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"Paolo and Francesca Discovered"
painting by Ingres |
PASTICHE WITH PARODY SONG-LYRICS
ORIGINAL POEM: "Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, the first book in the triad, "The Divine Comedy", written in the early 14th century.
ORIGINAL SONG: "Dance Me To The End Of Love", Leonard Cohen, 1984.
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, November 2015.
Inferno Canto#5b:
DANTE VIEWS THE PAIN OF LUST
(to the tune of "Dance Me To The End Of Love")
Intro: (reprise of Canto#5a)
Dante
to the Second Circle warily descends
Dante
with companion Virgil, Minos’ censure fends
A swirling flock of moaning souls who mortally
had letched
Choir-like,
they are heard to kvetch
Choir-like,
they are heard to kvetch.
Canto 5 continued:
Intesi
che son dannati a così fatto tormento
Peccator che la ragion sommettono al talento
E come li stornei ne portano l’ali
Così
quel fiato li spiriti mali
Quel
fiato li spiriti mali.
Dante views the fate of those whose burning passion sinned
Buffeted
like winter starlings by the smiting wind
Hurricanes
that never rest tempestuously thrust,
And
lash them with the winds of lust;
Damn them to the winds of lust.
Dante bears the witness, but his eyes he barely trusts,
Classical and literary lovers felled by Lust
Cleopatra, Semiramis, figures he knew well,
Tossing on the winds of Hell
Tossing on the winds of Hell.
Dante
feels great pity for a thousand tortured shades
Torn
by love from mortal life ‘though none of them had AIDS
Time-out
to describe their plight.
Paolo
and Francesca were a pair to break your heart
Paolo
and Francesca topped Ravenna’s scandal charts.
(Shakespeare’s
sad Verona couple - not invented yet
So no-one
knew of Juliet,
No-one
heard of Juliet)
Bro-in-law
in castle garden, bad case of the hots;
Romance
tales they read of Guinevere and Lancelot.
Bro
Giovanni pulled his knife when they betrayed his trust
Murdered as revenge for lust
Murdered as revenge for lust.
Essa
disse, “Esser basciato da cotanto amante,
Basciò
e quel giorno non vi leggemmo avante
Dante,
“Io venni men così com’io morisse
E
caddi come corpo morto cade.
Caddi
com'un morto cade.”
Dante
learned how Frankie’d given into earthly bliss
When
Paolo got his cue from reading of Sir Lancelot’s kiss
Dante
poet, overwhelmed by anguish, felt so crushed
He
fainted with this tale of lust.
Dante felt the pain
of lust.
Gianciotto, may he dwell in Caina; Caina, Caina, Caina, Caina, Caina Cai...
Gianciotto, may he dwell in Caina; Caina, Caina, Caina, Caina, Caina, Cai..
Gianciotto ( or Giovanni the lame) - disparaging nickname for Giovanni Malatesta
Caina - a pit in the lowest ring of Hell reserved for those who have committed treachery and violence against family members (named after Cain, Abraham's son)
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Italy in the late Medieval Period |
HOT LINKS TO THE SATIRE-SONGS IN THIS SERIES:
Canto 5B: Dante Meets the Pain of Lust (see below)
UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT:
(Click on any chord-chart slide to advance to 'presentation/singalong' mode.)