La buona novella: Difference between revisions
→"Il testamento di Tito"
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==="Il testamento di Tito"=== | ==="Il testamento di Tito"=== | ||
;("Titus' Testament") | ;("Titus' Testament") | ||
Probably the album's best-known song, it revolves entirely around Titus, the "penitent thief". While on the cross, he explains the [[wikipedia:Ten Commandments|Ten Commandments]] from his point of view, saying that even though he didn't respect any of them, he never felt any sorrow or guilt, because the events of life, which the Commandments don't take into account, drove him to do it. In some way, Fabrizio De André is expressing his own sentiments from his life experience. Before dying, Titus tells his mother how, through the sorrow for the fate of " | Probably the album's best-known song, it revolves entirely around Titus, the "[[w:Penitent thief|penitent thief]]". While on the cross, he explains the [[wikipedia:Ten Commandments|Ten Commandments]] from his point of view, saying that even though he didn't respect any of them, he never felt any sorrow or guilt, because the events of life, which the Commandments don't take into account, drove him to do it. In some way, Fabrizio De André is expressing his own sentiments from his life experience. Before dying, Titus tells his mother how, through the sorrow for the fate of "this dying man" (Jesus), he has learned love<ref>Original lyrics: "[...]io nel vedere quest'uomo che muore / Madre, io provo dolore[...]".</ref>. | ||
The journalist [[w:it:Andrea Monda|Andrea Monda]], director of the Vatican newspaper [[w:L'Osservatore Romano|L'Osservatore Romano]], notes that this last song in the album is in reality a hymn to the mercy of Jesus. In fact Fabrizio De André himself said, during an interview with Giampaolo Mattei<ref>Mattei published this and other similar interviews in the volume '''''Anima mia''''' (1998)</ref>: | The journalist [[w:it:Andrea Monda|Andrea Monda]], director of the Vatican newspaper [[w:L'Osservatore Romano|L'Osservatore Romano]], notes that this last song in the album is in reality a hymn to the mercy of Jesus. In fact Fabrizio De André himself said, during an interview with Giampaolo Mattei<ref>Mattei published this and other similar interviews in the volume '''''Anima mia''''' (1998)</ref>: | ||
{{Quote|text=No one can take away the idea that Jesus Christ would have saved both of the thieves who were crucified alongside him, yes, even the impenitent one.|author=Fabrizio De André|source=interview with Giampaolo Mattei}} | {{Quote|text=No one can take away from me the idea that Jesus Christ would have saved both of the thieves who were crucified alongside him, yes, even the impenitent one.|author=Fabrizio De André|source=interview with Giampaolo Mattei}} | ||
This long acoustic ballad, which has ten verses each of which is dedicated to one of the Ten Commandments, tells the story of the life and death of the "good thief" Titus, and yet from the lyrics Titus doesn't actually seem all that "good". He is an angry and wounded man, and he expresses resentment and vindication. A bitter irony, ready to fall into sarcasm, is in his words, even when speaking about God, with whom he speaks by reminding him and even taunting him about His [[w:Ten Commandments|Decalogue]]. At the eighth commandment Titus makes his greatest accusation: «They know divine law by heart, / but they always forget about forgiveness». Titus condemns pharisaism, in other words the hypocrisy of those who preach a formal compliance with the law but never exercise mercy. A criticism of religion which does however reveal the search for a true, sincere and believable faith. A search that doesn't appear explicitly in the song but is surely present in the finale which sheds a whole new light on the whole song. | This long acoustic ballad, which has ten verses each of which is dedicated to one of the Ten Commandments, tells the story of the life and death of the "good thief" Titus, and yet from the lyrics Titus doesn't actually seem all that "good". He is an angry and wounded man, and he expresses resentment and vindication. A bitter irony, ready to fall into sarcasm, is in his words, even when speaking about God, with whom he speaks by reminding him and even taunting him about His [[w:Ten Commandments|Decalogue]]. At the eighth commandment Titus makes his greatest accusation: «They know divine law by heart, / but they always forget about forgiveness». Titus condemns pharisaism, in other words the hypocrisy of those who preach a formal compliance with the law but never exercise mercy. A criticism of religion which does however reveal the search for a true, sincere and believable faith. A search that doesn't appear explicitly in the song but is surely present in the finale which sheds a whole new light on the whole song. | ||