As recalled by a verse of one of his songs, "it was the fate that in three … Read Full Bio ↴As recalled by a verse of one of his songs, "it was the fate that in three months" moved his family out of Modena because of war. Guccini spent his childhood and part of his youth at his grandparents' place in a small village in the Apennine Mountains called Pàvana, a fraction of the commune Sambuca Pistoiese in the province of Pistoia (Toscana). The memory of the youth years spent in the somewhat archaic society of the mountains of central Italy was to be always present in his songs and books.

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.

Il Caduto
Francesco Guccini Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Io, nato Primo di nome e di cinque fratelli,
uomo di bosco e di fiume, lavoro e di povertà,
ma uomo sereno di dentro, come i pesci e gli uccelli
che con me dividevano il cielo, l'acqua e la libertà...

Perchè sono in prigione per sempre, qui in questa pianura
dove orizzonte rincorre da sempre un uguale orizzonte,
dove un vento incessante mi soffia continua paura,

dove è impossibile scorgere il profilo d'un monte?

E se d'inverno mi copre la neve gelata
non è quella solita in cui affondava il mio passo
forte e sicuro, braccando la lieve pestata
che lascia la volpe, o l'impronta più greve del tasso...

Ho cancellato il ricordo e perchè son caduto,
rammento stagioni in cui dietro ad un sole non chiaro
veniva improvviso quel freddo totale, assoluto
e infine lamenti, poi grida e bestemmie e uno sparo...

Guarda la guerra che beffa, che scherzo puerile,
io che non mi ero mai spinto in un lungo cammino
ho visto quel poco di mondo da dietro a un fucile,
ho visto altra gente soltanto da dietro a un mirino...

E siamo in tanti coperti da neve gelata,
non c'è più razza o divisa, ma solo l'inverno
e quest'estate bastarda dal vento spazzata
e solo noi, solo noi che siam morti in eterno...

Io che guardavo la vita con calmo coraggio,
cosa darei per guardare gli odori della mia montagna,

vedere le foglie del cerro, gli intrichi del faggio,
scoprire di nuovo dal riccio il miracolo della castagna...

Overall Meaning

The song "Il Caduto" by Francesco Guccini depicts the story of a man who reflects on his past life as he is imprisoned forever in a plain where the horizon always looks the same. The first stanza establishes the singer's identity as the eldest of five siblings, someone who grew up in the forest and river, struggling with poverty but maintaining an inner calmness similar to the fishes and birds he shared his environment with. The second stanza reveals that the singer is now imprisoned, feeling constantly haunted and scared by the endless and uncertain horizon that surrounds him. He reveals his disappointment that he cannot see the mountains anymore, and his desire to be back where he belongs.

As the song progresses, the singer reminisces about simpler times in his life, when he was braver and stronger, hunting animals in the forest and enjoying the beauty of nature. However, this nostalgia is soon juxtaposed with the trauma of a war experience that changed his life forever. The singer reveals how he was forced to see the world through a rifle's sight, killing people he never knew from afar, and how this senseless brutality obliterated any sense of identity or belonging within him.

Ultimately, the song portrays a deep sense of longing for freedom and belonging, for the beauty and simplicity of life before the horrors of war shattered everything. It depicts the tragedy of individuals who are forced to fight for meaningless causes and pay the ultimate price, losing their identities and their chance to live in the process.

Line by Line Meaning

Io, nato Primo di nome e di cinque fratelli,
I was born the first of five siblings, a man of the woods and the river, of labor and poverty, but inwardly peaceful, like the fish and birds who shared the sky, water, and freedom with me.

Perchè sono in prigione per sempre, qui in questa pianura
Why am I forever imprisoned here in this plain, where horizon chases the same horizon, where a relentless wind blows continuous fear, where it's impossible to see the outline of a mountain?

E se d'inverno mi copre la neve gelata
And if in winter I'm covered by frozen snow, it's not the kind where my step used to sink, strong and steady, while tracking the light marks left by the fox or the heavier prints of the badger.

Ho cancellato il ricordo e perchè son caduto,
I erased the memory, and that's why I fell. I remember seasons when behind an unclear sun came sudden, total, absolute cold, followed by moans, then screams and curses, and a gunshot in the end.

Guarda la guerra che beffa, che scherzo puerile,
Look at the war, what a mockery, what a childish game. I, who had never ventured on a long journey, saw that little bit of the world only from behind a rifle, saw other people only through a sight.

E siamo in tanti coperti da neve gelata,
And there are many of us covered by frozen snow, no longer defined by race or division, but only by winter and this wretched summer swept away by the wind, and only us, only us who are dead forever.

Io che guardavo la vita con calmo coraggio,
I, who used to gaze at life with quiet courage, what would I give to look again at the smells of my mountain, to see the leaves of the oak, the tangle of the beech, to rediscover from the hedgehog the miracle of the chestnut...

Contributed by Nathaniel G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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