Lettera da un cosmodromo messicano
Francesco De Gregori Lyrics

The lyrics of Francesco De Gregori's song "Lettera da un cosmodromo messicano" paint a vivid and evocative picture of an idyllic rural landscape slowly being reclaimed by nature, along with a series of striking and enigmatic images that hint at deeper existential themes.

The opening lines - "Il bosco piano piano, si riprende le case" - depict a forest gradually retaking control of a cluster of abandoned buildings. This suggests a sense of the cyclical and inevitable nature of human dominance over nature, and the fleeting and ephemeral quality of our civilizations. The next lines - "Sono immobili gli aeroplani, negli aeroporti sotto la luna" - underscore this idea by describing the static and inert nature of modern technology in the face of the eternal and unstoppable forces of nature.

The second stanza paints a similarly poetic and haunting picture of a landscape drained of life and vitality. The dogs are silent, the flocks are scattered and the shepherds have vanished into thin air. These images suggest a sense of loss, dislocation and rootlessness, as well as a hint of the sinister or unnerving.

Against this bleak and forbidding tableau, the singer describes himself as living in a "cosmodromo messicano": a spaceport in Mexico. Here, everything is "strong and clear", the sky is a giant, and life feels like an aquarium suspended above us. These lines create a stark contrast to the previous images, suggesting a sense of optimism, transcendence and futurism. At the same time, however, the idea of living in a spaceport also conveys a sense of isolation, detachment and alienation, hinting at the emotional and psychological toll that technological progress can take on the human psyche.

Overall, the lyrics of "Lettera da un cosmodromo messicano" invite a wide range of interpretive readings, ranging from environmentalism to technophobia to existentialist philosophy.