Her first album was released in 1976 but her hit was in 1979 with the single America and the album California, which became a success in several European countries. The rise to fame in Italy started in 1984 with the release of her sixth album, Puzzle. This album peaked in the top 10 at the Italian, German, Austrian and Swiss hit-parades. She sang for the videoclip Fotoromanza (directed by Michelangelo Antonioni), won several musical awards and started a European tour, including a participation at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1986 her hit Bello e impossibile was a huge success and brought her more awards in Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Her 1987 compilation Maschi e altri sold over a million copies.
In 1990 she sang Un'estate italiana, the official song of the Football World Cup 1990, together with Edoardo Bennato.
She graduated in philosophy from the University of Siena in 1994. The following year she took part in a protest organized by Greenpeace at the French embassy in Rome against the decision of the French government to pursue nuclear experiments at Mururoa.
Her album Grazie was released in February 2006, and has peaked at number one of the Italian hit-parade with the single Sei nell'anima. After this two more released and another one is planned for 2011titled: "Io e te".
California
Gianna Nannini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Dietro mille finestre
Noi guardavamo nella stessa direzione
E la storia si ferma
Quando i padri sono stanchi
L'odio ci passava sopra
Ma non ci separava
Quanto fiato nella gola
Per rifare la realtà
Era California era via di là
Verso cosa non sapevo
Ma lo respiravo sembrava cielo
Guardami ora e dimmi cosa vedi
Non è tutto passato
Ma il sogno che interrompi non sarà più uguale
Quasi senza le stelle
Forse è più bello navigare
Non c'è niente di perso
E che non possa continuare
Siamo noi la California
Siamo noi la libertà
Pugni chiusi nelle tasche
Sangue, fragole, realtà
Siamo noi la California
Siamo noi la libertà
Siamo noi che lo guardiamo e ci sembra ancora
Ancora cielo
In Gianna Nannini's song "California," the lyrics describe a sense of shared experience with others in a street or room. The song suggests looking towards an unknown destination, finding hope in the new possibilities that lie on the other side. The lyrics contrast feelings of weariness and frustration against the promise of a brighter future, taking inspiration from the imagined potential of California.
The song's opening lines describe a street or room where people are looking out in the same direction from behind multiple windows. They share a feeling of weariness or frustration with the present, and a sense of hope and possibility that comes with looking towards something new. Gianna Nannini sings of "California" as a symbol of this hope, a place beyond where they can start over and find a better reality. The song seems to imply that the power of belief and a shared vision can help overcome even the greatest difficulties. The chorus reinforces this idea that "We are California, we are freedom." This collective identity suggests that they are all in this together.
The song easily resonates with listeners who also have a yearning to escape from their current situation and seek out a better life. It speaks to the need to find hope and to create a new reality, even when faced with challenging circumstances. These lyrics convey a message of resilience and determination that is quintessentially human.
Line by Line Meaning
In una strada forse in una stanza
In a street or maybe in a room
Dietro mille finestre
Behind a thousand windows
Noi guardavamo nella stessa direzione
We were looking in the same direction
E la storia si ferma
And the story stops
Quando i padri sono stanchi
When the fathers are tired
L'odio ci passava sopra
Hatred passed over us
Ma non ci separava
But it didn't divide us
Era California, era via di là
It was California, it was over there
Quanto fiato nella gola
How much breath in my throat
Per rifare la realtà
To remake reality
Era California era via di là
It was California, it was over there
Verso cosa non sapevo
Toward what I didn't know
Ma lo respiravo sembrava cielo
But I breathed it in and it seemed like heaven
Guardami ora e dimmi cosa vedi
Look at me now and tell me what you see
Non è tutto passato
It's not all in the past
Ma il sogno che interrompi non sarà più uguale
But the dream you interrupt won't be the same anymore
Quasi senza le stelle
Almost without the stars
Forse è più bello navigare
Maybe it's better to sail
Non c'è niente di perso
There's nothing lost
E che non possa continuare
And that it can't continue
Siamo noi la California
We are California
Siamo noi la libertà
We are freedom
Pugni chiusi nelle tasche
Fists clenched in our pockets
Sangue, fragole, realtà
Blood, strawberries, reality
Siamo noi che lo guardiamo e ci sembra ancora
We are the ones who look at it and it still seems like sky
Ancora cielo
Still sky
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Gianna Nannini
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Klaus Toth
gianna played a concert in my austrian hometown shortly after this phenomenal album had come out. unforgettable memories of my youth when we were young and invincible.
rockwillneverdie66
Il pezzo più bello di Gianna Nannini. La band dietro è un sogno.
Sonia Picarelli
Única Gianna!
Malaguti Massimiliano
Dietro mille finestre guardavamo nella stessa direzione... Siamo noi la libertà... Magnifico
CAESER AUGUSTUS
Capolavoro, da bambino l ho ascoltata, e mi e' rimasta sempre nel cuore!
Emanuele Assogna
La canzone mia preferita di Gianna nannini x me la più bella e intensa!!
Susanna Vaccaro
💎💖🎼
Eleonora Rossetti
Grande G.N!,
Sergio Stefanini
devo dire che anche se la nannini non mi è mai piaciuta sto pezzo e molto bello ma resto sempre del parere che ALICE e NADA restano sempre le due artiste più brave
Paolo Paieri
Per me la piú bella della Gianna