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mandag den 1. juli 2019

Poetry Monday :: Drone

Delores of Mumblings and Jenny of Procrastinating Donkey are taking turns hosting Poetry Monday.
Today's theme is Drone (courtesy of Jenny). 


And today MotherOwl is a bit crazy. The Summer holidays have begun, and the only thing drone made me think of, was an Italian children's song. 
Many years ago, when Big Sister and Big Brother were small, we went on a holiday to Italy.  To keep those two amused during mass, we bought some Italian kids' magazines - as the two did not yet read it was no problem that they were written in Italian ;) And as all that kind of magazines, these also had small gifts enclosed. I don't remember the other ones, but one of them was a CD with Zecchino d'oro. When we arrived back home we listened to the songs and laughed and learned from the amusing tunes it contained.  
One of the songs was called Nonna ni nonnina (link to YouTube to hear the song) where the chorus tells of a humming granny. And now we finally reached the connection to today's theme. Drone.
Here's my try at a translation:


Nonna ni nonnina
 In the sofa the cat's asleep,
all alone like me,
'cause my mamma's not staying with me.
She's out working with my papa,
it's not bad you see,
Nonna here she takes good care of me.
     Nonna ni nonnina, tomorrow is festa din don da.
     When we wake the town'll be filled with coloured flags
     All the sunflowers' going to shine
     And all the belfrys' going to chime,
     And my dear nonna she will surely drone away. 

Tell me, Nonna it's true that once,
long, long time ago.
That my Papa he also was small
Is it true that you carried him
in your arms like me,
just as great and big as he is?
     Nonna ni nonnina, tomorrow is festa din don da.
     When we wake the town'll be filled with coloured flags
     All the sunflowers' going to shine
     And all the belfrys' going to chime,
     And my dear nonna she will surely drone away. 

All the children, you say to me,
Why, but Nonna why,
they are all so much better than me.
When my Mamma arrive tonight
Nonna, tell her that
I have been such a good girl today.
     Nonna ni nonnina, tomorrow is festa din don da.
     When we wake the town'll be filled with coloured flags
     All the sunflowers' going to shine
     And all the belfrys' going to chime,
     And my dear Nonna she will surely drone away. 

[Instrumental]
     Nonna ni nonnina, tomorrow is festa din don da.
     When we wake the town'll be filled with coloured flags
     And all the smokestacks will stop to smoke
     And all the pokers will stop their poke
     But my dear Nonna she will surely drone away

     All the sunflowers' going to shine
     And all the belfrys' going to chime,
     And my dear Nonna she will surely drone away. 

13 kommentarer:

  1. I love Dear Nonna droning away..so comforting. This is lovely.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Thank you, yes it is a a song from simpler, less troubled, times.

      Slet
  2. Echoing osc. And I think that tune has become an earworm - a much more pleasant earworm than many. It sings of summer, of happiness, and of happy days.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. It occurred to me (after I hit publish) that the term earworm may not be familiar to you. If not, you will find a definition HERE

      Slet
    2. I know earworms ;) Both the term and (unfortunately) the thing. Words are normally not a problem, but phrases, sayings, etc. - like those funny prompts - can be a problem, especially when they carry many meanings. Thank you for your consideration.

      Slet
    3. That whole CD was almost nothing but earworms. It was their 4th collection of best hits (from 1974 to 1977), but we bought it much later than this, around 1995.
      It reminds me at least of summer, holidays peaceful and simple times.

      Slet
  3. Thank you for the translation, MotherOwl, and a lovely poem that reminds me of our local parade for Canada Day. I took my mom for a drive after the parade today; the town was "filled with coloured flags" just as in this poem.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Thank you, there's also an Italian translation of a Canadian song on this CD, called Pescatore di Cananda. I wonder if you know it?
      Belated congratulations for Canada Day!

      Slet
    2. It does sound familiar, although I couldn't find an English version. It sounds like it could be a tune from the province of Newfoundland. It's nice and a little mind-boggling to think that a song about Canadian fishermen has been translated into Italian!

      Slet
    3. I'm sure you're right on the Newfoundland idea. Terra nova means new land. It seems they translated chirldrens' songs from all over the world.
      I just found out by digging a bit deeper (reading Italian sure helps here) that the Canadian original is called "The Feller from Fortune" The tune is the same, as far as I can hear, but apart from fish, Newfoundland and fishermen, there's not much from the original Canadian text in the Italian translation.

      Slet
    4. Thanks for that information - it's nice to know the name of the original and hear the differences and similarities.

      Slet
  4. A lovely reminder of my own Nana, droning away.

    SvarSlet

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I am grateful for all comments, and try to reply meaningfully to all of them.