Tortuga [English translation]

When I was a child I was fat 1

They 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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_Lead_(Italy) )