[Joan of Arc]
I'm a woman and I'm a saint 1
I'm a saint woman and that's all
I've been chaste and victorious before the caste would be victorious. 2
From France I defend France
If you attack I'll slash you with my spear
I'll unsheath my sword
I bite the dust, but I won't give up.
For months Englishmen would've liked to put
my head on a noose, ouch! 3
I'm an angel, but for them I'll turn into a vulture, ouch!
I'm winning a war against England, I'm not exactly a brawler! 4
Because I hear voices [from Heaven], not just words on the street, ouch! 5
[Voices]
Go to Hell, she-devil, a bed of flames your mattress!
Your word doesn't matter anymore, light up the fire, put yourself out! 6
[Chorus]
You burn me for what I preach
It's a fate I don't deserve
You burn truth to ashes
Because I'm your heretic dream 7
I'm your heretic dream
I'm your heretic dream
I'm your heretic dream
Acknowledge it, I'm your heretic dream.
[Girolamo Savonarola]
I'm a Dominican friar, instead
But don't ask my name
It's sure I won't get by, here
They'll bring me on a fire, not on focus like a Canon 8
I hate the mighty people in town 9
I hate His Holiness 10
A man full of greed
Who sells positions as if they were some babà 11
The children trade, just like geishas, is rising 12
among the clergy, but nobody's talking
And the XVth century is not Annozero 13 - and now they'll hang me
They'll set me on fire like a rocket on New Year's Day
My remains will only be a handful of ashes, to be thrown into river Arno! 14
[Voices]
You used to set up fires, down there
You used to burn Beelzebub's books 15
You should've burned
some charcoal for the barbeque instead!
[Chorus]
[Giordano Bruno]
At last, my name is the same as the river that baptized he
in whose name I was locked in some dark places 16
not exactly furnished according to feng shui.
In my prison cell, as an outcast
Because between faith and intelligence I chose the latter
God gave me a brain
If I hadn't used it, that would've been disrespectful 17
And everything comes down like in the Stock Market, my tongue in the vise 18
My skin is all burnt
The process? Nice farce.
Now I must shut my mouth, in the disillusionment out there
Let me live, instead of building me a statue in Campo de' Fiori 19
[Chorus]
...should we light it up? 20
1. reference to the lyrics of a 1971 Italian song by Rosanna Fratello, called "Sono una donna, non sono una santa" ("I'm a woman, I'm not a saint").2. pun on the word "chaste" (Joan of Arc took a vow of chastity) and "caste", in reference to the widespread controversy in modern Italy against the privileges of the “political caste".3. the word "ohio" (lit. "ouch") is repeated in the next verses to create an assonance with other words ending in "oio" (scorsoio, avvoltoio, cojo, corridoio).4. the expression "in do' cojo cojo" means "hitting here and there, without paying attention".5. pun on "sentire le voci" ("hearing voices", as Joan of Arc claimed she could do) and "voci di corridoio", an Italian idiom meaning "rumour", or "words on the street".6. pun on the words "accendere/spengere" (turn on/turn off, in a broader sense), in reference to the fact that Joan of Arc died (= turned off) burning on the stake.7. pun on "erotic dream" that works in English as it does in Italian.8. pun on "mettere a fuoco", which means "bring on focus" on a camera, but can also mean "put on fire".9. Savonarola arrived in Florence in 1482, during the high point of Lorenzo de' Medici's power in town. The friar started preaching against what he saw as a dissolute and immoral society, especially blaming Lorenzo for it.10. pope Alexander VI was also attacked by Savonarola, as the friar was calling for a reformation of the corrupt clerical hierarchy.11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_baba12. this allusion to the scandal of the pedophilia in the Church is a reference to the most recent cases. Pedophily wasn't an issue in medieval Church, or at least Savonarola didn't mention it in his sermons.13. reference to a popular Italian talk show, hosted by Michele Santoro from 2006 to 2011, known for its investigative reports, especially against the then-Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Its title, which means "year zero" is here used as a pun on the previous "XVth century".14. Savonarola was hung up in Signoria square (Florence), then burnt on the stake. Finally, his ashes were scattered into river Arno.15. after the exile of the Medici family (who had unofficially ruled Florence for about 60 years) in 1494, Savonarola led a short-lived republic, inspired by his sermons. During this period, Savonarola carried out the so-called "bonfires of the vanity", in which many objects, considered sinful, were burned, including early Reinassance paintings and books.16. Filippo Bruno chose "Giordano" as his new name, after becoming a Dominican friar. "Giordano" is the Italian form of the Biblical Jordan river, where Jesus was baptized by John. In the name of Jesus (i.e., by the authority of the Pope), Bruno was trialed, tortured, jailed and finally burned at the stake in 1600.17. according to Bruno's philosophy, God is an infinite mind that permeates an equally infinite universe. Man's mind is therefore part of the same divine's mind.18. as a punishment for his words, deemed as heretic by the inquisition, Bruno was taken to the stake with a vise gripping his mouth. The lyrics on this page reads “borsa”, but the correct word is “morsa”.19. Campo de' Fiori is the square in Rome where Bruno was burned at the stake. In 1849, during the short-lived Roman Republic, a statue was placed there to commemorate the friar. Taken down by pope Pius IX shortly after, the present statue was then erected in 1889, following the conquest of Rome by the newly formed Italian unitarian State.20. in the Italian edition of "Who wants to be millionaire", the host would ask the contestants if they're sure about the chosen answer, before "lighting it up" (to confirm it). The reference is to the stakes that have been "lit up" in order to execute the three protagonists of this song.