He then moved back to his family in Modena and attended the local "istituto magistrale". He worked for a couple otf years as a reporter for a local newspaper Gazzetta di Modena. In 1960 the Guccinis moved to Bologna where Francesco studied at the local university. From 1965 to 1985 he held italian courses at the Dickinson College (an American school) in Bologna.
He played in local bands such as The Hurricanes and Gatti and achieved success in the 1960s writing songs for a legendary Italian band, Nomadi, also from Modena. Some of these successes include "Noi non ci saremo" and "Dio è morto". In the 1970s, Nomadi recorded two albums of Guccini's songs as well as a live album, Album Concerto, featuring him. Guccini's debut album was Folkbeat, No. 1 (1967).
Guccini always declared his first two works, Folk Beat n.1 and Due anni dopo, being merely tentatives, a nature probably noticeable in the quite essential musical arrangements. The latter, however, contained classics like the title-track and "La primavera di Praga" ("Prague Spring"). His first mature album is therefore L'Isola Non Trovata ("The Not Found Island") of 1970, which shows many the themes which were to be present in the future releases: a certain melancholy for a perceived nearness of death, as well as the portrait of outcasts figures like "Il frate" ("The Friar").
Radici ("Roots", 1972), is one of Guccini's finest works, and contains some of his most famous songs. These include: the title-track, a nostalgic declaration of love for Guccini's youth spent in the Appennine mountains; "La locomotiva", a long ballad about the solitary, unlucky revolt of a Bolognese railwayman during the 19th century; "Il vecchio e il bambino", a melancholic story about the dreams of an old man, and the different way in which they are perceived by the boy accompanying him; "Piccola città" ("Small City"), about Guccini's early years in the Emilia-Romagna provincial world.
Stanze di vita quotidiana ("Stanzas of Everyday Life") of 1974 deals with more private themes, sometimes with nearly desperate accents. The album contains at least one masterwork, the yearning "Canzone delle osterie di fuori porta".
In 1976 Guccini scored his greatest commercial success with the album Via Paolo Fabbri 43. The title is his residence street in Bologna. He declared this choice was an error, because many of his fans made true pilgrimages there to meet and talk with him. The album features the famous "L'avvelenata", a catchy ballad in which Guccini unleashes his rage against musics critics and people perceiving in a distorted way his career ans popularity as singer-songwriter.
Amerigo (1978), whose title-track is about the story of the emigration of Guccini's Pavanese uncle to the United States, Metropolis (1981), and Guccini (1983), showed that the Bolognese singer's inspiration was left untouched by the general switch to the more commercial themes that characterized the Italian musical world starting from the end of 1970s.
The 1984 live tournée was highly successful, and was soon collected in a double live LP, Fra la Via Emilia e il West ("Between the Via Aemilia and the West"). Emilia Romagna and the Old West symbolize well the double ties of Guccini to his native land and to America. Guccini declared to have knwown the latter soon in his life, through the comics and magazines imported by US soldiers during World War 2, but also through his uncle's tales. After the war, like many Italians of the period, he was of course influenced by American songs and Hollywood movies, and finally managed to touch with hand this kind of myth during his personal voyages to US (including a love story with an American girl).
Last album of 1980s was Signora Bovary (1987), containing notable pieces like "Scirocco". After several interlocutory albums in the 1990s, Guccini returned at his best with Stagioni ("Seasons") of 2000: the title-track is an effective, merciless accusation against media invadence and moral corruption of Italy.
Guccini's last studio release is Ritratti of 2004.
Auschwitz
Francesco Guccini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
passato per il camino e adesso sono nel vento e adesso sono nel vento.
Ad Auschwitz c'era la neve, il fumo saliva lento
nel freddo giorno d'inverno e adesso sono nel vento, adesso sono nel vento.
Ad Auschwitz tante persone, ma un solo grande silenzio:
è strano non riesco ancora a sorridere qui nel vento, a sorridere qui nel vento.
Io chiedo come puo' un uomo uccidere un suo fratello
eppure siamo a milioni in polvere qui nel vento, in polvere qui nel vento.
Ma ancora tuona il cannone e ancora non e' contento
di sangue la belva umana e ancora ci porta il vento e ancora ci porta il vento.
