Credited on the record as Il Contemporaneo.
Polka infantile
1974 · Not On Label CONT. 6 · Modena, Italy
- Artist
- Canzoniere Il Contemporaneo
- Credited on the record as
- Il Contemporaneo
- Title
- Polka infantile
- Release
- Cappuccetto Rosso
- Year
- 1974
- Label
- Not On Label # CONT. 6
- Format
- 7" · EP
- Language
- Italian
- Country
- Modena, Italy
- Songwriter
- Velasques Varieni, Willer Varini
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Italian Folk Music
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Lyrics
English: Tell me, what does your father do? / My father is a builder / It’s the most important of all trades / Because he works on construction sites / Building factories and hospitals / And presidential palaces / And my father says that, through his craft / Progress spreads everywhere. // When I grow up, I’ll do as he does / When I grow up, I’ll do as he does. // Tell me, what does your father do? / My father is a farmer / He knows plants and animals / Like fruits and vegetables / It’s a job far more important / Than building a giant skyscraper / For life itself would perish, my father says / Without the earth, which is its mother. // When I grow up, I’ll do as he does / When I grow up, I’ll do as he does. // Tell me, what does your father do? / Mine is a general / I haven’t seen him for a long time / Because he’s stationed in Vietnam / He builds no houses, he tills no land / He devotes himself only to war / He knows bombs and bombers / That have destroyed entire peoples. // He says he possesses poisonous weapons / That kill everything—people and things alike / Men and women die / Birds, flowers, and butterflies / Even children are made to die / And mothers are made to die. // When I grow up, I won’t do that / When I grow up, I won’t do that. __________ Italian: Dimmi cosa fa tuo padre / mio padre è costruttore / è il più importante dei mestieri / perché lavora nei cantieri / costruisce fabbriche e ospedali / e palazzi presidenziali / dice mio padre con la sua arte / il…
Notes
Four-track self-released 45 (red label): Cappuccetto Rosso, Filastrocca del pane, Girotondo della libertà, Polka infantile; ildeposito cites the EP under the title "Il cavallo del principe nero ha fatto la cacca sul sentiero" (Milan, 1974). Also on the 2020 CD "Bella Ciao – Canzoni di lotta e di libertà 1967-1979" (track 19).
About the artist
Canzoniere Il Contemporaneo — political folk group from Modena, active 1967–1979 (Lara Malagoli, Sauro Malagoli, Willer Varini, Velasques Varieni). [Source: Meschiari, Canzoniere Il Contemporaneo 1967-1979, 2003]
Themes
Satire · Child · Anti-Capitalism · Anti-War · Anti-Imperialism
In collections
European Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]