Giorgio Gaber ~ "Io non mi sento italiano" (English subtitles)

My name is G.G. (= Giorgio Gaber)

I was born and I live in Milan.

I do NOT feel Italian

But luckily or not, I happen to be one.

I am sorry Mr. President,
It’s not my fault

But I am not quite sure what this fatherland of ours is about.

I might be wrong of course and
Maybe our country is indeed a good idea

But I am afraid it will just turn into some sort of bad poem.

I am sorry Mr President,

but I just don’t feel the need of a National Anthem
and to be honest I am a little ashamed of it.

As for our soccer players,
I don’t feel like judging them

whenever they fail to sing the anthem…
Either they’re simply not familiar with it

Or they just have some shame…

I do not feel Italian
But luckily or not, I happen to be one.

I’m sorry Mr. President,
if I might now sound disrespectful

when I state that I do not feel like I belong.

And with the exception of Garibaldi
And of a few glorious heroes,

I do not see much
To be proud of.

I am sorry Mr President,
But I cannot help but recalling the fanaticism

Of the “blackshirts” during the Fascism.

That same Fascism which once gave birth to our so called democracy.

And frankly it takes some guts to complement it…

I do not feel Italian
But luckily or not, I happen to be one.

Our beautiful country
is full of poetry
and has so many demands

But after all it’s nothing but the periphery
of the Western culture.

I’m sorry Mr President,
But I believe our nation

which you now represent

is in pieces.

In people's eyes
it’s so evident
that everything is manipulated
while nothing actually works.

Maybe we Italians
have too much of an old tradition
of being way too passionate

About discussing over every single thing.

Even in our Parliament
the atmosphere is incandescent

they fight over everything
and nothing ever changes.

I do not feel Italian
But luckily or not, I happen to be one.

I’m sorry Mr President,
but you must agree with me:

between us we must aknowledge our own limits

At the end of the day, beyond the defeatism
We are who we are

And we do have a past
Which is worth to be remembered .

I am sorry Mr President,
But maybe we Italians

at the eyes of the other countries represents nothing more but spaghetti and mandolins.

And here I get pissed and get
proud and show in their face

What Renaissance was all about.

I do not feel Italian
But luckily or unluckily, I happen to be one.

Our beautiful country
might be unwise and confused

But after all if I were born somewhere else

Could have been even worse.

I am sorry Mr President,
I already said too much, but I believe

There is one last important point to add:

Compared to other countries
We do not believe in ourselves

maybe that's just because we realized
That the world is nothing but a small theatre.

I am sorry Mr President,

I know you’re not happy when you hear people calling out "Italy, Italy" only at soccer games.

But both for not dying
Or just for fun

We did create the European Union
Now it's time to finally create... Italy.

I do not feel Italian
But luckily or not, I happen to be one.

...Luckily I am.