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.

Let’s make it greener
Let’s make it cleaner
Let’s make it last, make it fast and do it NOW, NOW, NOW!
We need to build a bet­ter future
And we need to start right now.

No point in waiting
Or hesitating
We must get wise, take no more lies And do it NOW, NOW, NOW!
We need to build a bet­ter future
And we need to start right now!
All parts:

Low:

Tune:

High:

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

Persian/Farsi version

Az ga-loo-ye tu
To se-daa-ye maa
Oh, Bel­la Ciao, Bel­la Ciao„ Bel­la Ciao, Ciao Ciao

Mee-pa-reem az khaab ye sha-be mah-taab
Ye-ki me-ge ‘ay aa-dam-haa’

Yaa ha-me ba ham, yaa ha-me tan-haa
Maa ke bi-daa-rim taa far-daa

Kha-keh in gan-dum, too khee-ya-boo-neh
Khoo-she-ye khash-me ma-no-to tesh-ne-ye ba-roo-neh

Ha-ghe maa kyam nist, zaa-noo-ye gham nist
Ghal-be maa kye dour az ham mist

Don-yaa-ye taa-ze, in ye aa-ghaza-ze
Pan-je-re taa ro-yaa baa-zeh

Trans­la­tion:
From your throat / to our voic­es / Bel­la Ciao, Bel­la Ciao, Bel­la Ciao, Ciao, Ciao / We wake up on a moon­light night / Some­one calls out ‘Hey All Human­i­ty’ / Either all of us togeth­er or all of us indi­vid­u­al­ly / As for us we are awake till tomorrow.

The soil of this wheat is in the streets / We clus­ter togeth­er and thirst for rain / We deserve more than this / We don’t kneel in sad­ness / Our hearts are not far from each oth­er / This is a new begin­ning in a dark world / The win­dow is open to dreams.
 

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!