Adriano Celentano- Il Ragazzo della Via Gluck

When I first moved to Italy as a little squirt in 1962 Adriano Celentano was already famous. And he still is. Here is a proto-ecological song of his from 1966. The autobiographical lyrics speak of a young man who leaves his leafy home in Via Gluck in Milan and comes back eight years later to find that it's all been built up. Incredibly enough, Via Gluck is within walking distance of the main train station, which shows how much Italy has changed. In fact, those were the years in which the subway was being built, starting in 1957. You can't go home again, not even in Italy. The clip is a live version of a show in Berlin.



Questa e' la storia
di uno di noi
anche lui nato per caso in via Gluck
in una casa fuori città
gente tranquilla che lavorava.
Là dove c'era l'erba ora c'e
una città
e quella casa in mezzo al verde ormai
dove sarà
questo ragazzo della via Gluck
si divertiva a giocare con me
ma un giorno disse: "vado in città"
e lo diceva mentre piangeva
io gli domando: "amico non sei contento?
vai finalmente a stare in città
là troverai le cose che non hai avuto qui.
Potrai lavarti in casa senza andar
giù nel cortile".
"Mio caro amico" disse "qui sono nato
e in questa strada ora lascio il mio cuore
ma come fai a non capire
che e' una fortuna per voi che restate
a piedi nudi a giocare nei prati
mentre là in centro io respiro il cemento
ma verrà un giorno che ritornerò
ancora qui
e sentirò l'amico treno che
fischia così.... ua ua".
passano gli anni ma otto son lunghi
però quel ragazzo ne ha fatta di strada
ma non si scorda la sua prima casa
ora coi soldi lui può comperarla
torna e non trova gli amici che aveva
solo case su case catrame e cemento
là dove c'era l'erba ora c'e
una città
e quella casa in mezzo al verde ormai
dove sarà
non so no so perché continuano
a costruire le case
e non lasciano l'erba, non lasciano l'erba
non lasciano l'erba
e no se andiamo avanti così
chissà come si farà
chissà chissà come si farà.

This is the story

of one us

who was also born in Via Gluck, by chance
in a house outside of town
with quiet working folks.

Where there used to be grass

now there's a city

and where could that house in the fields be?

This kid from Via Gluck

used to have fun playing with us

but one day he said: "I'm going to the city,"

and he said it while he was crying.

I ask him: "aren't you happy, friend?

You're finally going to the city
you'll have the things you never had here
You'll be able to wash without

going to the courtyard outside."
"My dear friend," he said,

"I was born here and I'm leaving

my heart in this street

why can't you understand

how lucky you are to stay here
playing barefoot in the grass
while I'll be breathing concrete in town.

But the day will come when I come back
here again

and I'll hear my friend the train whistle

whah-whahhh."
Eight long years go by

and the kid has gone far
but he hasn't forgotten his first home
now he can buy it with his money
he goes back but doesn't find the friends he had

only buildings upon buildings tar and cement
where there used to be grass now there is

a city
and where could that house

in the fields be
I don't know don't know why they keep
building houses
and don't leave the grass, don't leave the grass
if we keep this up
what will we do...