Vasco comments on Jovanotti who compares “Gloria” to “La locomotiva”

Does “Gloria” by Umberto Tozzi have the same cultural value as “La locomotiva” by Francesco Guccini? There are those who say no. It is now Vasco Rossi who rejects the comparison between the two songs made by Jovanotti, also triggering the reaction of Guccini himself. Last year in an interview given to Corriere della Sera, the Lucky Boy of Italian music, saying that he didn’t like the “distinction between high culture and low culture”, said: “‘Gloria’ has nothing to envy of ‘Locomotiva’, my favorite singer-songwriters are Dalla and Battiato, precisely because they are very pop. But De Gregori is too.” Now Vasco responds to him from the pages of La Repubblica. He does so by talking about his esteem for Guccini: “For me, his songs are extraordinary. ‘La locomotiva’ is an absolute masterpiece, one of the most beautiful songs ever written in Italy. But when I hear Jovanotti say that for him it has the same cultural value as ‘Gloria’ by Umberto Tozzi… Well, I understand the meaning of Jovanotti’s songs more.”

In the interview, the rocker from Zocca also spoke about his relationship with another totem of Italian songwriting, Fabrizio De André: “For me he has always been an absolute point of reference, even today I always write with him in mind. I feel that he is my personal Nobel. When he recognized me as an artist I was so intimidated that I was literally about to kneel in front of him, but instead he gave me a nod as if to say: ‘What are you doing?’. And he immediately put himself on my same level, as equal to equal.