Tu lo chiami Dio [English translation]

You call him God, but I don’t know him;

he’s not a friend of mine, and I find him a bit shady.

God must be important, because in him is concentrated

the sacred meaning of the whole Creation.

God must be important; however, listen, listen

— I won’t talk about God with a supporter of some religion.

You call him God, but I don’t know him.

He lives in Heaven, your God, and we’re in a ditch.

My god doesn’t justify contradictions,

he doesn’t line up and fight, he doesn’t put things off till tomorrow,

he doesn’t have to embody my aspirations,

he eats with me, we grope forward.

I’ve seen too many people die just

in nomine Patri et Filii et Spiritus Sancti,1

a thousand generations tormented by doubt,

tortured by cold calculations; that’s sinful, that’s sinful.

I’ve seen women fight inhuman battles,

being violated in their deepest and called whores;

and a thousand generations tormented by doubt,

tortured by cold calculations; that’s sinful, that’s sinful.

I’ve seen lives destroyed in the smile of a priest,

calm and reassuring as he was talking to me about faith;

a thousand generations; that’s sinful, that’s sinful.

And he smiles calmly in a cloister tiled with majolica.

You call him God, but I don’t know him.

I don’t express spirituality through worshipping.

And my god doesn’t live in Heaven, he can’t even fly;

if I need him, I don’t have to pray him;

he doesn’t part waters, he doesn’t multiply loaves;

my god is my gut, and that’s what drives my hands.2

1. (Latin) in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti = in the name of the Father, and [of the] Son, and [of the] Holy Spirit.2. Here, pancia could either mean “belly” (referring to the need for food, which drives one's actions) or “gut” (referring to instinct and non-rational motivations).