastical reversal
of the New York skyline?!
it was a joke, of course
it was a joke
at the time
and that was just a few years ago
so let the record show
that the FBI was all over that case
that the plot was obvious and in everybody's face
and scoping that scene
religiously
the CIA
or is it KGB?
committing countless crimes against humanity
with this kind of eventuality
as its excuse
for abuse after expensive abuse
and it didn't have a clue

look, another window to see through
way up here on the 104th floor
look
another key
another door
10% literal
90% metaphor
3000 some poems disguised as people
on an almost too perfect day
should be more than pawns
in some asshole's passion play
so now it's your job
and it's my job
to make it that way
to make sure they didn't die in vain
sshhhhhh....
baby listen
hear the train?
Alcune note esplicative
riprese in parte da Una canzone per New York e in parte dalla traduzione francese, adattate, integrate e corrette

(1) yes, us people... (l'incipit):
Il riferimento è a un altro famoso incipit caro alla cultura americana, ovvero la Costituzione degli Stati Uniti d'America, che comincia con "We, the people of the United States". Spesso tale incipit è usato in modo esemplificativo. In questo caso, oltre a modificare il soggetto in oggetto (da we ad us), inserisce parallelamente un gioco di parole: us, vuol dire noi, ma anche U.S. ovvero United States

(2) here's a toast to the folks living on the Pine Ridge reservation...
Nella riserva del Pine Ridge (South Dakota), accadde il famoso episodio tristemente ricordato come Massacro di Wounded Knee - quando 250 inermi Lakota, donne uomini e bambini, furono uccisi dalle truppe statunitensi nel 1890. La riserva si estende nelle Badlands, le così dette "Terre Cattive", che affianca l'omonimo Badlands National Park

(3) ...under the stone cold gaze of mt. rushmore...
I busti di questi quattro grandi presidenti americani furono scolpiti nel granito del monte Rushmore (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln e Theodore Roosevelt), tra il 1927 e il 1941, sotto la direzione dello scultore Gutzon Borglum. In realtà l'idea iniziale risaliva al 1923 ed era quella di fare un monumento originale agli eroi del West che attirasse turisti e visitatori nello Stato del South Dakota

Mt. Rushmore


(4) ...who stand down a threat the size of Oklahoma City...
Il riferimento è alla strage di Oklahoma City del 19 aprile 1995, quando un edificio federale esplose a causa di una bomba (vedi Who Built The Bomb? (That Blew Oklahoma City Down)).

(5) Jeb said he'd deliver florida, folks / and boy did he ever...
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, fratello del presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America, e governatore della Florida. In occasione delle elezioni presidenziali del 2000 in cui George W. Bush vinse, fu oggetto di forti critiche a causa della sua posizione e del grado di parentela con uno dei due candidati alla Casa Bianca. Fu in Florida, infatti, che furono contestate le schede elettorali determinanti per la designazione di George W. Bush come presidente.

(6) we hold these truths to be self-evident / #1 George W. Bush is not president...
è una citazione (o meglio una parodia, visto quello che segue) del preambolo alla dichiarazione d'indipendenza degli Stati Uniti d'America, che recita:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.


e cioè

Noi riteniamo che le seguenti verità siano di per se stesse evidenti; che tutti gli uomini sono stati creati uguali, che essi sono dotati dal loro Creatore di alcuni Diritti inalienabili, che fra questi sono la Vita, la Libertà e la ricerca delle Felicità.


(7) ..I dream of touring like Duke Ellington / in my own railroad car...
Per combattere il razzismo delle città del sud degli Stati Uniti, dove molti alberghi e ristoranti rifiutavano di servire i neri, durante le sue tournée negli anni '30 Duke Ellington si spostava con un treno privato, dove lui e la sua band potevano anche dormire e mangiare.


(8) at ten after nine / on nine one one / which is the number we all called
Il primo aereo colpì una delle due torri gemelle poco dopo le nove del mattino dell'11 settembre 2001, che secondo l'uso americano si indica con 9/11, ma 911 è anche il numero da chiamare negli Stati Uniti in caso d'emergenza.

(9) remember the first time around? the bomb? the ryder truck? the parking garage?
non era la prima volta che le torri venivano attaccate: il 26 febbraio 1993 una bomba piazzata in un camioncino nel parcheggio sotterraneo del World Trade Center esplose uccidendo sei persone.

(10) ...the princess that didn't even feel the pea?
è naturalmente un riferimento alla fiaba danese La principessa sul pisello scritta da Hans Christian Andersen nel 1835 con il titolo originale Prindsessen paa Ærten.



Pagina principale CCG

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