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.
L'atomica cinese
Francesco Guccini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Una nuvola di morte, una nuvola spettrale che va, che va, che va.
Sopra i campi della Cina, sopra al tempio e alla risaia
Oltrepassa il fiume giallo, oltrepassa la muraglia e va, e va, e va.
Sopra al bufalo che rumina
Su una civiltà di secoli
Sopra le bandiere rosse
Sui ritratti dei profeti
Sopra le tombe impassibili degli antichi imperatori.
Sta coprendo un continente, sta correndo verso il mare
Copre il cielo fino al punto dove l'occhio può guardare
E va, e va, e va.
Sopra il volo dei gabbiani che precipitano in acqua
Sopra ai pesci che galleggiano, e ricoprono la spiaggia e va, e va, e va.
Alzan gli occhi i pescatori verso il cielo così livido
Le onde sembra che si fermino
Non si sente che il silenzio
E le reti sono piene di cadaveri d'argento.
Poi le nuvole si rompono e la pioggia lenta cade
Sopra i tetti delle case, sulle pietre delle strade
Sopra gli alberi che muoiono, sopra i campi che si seccano
Sopra ai cuccioli degli uomini, sulle mandrie che la bevono
Sulle spiagge abbandonate, una pioggia che e' veleno
E che uccide lentamente, pioggia senza arcobaleno
Che va, che va, che va.
Che va, che va, che va, che va,
Che va, che va, che va, che va.
The lyrics of Francesco Guccini's song "L'atomica cinese" tell the eerie story of a nuclear explosion in China. It starts by describing the cloud of death rising from the western deserts of Mongolia, spreading across the fields of China, including over the Yellow River and the Great Wall. The cloud even reaches animals like the buffalo, symbols of the centuries-old Chinese civilization, and the red flags and portraits of the communist leaders.
The second stanza reveals the full extent of the damage as the cloud covers a whole continent, running towards the sea and blocking the sky as far as the eye can see. The cloud also affects the marine life, making the seagulls fall into the water and the fishes wash up on the shore. The fishermen look up to the sky and see the eerie silence, and when the clouds break, they bring toxic rain that kills slowly, leaving no rainbow.
The lyrics of "L'atomica cinese" highlight the devastating effects of nuclear warfare and its consequences on nature and humanity. It reminds us of the horrors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, and the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons in modern times.
Line by Line Meaning
Si è levata dai deserti, in Mongolia occidentale
A deathly and spectral cloud has risen from the deserts of western Mongolia
Una nuvola di morte, una nuvola spettrale che va, che va, che va.
A cloud of death, a ghostly cloud that moves and moves and moves
Sopra i campi della Cina, sopra al tempio e alla risaia
Above the fields of China, above the temple and the rice paddies
Oltrepassa il fiume giallo, oltrepassa la muraglia e va, e va, e va.
It crosses the Yellow River, it crosses the Great Wall and it goes and goes and goes
Sopra al bufalo che rumina
Above the buffalo that grazes
Su una civiltà di secoli
Above a civilization of centuries
Sopra le bandiere rosse
Above the red flags
Sui ritratti dei profeti
Above the portraits of prophets
Sui ritratti dei signori
Above the portraits of lords
Sopra le tombe impassibili degli antichi imperatori.
Above the impassive tombs of ancient emperors
Sta coprendo un continente, sta correndo verso il mare
It's covering a continent, it's running towards the sea
Copre il cielo fino al punto dove l'occhio può guardare
It covers the sky to the point where the eye can see
E va, e va, e va.
And it goes, and it goes, and it goes
Sopra il volo dei gabbiani che precipitano in acqua
Above the flight of seagulls plummeting into the water
Sopra ai pesci che galleggiano, e ricoprono la spiaggia e va, e va, e va.
Above the fish that float and cover the beach and it goes, and it goes, and it goes
Alzan gli occhi i pescatori verso il cielo così livido
The fishermen raise their eyes to the pale sky
Le onde sembra che si fermino
The waves seem to stop
Non si sente che il silenzio
There is only silence
E le reti sono piene di cadaveri d'argento.
And the nets are full of silver carcasses
Poi le nuvole si rompono e la pioggia lenta cade
Then the clouds break and the slow rain falls
Sopra i tetti delle case, sulle pietre delle strade
Above the roofs of houses, on the stones of the streets
Sopra gli alberi che muoiono, sopra i campi che si seccano
Above the trees that die, above the fields that wither
Sopra ai cuccioli degli uomini, sulle mandrie che la bevono
Above the human offspring, above the herds that drink it
Sulle spiagge abbandonate, una pioggia che e' veleno
On the abandoned beaches, a rain that is poison
E che uccide lentamente, pioggia senza arcobaleno
And it kills slowly, rain without a rainbow
Che va, che va, che va.
That goes, that goes, that goes
Che va, che va, che va, che va,
That goes, that goes, that goes, that goes
Che va, che va, che va, che va.
That goes, that goes, that goes, that goes
Contributed by Charlotte H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
steve
Si nota nella gente un' allegria e una spensieratezza che è impossibile trovare oggi , il tutto condito da due artisti che hanno fatto la storia della musica
Stefano Pantaleoni
Versione stupenda nella sua imperfezione. I tempi con cui Francesco e Augusto si susseguono sono "sbagliati" per gli standard moderni, e percepiamo un senso di strano, abituati come siamo ad un tipo di musica laccata e pensata a tavolino. Ma è bello, anzi bellissimo così.
Monica S
Riascoltarla oggi è da pelle d'oca.
PATTO
Augusto e Francesco semplicemente UNICI !!!
Trinity A
Proprio come dici tu !!!
Salvatore Murinu
Che concerto....
40 anno dopo.....sempre attuale...
Maurizio Oss
Siete una leggenda!
Antonio Gambardella
cose fuori dal comune due mostri sacri della musica
giroppa99
Meravigliosa
イタロジャパニーズ
AUGUSTO DAOLIO UNICO E INTRAMONTABILE