Bella Ciao (‘one fine morning’) English Translation Updated

‘Bella Ciao’ is a beautiful traditional Italian song of resistance and it’s very popular in leftist and anarchist circles, but as far as I can find there’s no translation that’s fully in English.

I love Marc Ribot and Tom Waits’s version, which you can watch here (https://youtu.be/YIrkoo1CyKY?si=6QHO-Nsuk_LODm0l), but there’s still a few words from the original Italian such as “partigiano” which is partly translated to “partisan” but which isn’t a common or easily grasped term in English.

So here’s my suggested Full English Translation, which I think scans better, lyric changes by myself (Luke ‘Luca’ Cockayne):

Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful)
/Updated English Lyrics

One fine morning I woke up early
Bella, ciao, bella, ciao, goodbye beautiful
One fine morning I woke up early
To find the fascists at my door

Oh, fellow rebels, please take me with you
Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful
Oh, fellow rebels, please take me with you
I’m not afraid anymore

And if I die here, in this rebellion
Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful
Bury me upon that mountain
Beneath the shadow of this flower

So all the people, the people passing
Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye, beautiful
So all the people, the people passing
Can say “Oh, what a beautiful flower!”

This is the flower, of the rebellion
Bella, ciao, bella, ciao, goodbye beautiful
This is the flower of the people
Who died for liberty

This is the flower of the people
Who died for liberty

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