[2008]
Lyrics & Music by Ben Folds
Album: Way To Normal

La Grosse Berta

Canzone française – La grosse Berta – 1910 – Marco Valdo M.I. – 2011
Histoires d'Allemagne 9
Au travers du kaléidoscope de Günter Grass. : « Mon Siècle » (Mein Jahrhundert, publié à Göttingen en 1999 – l'édition française au Seuil à Paris en 1999 également) et de ses traducteurs français : Claude Porcell et Bernard Lortholary.



Comme bien tu penses Lucien l'âne mon ami, une guerre, ça se prépare. Une guerre militaire, je veux dire,une de celles où on envoie plein de gens se massacrer réciproquement et où on utilise plein d'armements, si possible, les plus puissants, les plus saignants. Bref, où on fait un tas de morts, de blessés, de mutilés. Et si on veut exécuter la chose en grand, on ne saurait y échapper, il faut du temps... Il y faut beaucoup temps, sans compter des masses d'argent, pour s'y préparer en espérant un certain succès. L'armement est certes une affaire... (Continues)

‎[2003]‎
Album “One Step Forward”‎

‎

Traditional (Arr. Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Arty McGlynn)
Album: Ordinary Man [1985]

The Blantyre mining disaster, which happened on the morning of 22 October 1877, in Blantyre, Scotland, was and remains Scotland’s worst mining accident. Pits No. 2 and No. 3 of William Dixon's Blantyre Colliery were the site of an explosion which killed 207 miners, the youngest being a boy of 11. It was known that "fire damp" was present in the pit and it is likely that this was ignited by a naked flame. The accident left 92 widows and 250 fatherless children.
At the time, rescue provisions were inadequate. Alexander Macdonald MP, president of the Miners' National Association and himself a former miner, prevented the surviving employees from attempting a rescue on safety grounds.
Repeated prior complaints about the working conditions at High Blantyre had been ignored. In fact, a year before, Blantyre... (Continues)

‎[2006]‎
Testo di Amin al-Ghozzi
Inclusa nell’album intitolato “Khaief” pubblicato alla fine del 2006.‎

‎

Bella canzone (e profetica, alla luce di quanto sta accadendo nel Maghreb e nel nord Africa) scritta ‎da questa giovane cantautrice tunisina ‎‎di origine palestinese‎ trapiantata a Parigi.‎

Il testo in arabo l’ho trovato su quello che parrebbe il ‎‎sito ufficiale dell’artista (in ‎verità non molto curato).‎

L’introduzione in francese è invece trascritta – spero correttamente – dal ‎‎video di una bella esibizione della Mathlouthi ‎sulla piazza della Bastiglia a Parigi nel corso dell’edizione 2007 del festival “Rythmes Africains”:

Nous sommes des hommes libres qui n'ont pas peur, ‎
nous sommes des secrets qui jamais ne meurent ‎
et de ceux qui résistent nous sommes la voix, ‎
dans leur chaos nous sommes l'éclat, ‎
nous sommes libres et notre parole est libre, ‎
mais elle n'oublie... (Continues)

[2008]
Immortal Technique featuring DJ Green Lantern & DJ Khaled
Album: The 3rd World

Testo di Enzo Jannacci
Musica ispirata a Twist and Shout (The Isley Brothers, Beatles..) o anche a La Bamba di Ritchie Valens
LP "enzo jannacci in teatro" - 1965

Siamo umani. Il delirio erotico non è prerogativa solo dei potenti. Certo, l'ottuagenario zio di Jannacci non pretendeva di comandare la nave della patria. E per di più era un reduce del neurodeliri. Dai biblici vecchioni che "lumavano" la casta Susanna, ai viagrosi porcelli del dì d'incoeu, quelli che "mai pagata una donna", perché i soldi non glieli mettono sul comodino, ma glieli rimette in busta esclusiva il ragiunatt di palazzo il giorno dopo, la storia è sempre quella. Non so perché in questo testo manchino i versi in cui lo zio tampina (nel senso che insegue con particolare insistenza) non solo una bella mora, ma anche un tram e una filovia: versi che mi ricordo assai bene e che potrebbero essere il frutto, chissà, della vis improvvisatoria di quel mattacchione che era, e forse è ancora, il bravissimo Enzo. Dedicata al fido Emilio, quasi ottuagenario pure lui. (gpt)

Album: You Are the Quarry (2004)

Scritta da Don Lange
da Dark End Of The Street - 1981

I have 3 versions of where I heard this song.

1. On AFN radio late one night I heard Peggy Seeger sing it out of Franfurt.(unlikely).
2. I heard Don Lange sing it in The Meeting Place Dorset St. Dublin.(even more unlikely).
3. The Dir. of L.E. in R.T.E. sent me a cassette after hearing me sing El Salvador(by Johnny Duhan) in The Felons Club In Andytown.( poss.).

