O My Beloved Donkey

Country: Italy (Sicily)
Language: Italian (Sicilian slang)

“Lu Me Sceccu” is an old Sicilian tune sung from the perspective of a wagon-driver who is nostalgically extolling the virtues of his donkey, who passed on at the ripe old age of 40. The song appears on the Smithsonian Folkways recording, “Folk Music From Italy.” The Smithsonian liner notes summarize the song as meaning, “My donkey was a wonderful animal of good stock. Only it was a pity that he couldn’t speak. When he died I was very sick and I will never forgive him. When he opened his mouth it was like harmonious music to my ears. When I was very small I kept him in the garden behind the house. I loved him very much.” The braying is the wagon-driver imitating the “harmonious music” of his donkey.
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O my beloved donkey, O my beloved friend
I will never forgive you for leaving me alone
You were the world’s best donkey all the way til the end
I still hear your voice your beautiful voice singing in my dreams

Iu l’haiu comu n’armoniu sta vuci ‘ntra l’ aricchia

[Yo layo gamoh narmoniu sta vugin ta la richa]

Your voice was like the music of the heavens to me

O my beloved donkey, O my beloved friend
I will never forgive you for leaving me this way
If you could have talked to me we would have talk til dawn
Instead you were a singer and your voice lives on

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