Io chiedo quando sara' che l'uomo potra' imparare
a vivere senza ammazzare e il vento si posera' e il vento si posera'.
Io chiedo quando sara' che l'uomo potra' imparare
a vivere senza ammazzare e il vento si posera' e il vento si posera'
e il vento si posera'.
The lyrics of the song "Auschwitz" by Francesco Guccini are a poignant and haunting testimony to the horrors of the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau during World War II. The first stanza tells the tale of a hundred children, including the singer as a child, who were killed and burned in the camp's crematoria. The second stanza describes the brutal winter conditions at Auschwitz, with snow and smoke as the lone witnesses to the atrocities committed there. And yet, there is a strange silence that pervades this death camp, and the singer cannot find it in himself to smile or be happy, even in the afterlife, where he has now become one with the wind.
Line by Line Meaning
Son morto con altri cento, son morto ch'ero bambino, passato per il camino e adesso sono nel vento e adesso sono nel vento.
I died alongside a hundred others, as a child, and my remains were burned and now scatter in the wind.
Ad Auschwitz c'era la neve, il fumo saliva lento nel freddo giorno d'inverno e adesso sono nel vento, adesso sono nel vento.
There was snow in Auschwitz, smoke rose slowly in the cold winter day, and now the ashes of those who perished scatter in the wind.
Ad Auschwitz tante persone, ma un solo grande silenzio: è strano non riesco ancora a sorridere qui nel vento, a sorridere qui nel vento.
Among the many people at Auschwitz, there was a great silence. It's strange that the ashes of those who perished now scatter in the wind, and there is no reason to smile.
Io chiedo come puo' un uomo uccidere un suo fratello eppure siamo a milioni in polvere qui nel vento, in polvere qui nel vento.
I ask how a man can kill his brother, yet there are millions of ashes of those who perished that now scatter in the wind.
Ma ancora tuona il cannone e ancora non e' contento di sangue la belva umana e ancora ci porta il vento e ancora ci porta il vento.
The cannons still thunder, and the human beast is still not satisfied with blood, and the wind still carries the ashes of those who perished.
Io chiedo quando sara' che l'uomo potra' imparare a vivere senza ammazzare e il vento si posera' e il vento si posera'.
I ask when humans will learn to live without killing, and only then will the ashes of those who perished finally come to rest.
Io chiedo quando sara' che l'uomo potra' imparare a vivere senza ammazzare e il vento si posera' e il vento si posera' e il vento si posera'.
I ask when humans will learn to live without killing, only then will the ashes of those who perished finally be at peace and rest.
Contributed by Kaylee G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@gniccolai
Compagno di classe di mio padre. Vengo anche io da Pavana, Pistoia. Non ho mai visto Francesco, ma lo sento come mio zio. Questa canzone e' una delle cose che voglio donare al mondo.
@antonioscoponi9202
Sono passati 40 anni e posso assicurarti che certe canzoni sono profondamente radicate nel mio cuore e nella mente
@robinhood3863
Per NON DIMENTICARE...MAI!!!!
OGGI E' IL GIORNO DELLA MEMORIA....QUESTO BRANO ANDREBBE FATTO ASCOLTARE IN TUTTE LE SCUOLE....
QUESTA SERA ACCENDERO' UN CERO SUL DAVANZALE DELLA MIA FINESTRA, IN RICORDO DI TUTTE LE VITTIME INNOCENTI DELL'OLOCAUSTO....DOVREMO FARLO TUTTI....
PROPRIO PER NON DIMENTICARE MAI...
@armandosandiano6494
sempre... 27 gennaio 2020
@lorenzovirtu9734
27 gennaio 2021 ha!
@e.q3669
27 gennaio 2021 ✋🏽
@DaCubanCrokodile
Adesso, non esagerare. Anche io commemoro i morti dell’olocausto, ma calmati c’è...
@mirkosciscione2717
ai raggioneee😍😙😍😍x
@rosaabbatecola2277
Preghiamo nel giorno della memoria che non deve succedere mai più. Bravissimo.🥺☹️☹️☹️😩😫😢
@vincenzoapicella4553
preghiamo
amen