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.
Van Loon
Francesco Guccini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
che le sue spalle o la sua intelligenza non volevano sopportare
sembrò quasi baciato da una buona sorte
quando dovette andare;
sembra però che non sia mai entrato nella storia,
ma sono cose che si sanno sempre dopo,
d'altra parte nessuno ha mai chiesto di scegliere
neanche all'aquila o al topo;
od una guerra spacca come una sassata,
ma ho visto a volte che anche un topo sa ruggire
ed anche un' aquila precipitata...
Quanti anni, giorno per giorno, dobbiamo vivere con uno
per capire cosa gli nasca in testa o cosa voglia o chi è,
turisti del vuoto, esploratori di nessuno
che non sia io o me;
Van Loon viveva e io lo credevo morto
o, peggio, inutile, solo per la distanza
fra i suoi miti diversi e la mia giovinezza e superbia d'allora,
la mia ignoranza:
che ne sapevo quanto avesse navigato
con il coraggio di un Caboto fra le schiume
di ogni suo giorno e che uno squalo è diventato,
giorno per giorno, pesce di fiume...
Van Loon, Van Loon,
che cosa porti dentro, quando tace
la mente e la stagione si dà pace?
Insegui un' ombra o quella stessa pace l'hai in te?
Vorrei sapere
che cosa vedi quando guardi attorno,
lontani panorami o questo giorno
è già abbastanza, è come un nuovo dono per te?
Van Loon, Van Loon,
a cosa pensi in questo settembrino
nebbieggiare alto che macchia l'Appennino,
ora che hai tanto tempo per pensare, ma a chi?
Vai, vecchio, vai,
non temere, che avrà una sua ragione
ognuno ed una giustificazione,
anche se quale non sapremo mai, mai!
Ora Van Loon si sta preparando piano al suo ultimo viaggio,
i bagagli già pronti da tempo, come ogni uomo prudente,
o meglio, il bagaglio, quello consueto, di un semplice o un saggio,
cioè poco o niente
e andrà davvero in un suo luogo o una sua storia
con tutti i libri che la vita gli ha proibito,
con vecchi amici di cui ha perso la memoria,
con l'infinito,
dove anche su quei monti nostri è sempre estate,
ma se uno vuole quell' inverno senza affanni
che scricchiolava in gelo sotto le chiodate scarpe di un tempo,
dei suoi diciottanni,
dei suoi diciottanni...
The song Van Loon by Francesco Guccini is an ode to a man named Van Loon who seems to have been destined for a greater purpose than his shoulders or intelligence could bear. Despite appearing to be blessed with good fortune, Van Loon never quite made it into the history books; this fact is often only known in hindsight. Even eagles and mice have no choice in the matter of their destinies. Van Loon is portrayed as a man who lived through wars and other hardships but still managed to navigate his days with the courage of a sailor. The lyrics contemplate how much time we need to spend with someone to truly know them and what they are thinking, and they question if we are just tourists of emptiness, exploring the lives of others who are not us.
As the song progresses, the singer reflects on how, in his youth, he thought Van Loon was dead or useless due to the distance between their differing worlds and his own youthful naivety. The lyrics suggest that the singer has since learned that Van Loon had lived a life full of bravery and had become like a river fish, turning every day into a successful journey. The song concludes with an introspective stanza about the final journey Van Loon will embark on, bringing only what is truly important: books that life had denied him, and old friends whom he no longer remembers.
Line by Line Meaning
Van Loon, uomo destinato direi da sempre ad un lavoro più forte
Van Loon was a man destined for a stronger job than his shoulders or his intelligence could handle, it seems.
che le sue spalle o la sua intelligenza non volevano sopportare
Van Loon's shoulders or intelligence couldn't bear the job he was meant to do.
sembrò quasi baciato da una buona sorte quando dovette andare;
He seemed almost kissed by good luck when he had to go.
sembra però che non sia mai entrato nella storia, ma sono cose che si sanno sempre dopo, d'altra parte nessuno ha mai chiesto di scegliere neanche all'aquila o al topo;
It seems, however, that he never entered history, but these are things we always know later. After all, no one has ever asked even the eagle or the mouse to choose.
poi un certo giorno timbra tutto un avvenire od una guerra spacca come una sassata, ma ho visto a volte che anche un topo sa ruggire ed anche un' aquila precipitata...
Then one day everything marks a future or a war breaks like a blow, but I've seen at times that even a mouse can roar, and even a fallen eagle...
Quanti anni, giorno per giorno, dobbiamo vivere con uno per capire cosa gli nasca in testa o cosa voglia o chi è, turisti del vuoto, esploratori di nessuno che non sia io o me;
How many years, day by day, must we live with someone to understand what's born in their head, what they want, or who they are? Tourists of emptiness, explorers of no one but ourselves.
Van Loon viveva e io lo credevo morto o, peggio, inutile
Van Loon was alive, but I thought he was dead or worse, useless.
solo per la distanza fra i suoi miti diversi e la mia giovinezza e superbia d'allora, la mia ignoranza:
Just because of the distance between his different myths and my youth and pride back then, my ignorance.
che ne sapevo quanto avesse navigato con il coraggio di un Caboto fra le schiume di ogni suo giorno e che uno squalo è diventato, giorno per giorno, pesce di fiume...
What did I know how he sailed with the courage of a Caboto in the foam of every day, and that a shark, day by day, became a river fish...
Van Loon, Van Loon, che cosa porti dentro, quando tace la mente e la stagione si dà pace?
Van Loon, Van Loon, what do you carry inside when the mind is quiet and the season gives itself peace?
Insegui un' ombra o quella stessa pace l'hai in te? Vorrei sapere che cosa vedi quando guardi attorno, lontani panorami o questo giorno è già abbastanza, è come un nuovo dono per te?
Do you chase a shadow, or do you already have that same peace inside you? I'd like to know what you see when you look around, distant panoramas or is this day already enough, like a new gift for you?
Van Loon, Van Loon, a cosa pensi in questo settembrino nebbieggiare alto che macchia l'Appennino, ora che hai tanto tempo per pensare, ma a chi?
Van Loon, Van Loon, what are you thinking about in this misty September that stains the Appennines high? You have so much time to think, but about whom?
Vai, vecchio, vai, non temere, che avrà una sua ragione ogniuno ed una giustificazione, anche se quale non sapremo mai, mai!
Go, old man, go, don't be afraid, that everyone will have their reason and justification, even if we'll never know what it is!
Ora Van Loon si sta preparando piano al suo ultimo viaggio, i bagagli già pronti da tempo, come ogni uomo prudente, o meglio, il bagaglio, quello consueto, di un semplice o un saggio, cioè poco o niente
Now Van Loon is slowly preparing for his last journey, the luggage packed for some time, like any wise man, or better yet, the usual luggage of a simple or wise man, that is, little or nothing.
e andrà davvero in un suo luogo o una sua storia con tutti i libri che la vita gli ha proibito, con vecchi amici di cui ha perso la memoria, con l'infinito, dove anche su quei monti nostri è sempre estate, ma se uno vuole quell' inverno senza affanni che scricchiolava in gelo sotto le chiodate scarpe di un tempo, dei suoi diciottanni, dei suoi diciottanni...
And he'll really go to his own place or his own story with all the books life has forbidden him, with old friends he's forgotten, with infinity, where even on our mountains it's always summer, but if one wants that winter without troubles that creaked in the frost under the nailed shoes of a time, of his eighteen years, of his eighteen years...
Contributed by Harper F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.