Pippo Franco, a highly respected Italian artist, wrote this song in the midst of the mass sterilization campaign for Indian people promoted by the Prime Minister at the time, Indira Gandhi.
“India’s state of emergency between 1975 and 1977 included a family planning initiative that began in April 1976 through which the government hoped to lower India’s ever increasing population. This program used propaganda and monetary incentives to, some may construe, inveigle citizens to get sterilized. People who agreed to get sterilized would receive land, housing, and money or loans. Because of this program, thousands of men received vasectomies, but due to much opposition and protest, the country switched to targeting women through coercion, withholding welfare or ration card benefits, or bribing them with food and money. Son of the Prime Minister at the time (Indira Gandhi), Sanjay Gandhi was largely blamed for what turned out to be a failed program. A strong backlash against any initiative associated with family planning followed the highly controversial program, the backlash of which continues into the 21st century. Sterilization policies are still enforced targeting mostly indigenous and lower classed women being taken to ‘sterilization camps;’ the most recent abuse coming to light in the death of 15 women in Chhattisgarh in 2014.” (Wikipedia)
Pippo Franco
L’indiano
(The indian)
1976
Indira, Indira, tu m’hai sterilizzato
Indira, Indira, you sterilized me
e poi m’hai messo in mano mezza lira
and then you put a penny in my hand
Indira…
Ero un indiano superprolifico
I was a very prolific Indian
ingravidavo la mia metà
knocking up my better half
mò con il bisturi demoscientifico
now with this demo-scientific scalpel
m’hanno interrotto quer canale là
they closed “that channel”
Ero un indiano
I was an Indian
ero un indù
I was a Hindu
Indira, Indira, Indira più…
Indira, Indira, Indira più
(In-dira-più, “Non tira più” = It doesn’t get hard anymore)
A me, pe’ dilla papale papale,
To speak blunty,
m’hanno rotto li cojoni!
they broke my balls!
M’hanno sterilizzato:
They sterilized me:
Sterilized
Voluntary sterilization
OK Buddha
perché io prima, no pe’ vantamme,
I don’t mean to brag,
ma ogni botta era ‘na tacchia
but each shot was a hit
tanto che la FAO qua sopra me c’aveva messo una taglia: Wanted!
so much so that FAO put up a bounty on my dick: Wanted!
Eh, taja, taja… così quelli so’ venuti e dice: “Lei è conturbante e noi lo sterilizzamo”.
Eh, cut off, cut off… so they came to say: “You are provocative and we want to sterilize you”.
Ma dico: “Io er turbante me lo levo!”,
And I say: “I can take off my turban”
(conturbante = provocative; con + turbante = with the turban]
dice: “No, se levi le mutanne”.
And he says: “No, take off your underpants”.
Poi me fa, dice: “Come se chiama?”
Then he asks me: “What’s your name?”
“Me chiamo Kim, Kimmeripaga?”
“My name is Kim, Kimmeripaga?”
(Kimmeripaga, “Chi-mi-ripaga?” = Who’s gonna pay me back?]
“Aah”, dice, “Non se preoccupi che prima de mandalla via je damo ’na ventina de rupie così se pò pure comprà er frigorifero”.
“Aah”, he says, “Don’t worry, before you leave we’ll give you 20 rupees to buy a fridge”
Perché in India fa caldo e la roba che nun c’hai, se nun la metti ner frigo va a male.
Because in India it’s hot and the stuff that you don’t have, you have to put it in the fridge before it goes off.
Ma dico: “’sto sterilizzamento a che serve?”
And then I asked: “This sterilization, what it’s for?”
“Facci conto”, me fanno loro, “che continuando così ner 2000 saremo 12 miliardi e se moriremo de fame!”
“Consider that”, they said, “if we go on like this, in 2000 we’ll be 12 billion people and we’ll starve to death”.
“Ma che me frega a me der 2000? Io già me moro de fame adesso!”
“Who cares about 2000? I’m starving right now!
A ‘sto punto il solito discorso delle vacche sacre…
At this point, the same old story about sacred cows…
Dice: “Perché nun ve magnate le vacche?”
He says: “Why don’t you eat your cows?
“E voi perché nun ve magnate le monache? Che certe so’ pure bone, eh?”
“And why don’t you eat nuns? Some of them have a good taste, right?”
Oh-oh, oh-oh, che bello
Oh-oh, oh-oh, how beautiful it is
t’acciaccheno le palle cor martello
They squash your balls with the hammer
Oh-oh, oh-oh, gajardo
Oh-oh, oh-oh, how wonderful
te vengono a tajà cor battilardo
They’ll cut you off on a chopping block
Oh-oh, oh-oh, carino
Oh-oh, oh-oh, how nice
te rendono innocente er pipolino
they make your weenie sinless
Oh-oh, oh-oh, cherie
Oh-oh, oh-oh, cherie
che mò ce faccio solo la pipì
Now with this thing I can only piss
Perché mi’ moje dice che si nun se ingravida nun se diverte
My wife says that if she doesn’t get pregnant she doesn’t have fun
così mò è incinta un’antra vorta… de un artro!
And now she’s still pregnant… by another one.
Hai capito? Cornuto e castruto!
Got that? I’m a castrated cuck!
Ma quelli insistono: l’inquinamento!
And they insist: pollution!
“Lo sa lei, signor indiano, che continuando così ner 2000 c’avremo la monnezza fino a qui?”
“Do you know, Mr. India, that going on like this in 2000 we’ll be buried in garbage?”
“E che, me lo vieni a di’ a me? Ma che te inquino io?
“Tell me about it! How can I pollute?
Viaggià, viaggio a fette; magnà, magno così poco che me scappa ’na cacatella ogni sei mesi, quando nun vado stitico, l’unico residuo che lascio pe’ strada è il mio cadavere, che poi je danno pure foco…
I walk barefoot, I eat so little that I poop every six months (if I’m not constipated), the only trace I leave in the street is my corpse, and they burn it
No, dico, ma perché ’ste castrazioni nun l’annate a fa’, fatte conto, ai Kennedy? C’hanno ventotto fiji a testa, sette automobili a culo, quattro yacht a mignotta, duecento ciminiere e la sera fumano pure er sigaro!”
Why don’t you go sterilize all Kennedys, I say. They have twenty-eight sons apiece, seven cars for every ass, four yacht for every bitch, two hundred smokestacks and every night they smoke a cigar too”.
“Ah”, dice, “Quelli so’ ricchi e se lo ponno permette”.
“Ah”, he says, “they’re rich and they can afford it”.
“Ah, te pare giusto? Quelli se ponno permette tutto…
“Do you think it’s fair? They can afford everything…
e io nun me posso permette un cazzo!”
but I can’t afford a fuck!”
Indira, Indira
Indira più