Un Chimico Lyrics in English Fabrizio De André

Imagine a scientist who can manipulate the secrets of hydrogen and oxygen, yet is completely baffled by the explosive chemistry of human feelings. In “Un Chimico,” Fabrizio De André lets a deceased chemist narrate his own story from atop a lonely hill, where his body now simply feeds the earth. The song contrasts the cold precision of laboratory reactions with the unpredictable alchemy of love: molecules obey rules, lovers do not. Our narrator marvels at how smiles and colors bloom on the faces of those who seek love, only to fade on the faces of those who have found it. Fascinated yet frightened, he chose to stay outside the game, and his life ended in a failed experiment that he wryly compares to the way “idiots” die for love.

Beneath its playful irony and poetic imagery, the song poses big questions about life, passion, and mortality. Is dying for science really so different from surrendering to spring’s call and risking heartbreak? By putting cold reason and fiery emotion under the same microscope, De André invites us to ask whether there is a “better” way to live—or die—than following the volatile reaction we call love.