The Rain is Falling (Scende la pioggia)

Music piece by:
The Turtles ('Elenore'), with new lyrics by Gianni Morandi
Testimony by:
Eduardo René Cuevas
Experience in:
Cárcel de Los Ángeles, September 1973

This song was a workhorse for the prisoners. Iván Moscoso sang it, accompanied by a guitar, in a powerful and defiant voice, and the most altruistic among us sung along in the presence of the gendarme guards, in a courtyard that was only for political prisoners.

For me, a prisoner from (the city of) Laja who walked with a cane, it represented a glimmer of hope and being able to say I am still alive, after twice being threatened with death on the very 11 September 1973Day when the Chilean armed forces led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew President Salvador Allende..

Every minute, every day represented a victory of one more day over death and the desire to cling to life. This is part of what thousands of comrades had to live through in different circumstances of their lives.


Tags:

Published on: 31 March 2015

You, in your hot bed
I'm on the road in the cold
but that is not what makes me sad.
Here, outside your dreams
love is dying
everyone thinks only of themselves.

The rain is falling, what does it do?
The world is crumbling around me
I'm dying because of love.
I love life more than ever
it only belongs to me
I only want to live it for this.

Enough with the dreaming
now you are sleeping
now I know the pain.
That I felt sorry
is because I'm only now learning
everyone thinks only of themselves.

The rain is falling, what does it do?
The world is crumbling around me
I'm dying because of love.
I love life more than ever
it only belongs to me
I only want to live it for this.

The rain is falling, what does it do?
I love life more than ever.

Related testimonies:

  • May the Omelette Flip Over (Que la tortilla se vuelva)  Claudio Melgarejo, Comisaría de Concepción, November 1973

    I spent a week in captivity, in November 1973. I didn’t hear many songs, but the most popular ones sung by my comrades were 'Venceremos' (We Shall be Victorious) and 'Que la tortilla se vuelva' (May the Omelette Flip Over), also known as 'The Tomato Song', which portrays the bosses' exploitation of the workers.

  • Free (Libre)  Marianella Ubilla, Campamento Prisioneros Estadio Regional, Christmas 1973

    I was taken prisoner on 23 November 1973, at the University of Concepción. In the Regional Stadium of Concepción, we had to sing the National Anthem every day.

  • I’m Not from Here - To my Comrade, my Love (No soy de aquí - A mi compañera)  Alfonso Padilla Silva, Campamento Prisioneros Estadio Regional, 25 December 1973

    The choir of male prisoners sang a piece called 'A mi compañera' (To my comrade, my love) to the music of 'No soy de aquí, ni soy de allá' (I'm not from here, nor from there) by Facundo Cabral.

  • We Shall Overcome  Alfonso Padilla Silva, Cárcel de Concepción / Cárcel El Manzano, December 1974

    When the concentration camp that operated for nearly five months at the Regional Stadium of Concepción was closed in early February 1974, hundreds of political prisoners were transferred to the Concepción Prison, a wing of which was turned into a concentration camp.

  • The Rain is Falling (Scende la pioggia)  Eduardo René Cuevas, Cárcel de Los Ángeles, September 1973

    This song was a workhorse for the prisoners. Iván Moscoso sang it, accompanied by a guitar, in a powerful and defiant voice, and the most altruistic among us sung along in the presence of the gendarme guards, in a courtyard that was only for political prisoners.

Testimonies from the Cantos Cautivos platform can be cited and shared as long as they are attributed (including the author, our project’s name and URL), for non-commercial purposes and without modifications, as per the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Authorisation is required for 1) any reuse different from citations and sharing via the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license of the platform data and its associated metadata, and 2) any use in events, concerts, plays, films, etc., of musical works written or recorded by project participants. To that end, we request that you send a proposal at least one month in advance to contact@cantoscautivos.org. For uses of musical works written or recorded by people outside the project, please contact copyright holders.