"Sinàn Capudàn Pasciá" is based on the story of a Genoese mariner, Scipione Cicala, who at a young age was captured in a battle with the Ottoman Navy and taken to Constantinople in 1561. As a Christian, he had to choose between either death or converting to Islam and becoming a member of the Janissaries, which began in the 14th century as an elite corps of slaves recruited from young Christian boys that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and bodyguards. Cicala chose conversion and then rose to the highest ranks, gaining favor from Sultan Mechmed II who bestowed on him the honorary title Pasha and eventually appointed him as Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pasha) of the Ottoman Navy (1591-1595). - Dennis Criteser

"Princesa" is about Fernanda Farias de Albuquerque, who was born in Brazil in 1963 as a male but from the age of six years identified as female. She emigrated to Spain at the age of 25 and then to Italy, where she was a sex worker in order to pay for a sex change operation. She was incarcerated for the attempted murder of the madam of the brothel where she worked after the madam had stolen money from her. In jail, she met a Sardinian shepherd who had attempted a bank robbery. The two spoke about Brazil and Sardinia in a mix of languages. Another inmate, sentenced to two life sentences, undertook to write the story of Fernanda/Princesa, and after a year of collaboration the book was published in 1994, on which De André based this song. The happy ending of the song did not mirror what happened in real life - Fernanda/Princesa ended her life in 1999 without having completed the transition to being female. - Dennis Criteser

The shipwreck of the London Valour was an actual event that took place in Genoa in 1970. But the focus in this song is on the people who came out to the Genoa docks to rubber neck and watch the unfolding tragedy in morbid fascination. The lyrics are somewhat obtuse, with many possible references to political events and cultural figures from Italy's Years of Lead, (the late 1960's to the early 1980's), which were marked by tremendous social upheaval and terrorism. - Dennis Criteser

In "Ottocento," De André sings in the style of opera buffa and the song ends with Tyrolean yodeling, the idea being to describe 20th century society in 19th century style. He explains that "it's a style of singing falsely cultured, an approach suggested to me by the pomposity of a character who, more than a man, is a vacuum cleaner: he breathes in sweet sentiments, affections, vital organs and objects in front of him to which he displays a single mental attitude: the possibility of buying and selling them. . . . Here is painted a portrait of the bourgeoisie, in the exact moment of its affirmation of power: the world of the protagonist is dominated by money and by huge quantities of merchandise." The phrase "bronze of Versace" calls to mind the Riace Bronzes, a nice contrast between the superficial and fleeting beauty that pop culture craves and the more enduring beauty of past treasures of art. - Dennis Criteser

Toda la tristeza y el profundo sentimiento religioso del pueblo friulano que sufrió en carne propia todo el dolor de la guerra. Sus hombres combatiendo en el frente, sus mujeres, las portatrice carniche sosteniendo el frente cada día llevando alimentos, municiones y bajando heridos y muertos.
Sufrieron el exilio y la invasión de sus casas, el dolor de la derrota, la victoria que fue amarga y muy costosa.
Los friulanos de Argentina honramos la memoria de nuestros padres y abuelos que sufrieron en la Primera y Segunda Guerra Mundial.

De André once called "Laudate hominem" his final sermon of the album. "I need to, and I believe everyone's like me, consider Christ to be a man, and his story also a human one. Because if I consider him to be a God, he can't be imitated; if he's considered a man, yes, I can do it." - Dennis Criteser

"La morte" uses the music of “Le verger du roi Louis,” released in 1960 by the French singer/songwriter Georges Brassens, setting to music a 19th century poem by Théodore de Banville. The poem alludes to the "gardens of King Louis" - the parts of his forest that were reserved for those who were hanged, in "clusters never visited." De Andrè feared death, something he spoke about on several occasions, and death is a presence in many of his songs. The opening lines of De Andrè's lyric are quite similar to the first lines of Cesare Pavese's 1950 poem "Death Will Come and Have Your Eyes." - Dennis Criteser

"Disamistade" is about blood feuds, which until quite recently were common in Sardinia, and which are probably still bubbling under the surface there according to this article on a 2008 vendetta killing of a poet. In contrast with the other songs on this album, which portray different faces of solitude, this song is about a violence that can happen when people live in close proximity to each other, where envies and slights can fester and erupt into killings that continue in an unending progression as one spilling of blood must be avenged by another. "Disamistade" was translated to English and covered by the American folk/rock band The Walkabouts. - Dennis Criteser

"The Hill" is the opening poem of The Spoon River Anthology and sets the stage for the book's 240 poems from 212 different characters that follow. - Dennis Criteser

De Andrè and Bubola weave a story of a young girl who falls in love with an American pilot into strands of other references to pop songs (Angiolina, Madamadorè) and films ("a policeman fell in love with her" references Pane, amore e fantasia, for example). - Dennis Criteser