It is a powerful song which never loses its potency. I first recorded it with Moving Hearts in 1983( Dark End of The Street) and again in 2002 ( ive at Vicar St.)
The author still writes,sings and records and,I am glad to say still sends me the occasional song

Christy Moore

[2009]
Single
feat. Immortal Technique
Album: "Soundtrack to the Struggle"

[1995]

In concorso alla 38ma edizione dello “Zecchino d'Oro”, Bologna dal 23 al 26 novembre 1995.
Si classificò seconda, vincendo lo Zecchino d’Argento.
Con Padre nostro che sei dappertutto, un’altra canzone scritta – insieme al figlio Fabio - dal celebre paroliere Alberto Testa (1927-2009), autore televisivo, cantante e compositore, autore di canzoni come “Grande grande grande” di Mina, La riva bianca, la riva nera di Iva Zanicchi e “Sono una donna, non sono una santa” di Rosanna Fratello, tutte del 1971.

Une tradition familiale

Canzone française – Une tradition familiale – 1908 – Marco Valdo M.I. – 2011
Histoires d'Allemagne 8
Au travers du kaléidoscope de Günter Grass. : « Mon Siècle » (Mein Jahrhundert, publié à Göttingen en 1999 – l'édition française au Seuil à Paris en 1999 également) et de ses traducteurs français : Claude Porcell et Bernard Lortholary.

Pas facile ces histoires d'Allemagne, on dirait, dit Lucien l'âne en regardant Marco Valdo M.I. avec une grande tendresse.

En effet, il y a là beaucoup d'attention, beaucoup de choses à découvrir, c'est un monde inconnu – ou en tous cas, peu connu de moi – que je découvre. Je me demandais à quoi rimait tout ce nouveau cycle, tout ce nouveau Giro dans le siècle passé. Que pouvait bien signifier cette introspection poétique et d'une certaine manière frénétique de notre passé simple et pourquoi avoir ainsi choisi, délibérément choisi... (Continues)

Il testo è dedicato all'innocenza perduta sulla Striscia di Gaza, durante i conflitti del 2008.
Purtroppo le azioni belliche continuano a perpetuarsi, in un conflitto perenne che ancora non riesce a trovare ragione.

[1981]
Lyrics & Music by Jay Bentley
Album: How Could Hell Be Any Worse?

[1994]
Lyrics by R. Flynn
Music by Machine Head
Album: Burn My Eyes

"Reminds us of another president, another Bush.. no less a liar than his son.. "

[2009]
Lyrics & Music by John Saullo

[1981]
Lyrics & Music by Jay Bentley
Album: How Could Hell Be Any Worse?

U 1, et cætera

Canzone française – U 1, et cætera – 1906 – Marco Valdo M.I. – 2010
Histoires d'Allemagne 7
Au travers du kaléidoscope de Günter Grass. : « Mon Siècle » (Mein Jahrhundert, publié à Göttingen en 1999 – l'édition française au Seuil à Paris en 1999 également) et de ses traducteurs français : Claude Porcell et Bernard Lortholary.


Cette fois encore, Lucien l'âne mon ami, nous allons à la mer et même, plus exactement, sous la mer. C'est une chanson qui relate l’histoire des sous-marins allemands (Unterseeboote) et cela, à partir d'un événement de l'année 1906 : la livraison à la Marine Impériale du premier sous-marin allemand : le U 1 (Unterseeboot 1), ainsi nommé en bonne logique et le suivant, c'est assez farce dans un site de chanson s'appellera : U2, et ainsi de suite, d'où, le et cætera. Enfin, relater n'est pas le mot exact, ce serait plutôt, qui évoque. Ce n'est pas... (Continues)

[2007]
Lyrics by R. Flynn
Music by R. Flynn, D. McClain and P. Demmel

The band wrote the lyrics about the Iraq war after conducting research and found that "a lot of stuff does not add up", according to Flynn, which angered the band. Machine Head's debut album, Burn My Eyes, featured a similar song titled "A Thousand Lies" which dealt with the Gulf War.
Robb Flynn said "Clenching the Fists of Dissent" was one of the most difficult song to construct: He attributed the difficulty to the amount of tracks; the introduction of the song has 90, including multiple three-part harmony with two guitars, 20 tracks of snare drum, four tracks of kick drum, and military marching cymbals. The song continues with five electric guitars, three acoustic guitars and two bass guitars...

[2010]
Lyrics & Music by John Saullo

Julian Assange founded the WikiLeaks website in 2006 and serves on its advisory board.
He has published material about extrajudicial killings in Kenya, toxic waste dumping in Africa, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, and banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer. In 2010, he published classified details about American involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and its five media partners began publishing secret US diplomatic cables. The White House has called Assange's release of the diplomatic cables "reckless and dangerous" while sources in the Kremlin linked to President Dmitry Medvedev suggested that he "could be awarded a Nobel prize"... from wikipedia

[2003]
Lyrics & Music by A.K. Mullins; Arranged and performed by W.V. Hill.
Album: Black Lung & White Lightnin'

"Daydreams fade on the hoot-owl shift...when you work down in the mines…"

Hard trials and tribulations of a coal miner.