Phil Palmer and the solo of “Con il ribbon rosa” by Lucio Battisti
“Session man – A guitarist’s life” has just been published, a memoir written by guitarist Phil Palmer, nephew of the Davies brothers of the Kinks, someone who played with and for Paul McCartney, Sting, Phil Collins, Elton John, Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, David Bowie and many others. Among them also Lucio Battisti: and in fact the book tells how the recording of “Con il ribbon rosa” took place, the song by Lucio Battisti which closes the album “Una giorno uggiosa” (which is also the last album fruit of Battisti’s collaboration with Mogol). The song’s instrumental coda was conceived and played by Palmer, following the instructions of producer Greg Walsh. By courtesy of the publisher we publish the story as it appears in the book.
The recording session circuit was booming, studio costs were already approaching a thousand pounds a day, and as a result good session musicians were in high demand. Being fast, precise and reliable was a real advantage for a session worker, and for this reason I was very popular. There were times when I found myself in the studio with the band’s guitarist present. This could create a certain embarrassment because guitarists are almost always competitive types, a bit like the gunslingers of the Wild West: «They say you’re the fastest in town. Well, let me see!” Fortunately, despite these rare
occasions, most projects were productive and joyful experiences. The UK seemed like the right place when it came to recording music and the country had begun to be a major destination for artists of various nationalities.
One of the first of these projects I got involved in was with a producer called Geoff Westley, for an Italian singer-songwriter called Lucio Battisti.
Geoff was working with the Bee Gees at the time and was a very talented keyboard and string arranger. Geoff’s world featured musical scores written in the traditional manner and he seemed very surprised that, as a session musician, I was unable to read them. I suggested he call Ray Russell or other West End guitarists if he needed some reading ability. But luckily Geoff must have seen something in me that made him be lenient. It used a player for the foundation of a track, but left room for me to add my own parts later. He had faith in my ability to find ideas outside of his creative sphere and was very patient in giving me time to develop my parts.
Geoff took the time to explain to me some fundamentals of music, which would later open several new doors for me. He suggested I listen to some wonderful music from the classical repertoire: Mahler, Barker, and Beethoven, to name a few. This made me realize that reading music was not like learning Chinese. He wrote simple, easy-to-play rock riffs so that I could recognize how they translated visually onto the sheet music, thus removing the mystery and fear I had of musical notation. Together we developed a creative process that was both rewarding and educational, as my unscholastic rock approach allowed him to explore areas he hadn’t previously considered.
Lucio Battisti’s album “Una giorno uggiosa” was a huge success in Italy, becoming perhaps the most notable Italian LP of 1980.
One song in particular would become one of the most important in the history of Italian pop. Geoff, like most producers, tended to do things in the spur of the moment and one Monday morning he called me to ask me to come over to the studio. I had a dentist appointment that afternoon, but I told him I’d stop by the office first. I arrived at Parsifal Studios in Chiswick and set up a Vox ac 30 amplifier to play on. For some reason, that very day I had decided to change things up a bit and try out a new Ibanez “Les Paul” inspired guitar that had been given to me for promotional purposes. One of the games between Geoff and me was to prepare a mix of the song but he wouldn’t let me hear it until we had established a guitar sound. He was interested in my instincts and first impressions, which he tried to use in the creative process. He would then start the track, giving me some time to figure out the chord changes during the intro and verse, and then count to four to prepare for the section to be recorded.
«With the pink ribbon» was in C# minor, an unusual key for the guitar, but the atmosphere of the song was beautiful. The track was crafted with great skill, thanks to the exceptional work of Dave Markee on bass and Stuart Elliott (from Kate Bush’s band) on drums. Geoff, who had also played keyboards on it, had left an unusually long fade-out ending on the track. I played my parts in just two takes, as my dentist appointment approached, including a second solo throughout the final section, which lasted over two minutes, thinking Geoff would shorten it later. Once that was done, I gathered my things and went to the dentist.
Ten years later, in the early nineties, I landed in Italy and was picked up at the airport by my good friend Fabrizio Intra from Sony Music.
On the drive to his office, the radio started playing “With the Pink Ribbon” and I said, “Oh, that’s me!” To my surprise the second solo, lasting two full minutes, had not been cut. Fabrizio explained to me that the song had been released in 1980 and had been at number one in the charts in Italy for most of that summer, over time becoming a sort of Italian pop anthem. He further added that both the first and second long guitar solos were used in Italian conservatories to teach budding guitarists how to articulate a modern pop guitar solo.
Later, as my face and my way of playing became better known in Italy, complete strangers approached me on the street singing the melody of those solos. «With the pink ribbon» is still one of the most played songs on Italian radio today.
© Phil Palmer, 2024
© minimum fax, 2024
All rights reserved