2021.02.13.
Tortuga
When I was a child I was fat 1They used to make fun of me
The seniors of my school in front of the Tortuga 2
And at the school parties
We used to dance slow dances
Lights would turn off on careless hands
On innocent [hands]
I'd write and cry, and I was already thinking about you
In my dark room
What a light there was
Absolute silence
The Greek translation 3
If you got a sentence wrong, it couldn't be fixed
Your lost eyes
Four desks behind
I feel such a coward while you're calling out for help
Calling out for help
And I cried and I wrote
And I lived for you
And the empty room
Was full of you
And my time was going by
Meaner than ever. In Italy a deadly war was about to start 4
A deadly [war]
I was hammering on the piano
More confident every day
A voice was screaming I wasn't innocent
Innocent
And I cried and I wrote
I was thinking about you no more
In my dark room
What a light there was
When I was a child I was fat
They used to make fun of me
The seniors of my school in front of the Tortuga
And at the school parties
We used to dance slow dances
Lights would turn off on careless hands
On innocent [hands]
Innocent
Innocent
Innocent
- 1. Venditti, the author of the song, actually had weight problems in his youth.
- 2. Tortuga is a pub in Rome, in front of the high school Giulio Cesare (the one attended by the author).
- 3. ancient Greek is a distinctive subject learned in Italian 'liceo classico' ('classical high school'), the school attended by Venditti.
- 4. arguably a reference to the 'years of lead'? (cfr. )