Up Patriots to Arms
original song written and composed by Franco Battiato and Giusto Pio
"Up Patriots to Arms" is a 1980 song by Franco Battiato from his album Patriots.
Overview
Battiato got inspiration for the song from a manifesto he had seen in a Birmingham pub in 1975. The song opens with a citation of the Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser overture, that Battiato had already used in his 1977 stage play Baby Sitter. The lyrics include citations from Nomadi's "Come potete giudicar" and from Bixio-Cherubini classic "Lucciole Vagabonde". The song has been described as "an invective against the latent stupidity that characterizes mankind", touching on topics such as politics, science, and contemporary music.
In 2011, Battiato recorded a new version of the song with Subsonica, which was released as a single and included in the band's album Eden. Artists who covered the song also include Luca Carboni, Max Gazzè, Negrita and Disciplinatha.
Charts
Subsonica feat.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Up Patriots to Arms” as original song written and composed by Franco Battiato and Giusto Pio. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as original song written and composed by Franco Battiato and Giusto Pio. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q118141649. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1980, 1975, 1977 and 2011.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Up Patriots to Arms” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.