Mitski Warns of Dark Times at the Door in “Bella Ciao” Cover

Mitski often puts her own drama out for all to experience and examine. She has usually kept her political opinions closer to herself.  In 2024 this seems to be changing, perhaps because she perceives some existential threats. She has dipped her toe in the water again by giving us her version of “Bella Ciao.”

Initially an Italian folk song, “Bella Ciao” is associated with resistance to oppressors. These might be external invaders or internal interlopers, and the partiziano/resistance are of the people. Retrospectively, it was a song attributed to the Italian Partisan Resistance to the Fascist government, although there is little contemporary evidence of this.  Many left-wing artists have covered over the years, adapting to the times where necessary. Many of these versions are in support of admirable causes, although the Red Army Choir’s version may, or may not, represent a spontaneous rising of the masses against the oppressor. A lot of recent interest has been driven by the appearance of the song as a leitmotif of the Netflix hit La Casa De Papel/Money Heist. In the Spain of the 2010s, in the wake of the 2008 banking crisis, violently robbing banks and attempting to crash the financial system may have been a reasonable aim (it was certainly entertaining), but once again you could make an alternate, valid, case that it was not necessarily an aim you would want to promote as a cause!

Mitski is explicit that Italian is not one of her languages, and so she has relied on “Google Translate” for her lyrics. She has also absorbed Marc Ribot and Tom Waits’ 2018 version. The giveaway is the use of the word Fascist rather than invader, which would be a standard translation of the published lyrics. The effort is homespun and ragged, but it supposed to be a call to arms rather than an artistic achievement. We know where she thinks the Fascists are, and when they could arrive at the door.

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