Bella Ciao is an anti-fascist Italian folk ballad, featuring vocals from Tom Waits. It is taken from Songs of Resistance 1948 – 2018, the new album by guitarist Marc Ribot, who describes it as a protest record, adding, “Every movement which has ever won anything has had songs.”
“Tom brings a certain gravitas to everything he does,” says Ribot. “My Italian friends say he sounds exactly like an old ‘partigiano’ (resistance fighter)!”
The video below is directed by Jem Cohen and uses footage from anti-Trump demonstrations in Washington DC.
Lyrics
One fine morning
I woke up early
(bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao)
One fine morning
I woke up early
to find the fascist at my door.
O, partisano,
please, take me with you
(bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful)
O, partisano,
please take me with you,
I’m not afraid anymore.
And if I die
a partisano
(bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful)
bury me upon my mountain
beneath the shadow of a flower.
So all the people,
the people passing
(bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful)
So all the people, the people passing,
they say “O, what a beautiful flower!”
This is the flower of the partisan
(bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful)
This is the flower of the partisan
who died for freedom.
This is the flower
of the partisan
who died for freedom.