Francesco De Gregori: “I won’t do ‘La donna cannone’ every night”
From October 29th to November 23rd Francis DeGregori Earth 20 concerts at the Out Off Theatre in Milan bringing to the stage “Nevergreen (Perfette sconosciute)”, a journey through the lesser-known “gems” of his musical repertoire. These live shows are a rare opportunity for the public to enjoy a concert in an intimate setting, with a capacity limited to 200 spectators per evening, with an ever-changing setlist where there will be no shortage of surprise guests.
In an interview signed Easter Elias published in the Corriere della Sera (here is the whole interview) De Gregori spoke, among other things, about his new show. We report the question and answer below.
The right size to convey what she cares about most when she is on stage: offering the audience the circularity of her repertoire, from hits to less famous pieces.
“Exactly, because I like the idea that my career doesn’t necessarily have to be summed up by those ten or fifteen songs that people have kept in their memory and that maybe they have passed on to the next generation. Besides, I am convinced that I have written other songs that deserve just as much attention: they are simply less known because the radios have never played them. My music already circulated very little in FM, let alone if they played “L’omicidio di Babbo Natale”! And Milan will be the perfect opportunity to fish out those completely unknown songs. But let it be clear, I have no intention of punishing “Generale” or “Rimmel”, or even “Buonanotte fiorellino”. Those will be there too, but no more than four or five”.
In short, he will have a free hand.
“Above all, I won’t feel obligated to do “La donna cannone” every night. I think that the audience, if warned in advance of what will happen, might also appreciate that an evergreen is missing. Then I like the idea of playing again in a very small place, in front of a few people, like at the beginning of my musical adventure. And this will make the show more intimate, more homely, more domestic.”
Let’s take a leap back to 1974 when he recorded “Niente da comprende” and “Bene”…
“I wrote to her in Ponza in a couple of hours, sitting at a table in a bar.”
In less than no time he pulled out two timeless pieces from his repertoire. Instead, to publish the recent “Giusto o sbagliato” 12 years have passed since the last unpublished: is it the literary unscrupulousness of youth that makes writing easier?
“No, no: it is only and exclusively youth.
I wrote with an impressive ease and speed. If I think back to how I was as an author then, I get scared, I wrote objectively beautiful things, or at least very inspired, with a speed that I dream of having today. When I reread certain texts I say to myself: but how did I do it? Yes, it’s true, unscrupulousness helps, but I think it’s a process linked to age: the more you grow, the more selective and less creative you become. It’s inevitably like this. There’s nothing wrong with it, the important thing is to know it and also confess it without too many problems, above all to avoid making a copy of yourself just to publish something at all costs. I’m fascinated by the idea of going to the recording studio to make a record, of handling music. But I lack the raw material, for now. I don’t even make an effort to compose, I simply don’t even try. However, just to be clear (smiles), it’s not like it took me 12 years to write “Right or Wrong”.
Enel and Fiat have chosen “La storia” and “Viva l’Italia” for their respective commercials: how would you have reacted if someone had asked you for permission to use these songs years ago?
“Perhaps I would have refused, but for reasons that I no longer share today. Perhaps there was, at that time, a certain reluctance on my part to grant a piece to advertising. But I would have been wrong, it would have been a somewhat Taliban attitude towards myself”.
