Bella Ciao

• source: Trad Italian
• Start note: A

New words by Cyn­thia Cock­burn

1. Oh we are singing against war­mak­ers
   O bel­la ciao, bel­la ciao, bel­la ciao, bel­la ciao, ciao, ciao
   We are singing against war mak­ers
   And we want to stop them now!
2. Oh we are singing against all mis­siles
   And we want to see them go
3. Oh we are singing for bread and jus­tice
   And an end to Tri­dent now
4. Oh we are singing for peace and free­dom
   And we will not be silenced now!

Climate Change version
Sing for the Climate

New words as sung by Bel­gian cli­mate activists

We need to wake up, we need to wise up,
We need to open our eyes
and do it NOW, NOW, NOW!
We need to build a bet­ter future,
And we need to start right now.

We’re on a plan­et that has a prob­lem,
We’ve got to solve it, get involved
and do it NOW, NOW, NOW!
We need to build a bet­ter future,
And we need to start right now.

Another version

New words by Eileen Pen­man, Jane Lewis, Pen­ny Stone

1. Oh we are singing for edu­ca­tion,
   O bel­la ciao, bel­la ciao, bel­la ciao, bel­la ciao, ciao, ciao
   We are singing for edu­ca­tion,
   and an equal right to learn
2. The pub­lic sec­tor is for the peo­ple, Oh bel­la…
   The pub­lic sec­tor is for the peo­ple, not for sale to prof­i­teers
3. The rich get rich­er, the poor get poor­er, Oh bel­la…
   The rich get rich­er, the poor get poor­er, unnec­es­sary and unfair
4. We don’t need Tri­dent, it’s wast­ing bil­lions, Oh bel­la etc
   We don’t need tri­dent, it’s wast­ing bil­lions, we need health and social care.
5. They cut the fund­ing, they cut the work­ers, Oh bel­la etc
   They cut the fund­ing, they cut the work­ers, ain’t no ‘Big Soci­ety’!

Women’s liberation version

Unat­trib­uted; one of many slight­ly dif­fer­ent ver­sions sung with­in the wom­en’s move­ment in UK and USA

1. We are women and we are march­ing,
   Bel­la Ciao, Bel­la Ciao, Bel­la Ciao Ciao Ciao,
   We are march­ing for lib­er­a­tion
   And we will not be denied.
2. We are women and we are singing‘¦
3. We are women and we are danc­ing‘¦
4. We are women and we are work­ing‘¦

• Bel­la Ciao: all
• Bel­la Ciao: tune
• Bel­la Ciao: low
• Bel­la Ciao: high

Notes

Bel­la Ciao is a song which orig­i­nat­ed with the Ital­ian Par­ti­san resis­tance dur­ing World War II. The Wikipedia arti­cle has the full orig­i­nal lyrics and trans­la­tion.

The song lends itself well to impro­vi­sa­tion of vers­es on just about any theme!