the boiler

Mi ricordo di aver passato giornate intere, da ragazzino, a tentare di capire e poi tradurre il testo di "The Boiler" degli Special A.K.A. con Rhoda Dakar alla voce, un racconto terribile di violenza contro le donne. Un crescendo di tensione, lirica e musicale, che mi mette i brividi ancora oggi. Vi risparmio la fatica e ve lo copio qui di seguito.

I went out shopping last saturday

I was getting some gear and this guy offered to pay

Who's the hunk? I think to myself

For so many years I've been left on the shelf

An old boiler

Then we went walking back down the high street

And I felt so proud because he looked so neat

He was a real hard man, tough as they come

He said I was cool but I still felt like

An old boiler

He bid me "Come out", how could I say no?

He said "Meet me at eight round my place, you know"

With my new gear on and a blow dried hair-do

But in my mind I knew I was still

An old boiler

We danced all night long to a nice steady beat

But my hair went to frizz in the terrible heat

My mascara ran and so did my tights

Confirming in my sight, I must be

An old boiler

So we came out this club, hot and sweaty

Because we'd been dancing all night

And he says to me "Well babe, what you doing then?"

"Well I think I might get a cab", I said casually

"Nah nah, come back to my place, I only live just round the corner

You can go home in the morning, yeah?"

"Well I don't think so, I've only known you a day, It's a bit soon innit

Give me a ring sometime, yeah?"

But then he starts to get mad

"Listen here girl, I bought that gear you got on, I paid you in here tonight

I bought you all them drinks and you wanna go home, I should bleedin' coco"

And then he stormed off

Well, I felt a right mug, well you would wouldn't you

So I ran after him, caught him up

And here we are walking down this street about a hundred miles per hour

Arm in arm, no talking, atmosphere you could have cut with a knife

There's no-one about, nothing to take your mind off it you know

No cars, not even the occasional stray animal

It was cold and the wind's whistling through the trees

Blowing newspapers across my legs so I tripped as I tried to keep up with him

And there was all these alleyways and railway bridges, the stink of piss

Then all of a sudden he grabbed hold of my arm

And he starts to drag me up one of these alleyways

Then he starts to hit me really hard across the face, you know

He was hitting me and grabbing at me

It was awful because he was, like, so big

Hitting me he was, and tearing at my clothes

There was nothing I could do honest, I was helpless

And then he tried to rape me, and there was nothing I could do, honest

All I could do was scream, no...