i treni di tozeur

WORDS and music by FRANCO BATTIATO,
ROSARIO COSENTINO and GIUSTO PIO
Performed by ALICE E BATTIATO

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This was the Italian entry for the 1984 Eurovision Song contest and, in my opinion, is one of the finest pop songs ever written. The lyrics are redolent of another time and another place - Tozeur is an oasis in the Tunisian Sahara. Lyrics from Mozart's The Magic Flute also turn up. Italian lyrics are below, English underneath.

Nei villaggi di frontiera guardano passar' i treni
le strade deserte di Tozeur
da una casa lontana tua madre mi vede
si ricorda di me delle mie abitudini.

E per un istante ritorna la voglia di vivere
a un'altra velocità
passano ancora lenti i treni per Tozeur.

Nelle chiese abbandonate si preparano rifugi
e nuove astronavi per viaggi interstellari
in una vecchia miniera distese di sale
si ricordo di me come un incantesimo

E per un istante ritorna la voglia di vivere
a un'altra velocità
passano ancora lenti i treni per Tozeur.


Nei villaggi di frontiera guardano passar'
i treni per Tozeur.



Translation:



In the villages on the border they watch
trains pass the deserted streets of Tozeur.
From a faraway house your mother watches me,
or so I remember, as I'm prone to doing

And for a moment the wish
to live at another speed returns -
he trains still pass slowly through Tozeur.

In abandoned churches,
There hideaways, and spacecraft for interstellar journeys
In an old mine bloated with salt
Or so I remember, as if I was under a spell.

And for a moment the wish
to live at another speed returns -
the trains still pass slowly through Tozeur.

In the villages on the border
They watch the trains for Tozeur.

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