Information on an Italian Folk Song

February 1, 2013 9:45 AM

I'm looking for any information on an Italian folk song "Tutti Mi Chiaman Mario" The song: 1, 2. I'm looking for anything from personal reminiscences, to a copy of the lyrics, information about its origin, to academic analysis - anything at all.
posted by bq to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Lyrics from the YouTube video, as best my non-native ears could decipher and translate:

Tutti mi chiaman Mario, ma son Marino
Vivo di cortesia e son sincero
Ho combattuto tanto sul Monte Nero
Per liberar' mi patria dal invasor

Everyone calls me Mario, but I am Marino
I live with courtesy and sincerity
I fought so much on Monte Nero
To free my country from the invader

Amavo buona ragazza di quindicianni
era una rondinella di primavera
E io sul Monte Nero con la bandiera
???? notizie di chi non scrive più

I loved a good girl who was fifteen years old
She was a swallow of the spring
And I, on Monte Nero with the flag
(Waited?) news of one who no longer wrote

Un giorno di licenza la incontrai
Ed era accompagnata da un tenentino
Ella mi disse Mario, mio ben Marino
Son' fidanzato lui, lasciarlo non potrò

One day on leave I met/ran into her
And she was accompanied by a lieutenant
She told me, "Mario, my good Marino,
I am promised/engaged to him, I cannot leave him."

Un giorno dopo l'altro, la incontrai
Ed era accompagnata da un marinaio
Ella mi disse Mario, o mio ben Mario
Son' fidanzato lui, lasciarlo non potrò

One day after the other, I met her
And she was accompanied by a seaman
She said to me, "Mario, o my good Mario,
I am promised/engaged to him, I cannot leave him."

Estratte la pistola dalla cintura
Ella mi disse "Mario, non ho paura"
Ella mi disse "Mario, non ho paura"
Tre colpi di pistola in terra la lascia.

I took the pistol from my belt
She said, "Mario, I'm not afraid."
She said, "Mario, I'm not afraid."
The shots of the gun left her on the ground.

Mario ancora giovane al tribunale
Veniva accompagnato dal due gendarmi
"Mamma perdoname del mal' che ho fatto"
E' stato il primo amore che mi ha lasciato
E stato il primo amore che mi ha tradito
Viva l'Italia libera, viva liberta

Mario, still young, went to the tribunal
Accompanied by two gendarmes
"Mamma, forgive me for the bad thing I did.
It was the first love that left me.
It was the first love that betrayed me.
Viva free Italy, viva liberty."

There are several variants mentioned in the Youtube comments and elsewhere on the web -- a bayonet (baionetta) instead of a pistol, another verse mentioning a colonel, fighting in Montenegro or Albania instead of on Monte Nero, etc.

The battle of Monte Nero would likely place it in/just after the 1st World War, but Albania/Montenegro would suggest 2nd World War. It sounds (lyrically and melodically) like a partisan song, similar to "Bella Ciao", which would be WWII resistance to the Axis.
posted by katemonster at 12:32 PM on February 1, 2013

It starts with a few bars of the Last Post (Silenzio Fuori Ordinanza (SLYT) ?)
posted by Dub at 1:40 PM on February 1, 2013

To correct myself in the fifth verse, it's "estrassi" not "estratte" and "lasciai" not "lascia". The only change to the English is the last line of that verse would more correctly be, "Three shots of the gun, I left her on the ground."
posted by katemonster at 2:51 PM on February 1, 2013