Jammo Ja, sung by Nino D’Angelo and Maria Nazionale was played in the third episode of Musitaly: Italian Society & Time.
Jammo Ja is a perfect picture of the South Italy situation. This one is specifically about the contradictions of the Meridione, the word used to identify the South of Italy.
This song talks about all the good qualities of both people and the territories, all the good things from the South of Italy but despite everything the only hope is leaving.
Nino D’Angelo – Jammo Ja [Original Version]
Jammo jà guadagnammace ‘o pane
Nuie tenimmo ‘o sudore int’ ‘e mane
E sapimmo cagnà
Jammo jà e facimmo ampresso
Sott’a st’Italia d”o smog e d”o stress
Nuie simmo ‘e furbe ca s’hann’ ‘a fa’ fess
Simmo nate cù duie destine,
Simm’ ‘a notte e simmo a matina
Simme rose e simmo mspine
Ma simmo ramo d”o stesso ciardino
Meridionale
Simmo terra chena ‘e mare
Ca nisciuno pò capì
Stammo buono o stammo male
Jammo annanz’accussì
‘A fatica è nu regalo
E’ a speranza è partì
Jammo jà e dammece ‘a mano
Si stammo nzieme putimme i luntano
Nun se po cchiù aspettà
Jammo jà ca sta vita va ‘e press
Nuie simmo ‘a casa de vase e ‘e carezze
Ma fa nutizia sultanto ‘a munnezza
Cù sta mafia cu ‘o mandulino
Ca ce hànno mise da sempe ncuolle
Simmo ‘a faccia ‘e ‘na cartulina
Ca ce svenne pe tutt”o munno
Meridionale
Simmo voce ‘e miez’ ‘o mare
Ca nisciuno vo sentì
Simmo l’evera appicciate
Ca nun se sape maie a chi
Simmo ‘o specchio e n’autostrada
Ca nun vonno maie fernì
Addò ‘o viento s’abbaraccia ‘o mare
Troppo so’ ‘e penziere
E chi cresce cù pane amaro
E’ ‘n’italiano straniere
Si ‘a giustizia se lava ‘e mane
Song bianche ‘e bandiere
E chi maie po penzà a dimane
Nasce priggiuniero…
Simmo nate cù duie destine,
Simm’ ‘a notte e simmo a matina
Simme rose e simmo mspine
Ma simmo ramo d”o stesso ciardino
Meridionale
Simmo terra chena ‘e mare
Ca nisciuno pò capì
Stammo buono o stammo male
Jammo annanz’accussì
‘A fatica è nu regalo
E’ a speranza è partì
E guagliune d”e viche ‘e Napule
Nun sarranno maie Re
Dint’ ‘o Zen ‘e Palermo se bevene ‘o tiempo
P’ ‘a sete ‘e sapè
E nun è maie facile a durmì cu ‘e pecchè
A campà ci ‘a pacienza è ‘o cchiù grande equilibrio
Pe chi pò cadè.
Nino D’Angelo – Jammo Ja [English Translation]
Let’s go, come on, let’s earn our bread
we have sweat in our hands
And we can change
Let’s go, come on, and let’s move quickly
In this smoggy and stressful Italy
We are the smart who have to become stupid
We were born with two fates
We are the night and we are the dawn
We are roses and we are thorns
But we are branches of the same garden
Southerners
We are land full of sea
That nobody can understand
Whether we are fine or we are sick
We keep going on like this
Job is a gift
It’s the hope to leave
Let’s go, come on,and let’s hold our hands together
If we are together we can go far
Cannot wait any longer
Let’s go, come on, ’cause this life hurries
We are the home of kisses and caresses
But only rubbish makes the headlines
With this mafia with the mandolin
That they put on us since always
We are the face of a postcard
That belittles us all around the world
Southerners
We are the voice in the sea
that nobody wants to listen to
We are burned grass
That is never clear who was burned by
We are the mirror of a highway
That they will never complete building
Where the wind embraces the sea
Too many are the thoughts
And who grows up eating bitter bread
Is a foreign Italian
If justice washes its hands clean
Flags are white
And the one who can never think of the future
Was born a prisoner
We were born with two fates
We are the night and we are the dawn
We are roses and we are thorns
But we are branches of the same garden
Southerners
We are land full of sea
That nobody can understand
Whether we are fine or we are sick
We keep going on like this
Job is a gift
It’s the hope to leave
The boys in Naples alleys
will never be Kings
In the Zen in Palermo they drink the time
because of the thirst for knowledge
And it is never easy sleeping with the whys
Living with patience is the biggest balance
For someone who may fall down.
