The 1993 Italian Children’s Song That Started a National Linguistic Debate
This children’s song, winner of the Zecchino d’Oro in 1993, was written by Oscar Avogadro (lyrics) and Pino Massara (music), and performed by Carlo Andrea Masciadri, an eight-and-a-half-year-old from Legnano (Milan), and Gabriele Patriarca, a five-year-old from Rome.
Loosely inspired by the song “Nella vecchia fattoria” (the Italian version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm), made famous in Italy by Quartetto Cetra in 1949, the piece goes through the sounds of various animals before asking the big question: what sound does the crocodile make? Nobody seems to know the answer.
Following the success and popularity of the song, debates arose about finding an Italian word to describe the crocodile’s cry. After a few years, the onomatopoeic verb “trimbulare” spread, said to recall the “trembling sounds, both low and high-pitched,” emitted by crocodiles. However, the Accademia della Crusca (the leading authority on the Italian language) denied the existence of the word, calling it a “phantom word.” In the end, the crocodile more correctly is said to roar.
Lyrics:
Oggi tutti insieme
Cercheremo di imparare
Come fanno per parlare
Fra di loro gli animali.
Come fa il cane? Bau!
E il gatto? Miao!
L’asinello? Hi! Ho!
La mucca? Muuu…!
La rana? Cra!
La pecora? Beee…!
E il coccodrillo?
E il coccodrillo?
Il coccodrillo come fa
Non c’è nessuno che lo sa.
Si dice mangi troppo,
Non metta mai il cappotto,
Che con i denti punga,
Che molto spesso pianga,
Però quando è tranquillo
Come fa ‘sto coccodrillo…
Il coccodrillo come fa
Non c’è nessuno che lo sa.
Si arrabbia ma non strilla,
Sorseggia camomilla
E mezzo addormentato se ne va.
Guardo sui giornali,
Non c’è scritto niente:
Sembra che il problema
Non importi alla gente.
Ma se per caso al mondo
C’è qualcuno che lo sa,
La mia domanda è ancora questa qua…
Il coccodrillo come fa
Non c’è nessuno che lo sa.
Si dice mangi troppo,
Non metta mai il cappotto,
Che con i denti punga,
Che molto spesso pianga,
Però quando è tranquillo
Come fa ‘sto coccodrillo…
Il coccodrillo come fa
Non c’è nessuno che lo sa.
Si arrabbia ma non strilla,
Sorseggia camomilla
E mezzo addormentato se ne va.
Adesso ripetiamo
Se vogliamo ricordare
Come fanno per parlare
Fra di loro gli animali.
Come fa il cane? Bau!
E il gatto? Miao!
L’asinello? Hi! Ho!
La mucca? Muuu…!
La rana? Cra!
La pecora? Beee…!
E il coccodrillo?
E il coccodrillo?
Il coccodrillo come fa
Non c’è nessuno che lo sa.
Si dice mangi troppo,
Non metta mai il cappotto,
Che con i denti punga,
Che molto spesso pianga,
Però quando è tranquillo
Come fa ‘sto coccodrillo…
Il coccodrillo come fa
Non c’è nessuno che lo sa.
Si arrabbia ma non strilla,
Sorseggia camomilla
E mezzo addormentato se ne va.
Avete capito come fa il coccodrillo?
Lui mezzo addormentato se ne va!
Lyrics
Today all together
We will try to learn
How animals talk
When they speak to one another.
How does the dog go? Woof!
And the cat? Meow!
The little donkey? Hee-haw!
The cow? Moo!
The frog? Ribbit!
The sheep? Baa!
And the crocodile?
And the crocodile?
The crocodile, what sound does it make?
No one knows, for goodness’ sake.
They say he eats too much,
He never wears a coat,
He pricks you with his teeth,
He often seems to weep,
But when he is calm and still,
What sound makes that crocodile?
The crocodile, what sound does it make?
No one knows, for goodness’ sake.
He gets angry but won’t shout,
He sips his chamomile,
And half-asleep he wanders off.
I look inside the papers,
But nothing there is written:
It seems that this whole problem
Doesn’t matter much to people.
But if by chance there is someone
In the world who really knows,
My question still remains the same, it goes…
The crocodile, what sound does it make?
No one knows, for goodness’ sake.
They say he eats too much,
He never wears a coat,
He pricks you with his teeth,
He often seems to weep,
But when he is calm and still,
What sound makes that crocodile?
The crocodile, what sound does it make?
No one knows, for goodness’ sake.
He gets angry but won’t shout,
He sips his chamomile,
And half-asleep he wanders off.
Now let’s all repeat it,
If we really want to learn
How animals talk
When they speak to one another.
How does the dog go? Woof!
And the cat? Meow!
The little donkey? Hee-haw!
The cow? Moo!
The frog? Ribbit!
The sheep? Baa!
And the crocodile?
And the crocodile?
The crocodile, what sound does it make?
No one knows, for goodness’ sake.
They say he eats too much,
He never wears a coat,
He pricks you with his teeth,
He often seems to weep,
But when he is calm and still,
What sound makes that crocodile?
The crocodile, what sound does it make?
No one knows, for goodness’ sake.
He gets angry but won’t shout,
He sips his chamomile,
And half-asleep he wanders off.
Have you understood now what sound the crocodile makes?
Half-asleep, he just wanders off!
Source: Wikipedia
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