Auschwitz (song)
"Auschwitz" is a song composed by Francesco Guccini , and performed by Equipe 84.[1] Although the song was written by Guccini[2] it was credited to Lunero and Maurizio Vandelli as the author was not a member of the SIAE. The following year the song was recorded by Francesco Guccini and included in the LP Folk beat n. 1, with the title La canzone del bambino nel vento (Auschwitz) (The song of the child in the wind).[3]
"Auschwitz" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Equipe 84 | ||||
from the album 'Bang bang' | ||||
B-side | "Auschwitz" | |||
Released | 1966 | |||
Genre | Folk | |||
Label | Dischi Ricordi | |||
Songwriter(s) | Francesco Guccini | |||
Equipe 84 singles chronology | ||||
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Inspiration and content
Guccini had the inspiration to address the holocaust theme following the reading of the essay by Edward Russell, 2nd Baron Russell of Liverpool The Scourge of the swastika: A Short History of Nazi War Crimes (Also translated into Italian in 1955)[4] and from the autobiographical novel by Vincenzo Pappalettera Tu passerai per il camino[5] where he had recounted his memoirs about his stay in the Mauthausen concentration camp.[6]
The text is narrated by two voices: the protagonist, a child who in the Auschwitz concentration camp " died with another hundred, passed through a chimney and is now in the wind". The second item is that of the author who poses some rhetoric questions to which there is no answer.
Track listing
- 7" single – SRL 10-438
- "Bang bang" – an Italian cover of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" (Sonny Bono – Alessandro Colombini and Miki Del Prete) – 2:25
- "Auschwitz" (F. Guccini) – 3:47
Covers
- 1992, i Nomadi, nell'album Ma che film la vita
- 1994, Rod MacDonald English version with the title Auschwitz (Bambino nel Vento) in the album Man on the Ledge
- 1997: Gian Pieretti (album Caro Bob Dylan...)
- 2003, Alice, in the album Viaggio in Italia
- 2005, Modena City Ramblers nell'album Appunti partigiani
- 2013, 7grani, nell'album Neve diventeremo
- Other interpreters
References
- Discografia Nazionale della Canzone Italiana
- Francesco Guccini, Un altro giorno è andato: Francesco Guccini si racconta a Massimo Cotto, Firenze, Giunti Editore, 1999, p. 59, ISBN 88-09-02164-9.
- Discografia Nazionale della Canzone Italiana
- Lord Russell, Il flagello della svastica, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1955
- Vincenzo Pappalettera, Tu passerai per il cammino- Vita e morte a Mauthausen, Milan, 1965( You Are Going Through the Chimney – Life and death at Mauthausen )
- In 1966, for his novel, Pappalettera had been awarded with the Premio Bancarella