Le metamorfosi de canti dei minatori

Parody is quite usual in folksongs, and marks their long history: old songs are continuously re-used, keeping the same music and changing the words, adapting them to new situations. If we trace back the links in the chain of parody, and track down the patterns of the songs, we can locate the anthropologically relevant infor- mation – namely the cultural environment from which they originated. We can thus show that the miners’ songs are parodies of earlier songs of war, of military songs, and of songs sung by outcasts, proving that mar- ginal culture is the historical background of the culture of the miners, and more generally of working culture.