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Crapa Pelada Posted by on Aug 21, 2014 in Uncategorized

If you had grown up in Italy in the Sixties and Seventies you would almost consider the four members of Il Quartetto Cetra as part of your family: they were on every TV show both for adults and for children. Well of course at the time we only actually had two TV channels: Rai Uno and Rai Due. But for me in particular, as a child in the Seventies, Il Quartetto Cetra will forever be linked to the song “Nella Vecchia Fattoria” (Old MacDonald Had a Farm).

Let’s leap forward in time four decades … Geoff and I are watching one of our favourite TV series, Breaking Bad. It’s Season 3, episode 13, ‘Full Measure’, and there, right in the middle are my old friends Il Quartetto Cetra singing a slightly surreal song that I’ve never heard before: Crapa Pelada. The song is performed in a mixture of Italian and Milanese dialect, and the Milanese title Crapa Pelada means Testa Pelata (Bald Head) in Italian.

Let’s have a listen …

lucia-mannucci-quartetto-cetra-002

Here are the lyrics in ITALIAN and MILANESE

Original lyrics Translation of Milanese section

A voi, miei signori, io voglio narrare
la storia che tanto mi fa disperare.
Son già sette mesi che vedo cadere
dal capo i capelli bianchi,
ormai son pelato, deluso, avvilito,
non so quali cure adottar.

Ma senti cosa dice
quel povero infelice:
"Non ti lamentar,
ma prova a cantar
con noi questa canzon".

  

Crapa Pelada la fà i turtei,
ghe ne dà minga ai sò fradei.
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!
I sò fradei fan la fritada.
ghe ne dan minga a Crapa Pelada.
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Crapa Pelada la fà i turtei,
ghe ne dà minga ai sò fradei.
I sò fradei fan la fritada.
ghe ne dan minga a Crapa Pelada.

Crapa Pelada la fà i turtei,
ghe ne dà minga ai sò fradei.
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Crapa Pelad…….(variazioni di jazz)

Crapa Pelada la fà i turtei,
ghe ne dà minga ai sò fradei.
Crapa Pelada, con la parrucca
forse potrà guarir!

Crapa Pelada fa i tortelli,
non li dà mica ai suoi fratelli.
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!
I suoi fratelli fanno la frittata.
non la danno mica a Crapa Pelada.
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Crapa Pelada fa i tortelli,
non li dà mica ai suoi fratelli.
I suoi fratelli fanno la frittata.
non la danno mica a Crapa Pelada.

Crapa Pelada fa i tortelli,
non li dà mica ai suoi fratelli.
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Crapa Pelad…….(variazioni di jazz)

Crapa Pelada fa i tortelli,
non li dà mica ai suoi fratelli.
Crapa Pelada, con la parrucca
forse potrà guarir!

 

tumblr_mcj2xwMRQJ1r6rjufo1_1280
Gale (David Costabile) sings Crapa Pelada in Breaking Bad

English Translation

I want to narrate to you my ladies and gentlemen
a story that makes me really despair
It’s seven months now that I see white hairs
falling from my head,
I’m bald, disappointed, crestfallen,
I don’t know how to cure it.

But listen to what he’s saying
that poor unhappy one:
”don’t complain,
just try singing
this song with us”.

Bald Head makes tortelli,
he doesn’t give any to his brothers and sisters
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!
His brothers and sisters
make an omelette
they don’t give any to Bald head
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Bald Head (Jazz Variations)

Bald Head makes tortelli,
he doesn’t give any to his
brothers and sisters
Bald Head, with the wig
perhaps he’ll get cured!

 

Now, how on earth did David Costabile manage to sing along with that!!?

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