The transition from winter to spring always brings with it a touch of nostalgia. The return of sounds, colours, and odours simultaneously awakens desires for the future and memories of the past. These sensations are often heightened to an almost unbearable level when you live in a place, as do I, far from that of your youth.

Luca Carboni’s song Primavera (Spring) captures that strange sense of re-awakening, of wishing for new things whilst reliving intense glimpses of the past.

Although this song is quite simple, it proved surprisingly difficult to translate into English, dealing as it does with semi-abstract emotions. Click on the photo below to listen to Primavera by Luca Carboni.

Mi emoziono
sentendo passare di nuovo
i motorini truccati, le autoradio veloci
e il profumo dei tigli
mischiato ad un altro più strano
mi fa ricordare
che da bambino
sognavo di fare il benzinaio
Di colpo
oggi come allora la stessa
fatica a stare in casa
e annusando l’aria di nuovo
con la stessa smania di allora
con la stessa voglia di andare
scappare
dove non sono stato mai

I’m moved
sensing the return of
the souped-up scooters, the fast car radios
and the scent of the lime trees
mixed with another stranger smell
reminding me
that as a child
I dreamed of being a gas station attendant
Suddenly
today, just as then, the same
effort to stay indoors
and smelling the air again
with the same craving as then
with the same desire to go
where I’ve never been

… Primave-ee-ra, primave-ee-era
primave-ee-ra, primave-ee-era

E’ primavera
e mi prende un bisogno di leggerezza
e di pesanti passioni e un sentimento
indefinibile al tramonto
dalla finestra guardo il mondo
e mi viene voglia di tuffarmi
lì dentro
… e mi viene voglia di non lasciarlo mai

It’s spring
and it brings me a need for lightness
and great passions and an undefinable
feeling at sunset
I watch the world from the window
and I feel the desire to dive
into it
… and I feel the desire never to leave it

E’ primavera
e torna come allora una voce
che dice
“Lascia ad altri i progetti
troppo lunghi
arricchisci il tuo tempo e non cercare
più del pane quotidiano
lasciati andare alla vita
e non disperarti mai”

It’s spring
and a voice returns just like before
that says
“Leave long term projects to others
enrich your time and don’t search for
more than your daily bread
abandon yourself to life
and never despair”

… Primave-ee-ra, primave-ee-era
primave-ee-era, primave-ee-ra

A presto!