Antonello Venditti was born in Rome, the son of a police commissary.
He studied piano in his youth and made his debut in the music world in the early 1970s at the Folkstudio of Rome, together with singers the like of Francesco De Gregori and Giorgio Lo Cascio. In duo with the former he released in 1972 his first LP, Theorius Campus. The LP scored little success, but Venditti at least made himself being noted for the strength of his vocal qualities and for his attention for social issues, evidenced by pieces like "Sora Rosa" which is sung in Roman dialect. Also in dialect was "Roma Capoccia", a declaration of love for his city, that later became one of his most famous songs. Curiously, Venditti refused to sing it for several years, as he considered it not politically or socially "engaged" enough.
Venditti subsequently moved to Milan and released L'orso bruno (1973), made in collaboration with musician Vince Tempera: this album included another song in dialect, "E Li Ponti So’ Soli", but for the rest was marked by an even stronger attention to social themes. His next work, Le cose della vita ("Things of Our Life"), released the same year for the colossus RCA Music, confirmed this tendency. The following LP Quando verrà Natale ("When Christmas Will Come") was similar; its even more naked arrangements emphasize the strength of Venditti's denunciation. After a live performance of the song "A Cristo" ("Hey, Christ"), he was denounced by an Italian Police officer for blasphemy: Venditti, however, was later totally acquitted.
Venditti's fortunes grew and peaked in 1975, with the LP Lilly: the yearning title-track was another strong accusation, this time against drugs, but it met an outstanding success anyway. Other famous pieces in the album were "Compagno di scuola" ("Schoolmate") and the long ballad "Lo Stambecco Ferito" ("The Wounded Steinbeck"), the story of a corrupted Northern Italy tycoon. Venditti continued to deal with front-page facts with the following LP, Ullalà (1976), whose "Canzone per Seveso" was about the eponymous industrial accident that happened in July of that year.
Political involvement, however, had side-effects on Venditti's inspiration in the late 1970s, marked in Italy by the growing menace of terrorism and by the strategia della tensione: some events (like the public booing of his friend De Gregori by politicized fans during a show) forced him to rethink his way of being a public personality. Sotto il segno dei Pesci ("(Born) Under the Pisces astrological sign", 1978) contained more personal and intimate themes. The eponymous track scored a great success, but was largely misinterpreted as a song about a woman: it instead referred to Venditti's career itself; he was effectively born "under the Pisces sign".
Success was however marred by his divorce to his wife Simona Izzo. She won custody of Venditti's son, Francesco Saverio. The following LP, Buona Domenica (1979), was highly marked by this difficult period. It contained anyway several classics, like the title-track and the ballad "Modena", which featured Gato Barbieri saxophone and is considered one of his finest works.
In 1982 the bitter Sotto la pioggia marked Venditti's passage to his own label, Heinz Music, and the beginning of the long-lasting collaboration with producer Alessandro Colombini. The following year A.S. Roma, his city's football team, won its long-awaited second scudetto: Venditti was therefore called in the official celebration show, and the song that he composed for the occasion, "Grazie Roma" ("Thank You Roma"), turned into a great success, surprisingly not confined to Rome's boundaries. Venditti had already composed several songs about his favourite soccer team: some criticized them harshly, mostly because of the strong contrast with the political-social themes of his other songs.
In following years, and notably in the 1990s, Venditti inspiration seemed to become more mainstream and commercial. His LPs (Cuore, In questo mondo di ladri, Benvenuti in Paradiso, Prendilo tu questo frutto amaro) were very successful, but his former themes were absent, or generally less stressed. Pieces like "Notte prima degli esami" or "Ma che bella giornata di sole" (about the Italian Liberation Day of September 1943) were anyway praised by critics. Among the songs of this period, "Dolce Enrico" was dedicated to the former leader of Partito Comunista Italiano, Enrico Berlinguer, dead in 1984.
Antonello nel Paese delle Meraviglie ("Antonello in Wonderland") of 1997 featured his greatest hits accompanied by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra of Sofia, directed by Renato Serio. Goodbye Novecento (1999) gave increasing attention to social and historical themes, but had a sub par success for Venditti's standards. In 2001 A.S. Roma won again a scudetto, and Venditti played again in a free concert in the Circo Massimo for an immense audience of tifosi and lovers of his songs. His latest studio release is Che fantastica storia è la vita ("What a Fantastic Story Is Life", October 2003). Gato Barbieri played with Venditti in this release. After resolved the difficulties in his friendship with Venditti, told in the latter's 1979 song "Scusa Francesco", "Sorry Francesco", De Gregori is also present as singer in "Io e mio fratello" ("Me and My Brother"). The album also contains a satire of Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi ("Il Sosia").
Venditti released the soundtrack for the 1985 movie Troppo forte by his friend, the Roman director Carlo Verdone. Verdone also played occasionally drums in Venditti's concertos.
