Hotel Supramonte
In August 1979 singer-songwriter De Andrè and his partner Dori Ghezzi were kidnapped and held for ransom in the mountains of Sardinia by local bandits. The couple spent four months held in caves and the open air, in the clothes in which they had been snatched. As well as a not unforeseeable case of the Stockholm Syndrome, the kidnappers likewise became quite close to their captives, and when the ransom, negotiated down to 600 million lire (about US$ 360,000) was paid, they separated a few days before Christmas on something almost approaching good terms; when the kidnappers were brought to justice De Andrè and Ghezzi declined to become civil parties in the case against them. Along with Se ti tagliassero a pezzetti ("If they were to tear you into pieces") on the same album, the Leonard Cohen-esque Hotel Supramonte was De Andrè's most explicit musical reference to his ordeal, although its suggestion of estrangement from his fellow-captive was certainly not the end of the story; he and Ghezzi were married ten years later and remained together until his death in 1999.
E se vai all'Hotel Supramonte e guardi il cielo.
Tu vedrai una donna in fiamme e un uomo solo.
E una lettera vera di notte e falsa di giorno.
E poi scuse accuse e scuse senza ritorno
E ora viaggi, vivi, ridi e sei perduto
Col tuo ordine discreto dentro il cuore.
Ma dove, dov'è il tuo amore, ma dove è finito il tuo amore.
If you go to the Hotel Supramonte and look to the skies/you will see a woman in flames and a man alone/and a letter, true by night and false by day/and then excuses, accusations and excuses with no way home/and now you travel, you live, you smile and you are lost/with that quiet order within your heart/but where is your love? What happened to your love?
Grazie al cielo ho una bocca per bere e non è facile.
Grazie a te ho una barca da scrivere ho un treno da perdere.
E un invito all'Hotel Supramonte dove ho visto la neve
Sul tuo corpo così dolce di fame così dolce di sete.
Passerà anche questa stazione senza far male.
Passerà questa pioggia sottile come passa il dolore.
Ma dove, dov'è il tuo amore, ma dove è finito il tuo amore.
Thanks to heaven I have a mouth to drink and it is not easy/thanks to you I have a pile to write, I have a train to miss/And an invitation to the Hotel Supramonte where I saw the snow/on your body so sweet with hunger, so sweet with thirst/this station too will pass, doing no harm/this fine rain too will pass as pain passes/but where is your love? What happened to your love?
E ora siedo sul letto del bosco che ormai ha il tuo nome.
Ora il tempo è un signore distratto è un bambino che dorme.
Ma se ti svegli e hai ancora paura ridammi la mano.
Cosa importa se sono caduto se sono lontano.
Perche' domani sara' un giorno lungo e senza parole.
Perche' domani sara' un giorno incerto di nuvole e sole.
Ma dove dov'e' il tuo amore, ma dove e' finito il tuo cuore.
And now you are sitting on the bed of the forest that already has your name/Now time is a distracted man, a sleeping child/but if you wake up scared then let me take your hand again./What does it matter if I have fallen, if I am far away/because tomorrow will be a long day without words/because tomorrow will be an uncertain day of clouds and sun/but where is your love? What happened to your heart?
Inadequate translation by Albert Herring. Noded for the convenience of listeners to the weeknight sound track.