We were 19, or there were 19 of us: the 19 boys killed by a suicide bombing attack in Iraq. Sort of a "new" folk song, I'd say. Sung by Alpini in a mountain town near Piacenza, Emilia:
I had blue skies
In my gaze and in my heart
With the dreams of one's twenties
And your sincere love
That day I left
In a soldier's uniform
With the flame and the tricolor
But I never came back
We were nineteen
All of them in Nassiriya
To defend peace
And bring democracy
But one day the sun exploded
For fanatical madness
And my light went out
And my soul flew away
And my light went out
And my soul flew away
Here in front of my bride
Wrapped inside a flag
My soul rests
To make a clear sunrise
The President bowed
While they play the silence
And the applause of the people
It goes up in the sky to me
We were nineteen
All of them in Nassiriya
To defend peace
And bring democracy
But one day the sun exploded
For fanatical madness
And my light went out
And my soul flew away
And my light went out
And my soul flew away
In the sand under the sun
A beautiful flower will be born
With blood and pain
For a word, "freedom"
With blood and pain
For a word, "freedom"