De Gregori, 50 years of “Buffalo Bill”: “Why I won’t celebrate it”
Fifty years and not hearing them. Or maybe yes. Why “Buffalo Bill“, one of the most important albums in Francesco De Gregori’s discography, yet never sufficiently cited, honored or celebrated, turns half a century. Published in the last week of May 1976, “Buffalo Bill” it debuted on June 5th in second place in the weekly chart of the best-selling albums in Italy. In front there was only “The drums, the double bass, etc.” by Lucio Battisti. Behind, “Desire” by Bob Dylan. A result that confirmed the extraordinary moment experienced by De Gregori after the success of “Rimmel”, released the previous year. But the Prince, unlike what he did last year with “Rimmel”, will not celebrate it: «That album had an unfortunate fate, it was released two days before the Palalido trial. I stopped. The promotion stopped. I was demoralized“, explains.
The “trial” at PalaLido
The allusion is to a watershed episode in De Gregori’s history. Two months before the album’s release, the April 2, 1976the singer-songwriter had been the involuntary protagonist of the famous “Palalido trial” in Milan. During a concert, some far-left militants had contested him, accusing him of having sold himself to the record market and of having betrayed the ideals of committed song. What should have been a simple performance turned into a sort of public trial, a symbol of the political and cultural tensions of the Seventies. The consequences were profound, pushing De Gregori to withdraw from the scene for monthsjust as “Buffalo Bill” was ready to be printed. In the concerts of “Nevergreen (Perfette sknowne)”, which will keep Francesco De Gregori busy in Rome and Milan with two residencies, songs taken from “Buffalo Bill” such as “Atlantide”, “Buffalo Bill” itself or “L’esistenza di Santa Claus”, will not be missing. But there will be no reprints or special editions and the fiftieth anniversary will not even be mentioned: «After the episode of the Palalido trial, I no longer felt like dealing with this album. It was professional, as well as moral, damage to me.”
An album about America and its myths
A shame, because “Buffalo Bill” remains one of the Prince’s most ambitious works. An album crossed by a very specific red thread: America, real and imaginary, mythical and political. A continent evoked through characters, symbols and stories that become universal metaphors. Starting from the song that gave the title to the entire album, “Buffalo Bill”, with Ivan Graziani on guitar. De Gregori takes the figure of the famous American hunter and transforms it into a reflection on the end of myths, the decline of heroes and the ambiguity of legends who have built the Western imagination: very current, also in light of his declarations. Among the most significant songs is “Young explorer Tobias”, written together with Lucio Dallathe second collaboration between the two after “Pablo”, which was instead contained in “Rimmel”. The protagonist is a young boy scout who “raises the alarm and saves the railway”, convinced that he has fulfilled his duty. A song that jokes about the inconclusiveness of those who think that an occasional good deed can replace an authentic and continuous commitment. “The killing of Santa Claus“is a bitter fairy tale in which «Dolly of the deep sea» and «the flower child’s son» decide to kill Santa Claus. Behind the fantastic tale lies a powerful metaphor: the destruction of the myths, certainties and values inherited from previous generations by young people who grew up in the post-1968 cultural climate. More openly political is instead “Ninetto and the colony“, inspired by the bananeras massacre which occurred on 5 December 1928 in Ciénaga, Colombia. During a strike by workers at the United Fruit Company, the army opened fire on the demonstrators, causing a massacre destined to enter the collective memory of Latin America. The same episode would also be told by Gabriel García Márquez in “One Hundred Years of Solitude”.
The song dedicated to Luigi Tenco
Among the most poetic pages of the album, “Atlantide” stands out, born from the inspiration of Bob Dylan’s “Three Angels”. It is the story of a man who, not having had the courage to pursue his dream of love, chooses to withdraw from the world and ideally live in a dimension separated from reality. De Gregori said he wrote the song at five in the morning, while he was waiting to leave for Catania together with his manager Michele Mondella. The album also contains one of the most intense songs dedicated to Luigi Tenco. In “Festival” De Gregori addresses the story of the Ligurian singer-songwriter without rhetoric or celebratory intent, intertwining the memory of the artist with a reflection on show business and the world that revolves around the Sanremo Festival: «I will never go to the Festival, under any conditions. I was 16 years old and I wanted to be a singer. Luigi Tenco killed himself at the Festival. I swore to myself that I would never go to Sanremo. Under no conditions», he would say years later.
The controversies
“Buffalo Bill” is a record that distrusts monuments, which tells of the fall of heroes and the fragility of certainties. And perhaps it is no coincidence that this anniversary arrives just now De Gregori has returned to the center of controversy for some declarations on the role of artists in society and their relationship with politics. A discussion that, after all, runs through his entire career and which closely recalls the Palalido protests of 1976, when a part of the public demanded that the singer-songwriter take a position and responsibility that went beyond the songs. Fifty years later, the themes and contexts change, but the question remains surprisingly similar: what do you want to know from an artist?