Discography
* Bomba o non Bomba
* Theorius Campus (1972), with Francesco De Gregori under the collective byname of Theorius Campus)
* L'orso bruno (1973)
* Le cose della vita (1973)
* Quando verrà Natale (1974)
* Lilly (1975)
* Ullalà (1976)
* Sotto il segno dei pesci (1978)
* Buona domenica (1979)
* Sotto la pioggia (1982)
* Circo Massimo (1983, live)
* Cuore (1984)
* Centocittà (1985, live)
* Venditti e Segreti (1986)
* In questo mondo di ladri (1988)
* Gli anni ’80 (1990, collection)
* Benvenuti in Paradiso (1991)
* Da Sansiro a Samarcanda – L’amore insegna agli uomini (1992, live)
* Prendilo tu questo frutto amaro (1995)
* Antonello nel Paese delle Meraviglie (1997, live)
* Goodbye Novecento (1999)
* Se l'amore è amore... (2000, collection)
* Circo Massimo 2001 (2001, live)
* Il coraggio e l’amore (2002, collection)
* Che fantastica storia è la vita (2003)
* Campus Live (2005, live)
Sotto Il Segno Dei Pesci
Antonello Venditti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
E la gente che correva, e gridava insieme a noi
Tutto quello che voglio, pensavo, è solamente amore
Ed unità per noi, che meritiamo un'altra vita
Più giusta e libera se vuoi
Corri amore, corri non aver paura
Mi chiedevi che ti manca, una casa tu ce l'hai
Hai una donna, una famiglia, che ti tira fuori dai guai
Ma tutto quello che voglio, pensavo, è solamente amore
Ed unità per noi, che meritiamo un'altra vita
Più giusta e libera se vuoi
Nata sotto il segno, nata sotto il segno dei pesci
Ed il rock passava lento sulle nostre discussioni
Diciotto anni son pochi, per promettersi il futuro
Ma tutto quel che voglio, dicevo, è solamente amore
Ed unità per noi che meritiamo un'altra vita
Violenta e tenera se vuoi
Nata sotto il segno, nata sotto il segno dei pesci
E Marina se n'è andata, oggi insegna in una scuola
Vive male e insoddisfatta, e capisce perché è sola
Ma tutto quel che cerca e che vuole è solamente amore
Ed unità per noi, che meritiamo un'altra vita
Violenta e tenera se vuoi
Nata sotto il segno, nata sotto il segno dei pesci
E Giovanni è un ingegnere che lavora in una radio
Ha bruciato la sua laurea, vive solo di parole
Ma tutto quel che cerca e che vuole è solamente amore
Ed unità per noi, stretti in una libera sorte
Violenti e teneri se vuoi
Figli di una vecchia canzone
The song "Sotto Il Segno Dei Pesci" by Antonello Venditti is about the power of love, unity, and the hope for a better future. The lyrics tell the story of different characters who are all searching for something more, something beyond their current lives. The song opens with the singer and his lover reminiscing about a time when they were younger, out on the streets, dreaming of a world where love and unity could reign supreme, and people could be free to live the lives they wanted. The lyrics "tutto quello che voglio, pensavo, è solamente amore ed unità per noi, che meritiamo un'altra vita più giusta e libera se vuoi" (all I want is love, and unity for us, who deserve a more just, free life if you want) captures the overall theme of the song.
As the song progresses, the singer introduces a series of characters who are all searching for something more significant than what they have. From Marina, who teaches in a school, to Giovanni, an engineer who works in radio, each character is searching for love and unity in their lives. The lyrics "Ma tutto quel che cerca e che vuole è solamente amore ed unità per noi" (but everything they seek and want is just love and unity for us) highlight the search for meaning that each character is on.
The song ends with the singer proclaiming that he and his generation are the "figli di una vecchia canzone" (children of an old song), indicating that they are carrying on the legacy of those who have come before them, and they are fighting to create a better world for themselves and for future generations.
Line by Line Meaning
Ti ricordi quella strada, eravamo io e te
Remember that street, it was you and me
E la gente che correva, e gridava insieme a noi
And the people who were running, and shouting along with us
Tutto quello che voglio, pensavo, è solamente amore
All I want, I thought, is just love
Ed unità per noi, che meritiamo un'altra vita
And unity for us, who deserve a different life
Più giusta e libera se vuoi
Fairer and freer, if you want
Corri amore, corri non aver paura
Run love, run, don't be afraid
Mi chiedevi che ti manca, una casa tu ce l'hai
You asked me what you're missing, you have a house
Hai una donna, una famiglia, che ti tira fuori dai guai
You have a woman, a family, that gets you out of trouble
Nata sotto il segno, nata sotto il segno dei pesci
Born under the sign, born under the sign of Pisces
Ed il rock passava lento sulle nostre discussioni
And the rock was playing slowly in our conversations
Diciotto anni son pochi, per promettersi il futuro
Eighteen years are too few, to promise each other the future
Violenta e tenera se vuoi
Violent and tender, if you want
E Marina se n'è andata, oggi insegna in una scuola
And Marina left, today she teaches in a school
Vive male e insoddisfatta, e capisce perché è sola
She lives poorly and dissatisfied, and understands why she's alone
E Giovanni è un ingegnere che lavora in una radio
And Giovanni is an engineer who works at a radio
Ha bruciato la sua laurea, vive solo di parole
He burned his degree, he only lives on words
Figli di una vecchia canzone
Children of an old song
Tutto quel che cerca e che vuole è solamente amore
All he searches and wants is just love
Ed unità per noi, stretti in una libera sorte
And unity for us, held in a free fate
Violenti e teneri se vuoi
Violent and tender, if you want
Nata sotto il segno, nata sotto il segno dei pesci
Born under the sign, born under the sign of Pisces
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Antonio Venditti
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind