APR 20, singable satire: Elton John sings "DANTE's SONG" (Inferno, Canto 1a)

 PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "Your Song", Elton John, 1970.

ORIGINAL POEM: "Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, the first of 3 books constituting "The Divine Comedy" or "La Divina Commedia".

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, April 2015.

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "Dante's Song" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

Although Dante Alighieri wrote these poetic lines 700 years ago, they have received very little play on various parody-sites. Dante was a forerunner in his use of vernacular language (rather than Latin); based mainly on Tuscan dialect, his writings were critical in the development of modern Italian. To make the poetic lines singable, I had to take down Dante’s hallmark “terza rima” rhyming scheme (aba, bcb, cdc….), and rearrange it to a simpler aabb format. Other than this rearrangement, which leaves out some original lines, the lyrics for the beginning of the first Canto are primarily Dante’s. My English translation follows the Italian, with some adaptations for modern readers. Endless kudos are owing to the Pinsky translation, which inspired this effort.

Inferno, Canto#1a: DANTE'S SONG

(to the tune of "Your Song")

"Dark Wood"

detail of Dore engraving

Intro:

Put down words to “Commedia” sev’n centuries past,

My take on Life and after- seemed to take hold and last

Died exiled in Ravenna, but I guess I did well,

My gift is what we all think about Heav’n and Hell………

Dante:

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,

Che la diritta via era smarrita

Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, a dir

Quanto e qual era è cosa dura.

It’s a little bit funny, but in the midst of life’s road,

I got lost on the path where I’d easily strode,

Found myself without money in a dark gloomy wood –

I’d use a GPS if only I could.

Questa selva selvaggia ed aspra e forte

Tanto è amara, che poco è piu morte –

Era tanto pien di sonno com’io v’entrai

Che la verace via abandonnai.

This unyielding woodland is wild and perverse

No place to get coffee, only death might be worse

Can’t say how I got here, seems I’ve used up my stash

That I’d thought of smoking near the jogging path.

Chorus(It.)

Ma dove terminava l’orribile valle

Vidi vestite di raggi le spalle d’un colle

La paura cheta, un poco cheta

Dopo notte di pièta

Per ogne calle mena dritto questa pianeta

Chorus(Eng.):

I spotted a billboard for a roadside motel

Where a fearsome trench ended at the foot of a hill

I’d had a bad night, my credit’s quite tight,

If I had enough cash

I’d get out of this sunlight, I need a place to crash.

E come quei che con lena affannata

Si volge all’acqua perigliosa e guata;

Uscito fuor del pelago alla riva,

      "Dante nella Selva"

W.Blake

Cosi l’animo mio ancor fuggiva.

Like an agent who’s landed and stripped off scuba-gear

007, no tuxedo, proceeding out of fear,

From depths to some hostile shore is what I really mean,

That’s the way that my soul appeared to be fleeing.

Si volse indietro, l’animo mio

Che ancor fuggiva,

A rimirar lo passo che non lasciò persona viva.

Fearing what to find, my passing-lane mind

Checked the rear-view mirror, then hurtled

Peering back at the passage that leaves the living world.