He was the composer of Caruso (1986), which has been covered by numerous international artists. A version of Caruso sung by Luciano Pavarotti sold over 9 million copies and the song was a track on Andrea Bocelli's first international album Romanza which has sold over 16 million albums world wide thus far; the song is a tribute to the emblematic opera tenor Enrico Caruso.
He began to play the clarinet at an early age, in a jazz band in Rome. The singer-songwriter Gino Paoli noticed Dalla's vocal qualities and suggested he attempt a solo career as an Italian soul singer. In 1964, at age 21, Dalla recorded his first 45 rpm containing "Lei (non è per me)" and "Ma questa sera". However, Dalla's debut at the Cantagiro festival in 1965 was unsuccessful probably due to his appearance and to his music, which was considered too experimental for the time. His first album, 1999, was released the following year. His next album, Terra di Gaibola (from the name of a suburb of Bologna), was released in 1970 and contained some early Dalla classics.
His first hit was "4 Marzo 1943", which garnered some success at the Sanremo Festival. Regardless of its title, the song became popularly known as "Gesu bambino". Also successful was "Piazza grande", which Dalla would sing again at Sanremo.
At this point, Dalla made a decisive move in his career, starting a collaboration with the Bolognese poet Roberto Roversi. Roversi wrote the lyrics to Dalla's next three albums Il giorno aveva cinque teste (The Day Had Five Heads) (1973), Anidride solforosa (1975) and Automobili (Automobiles) (1976) Although these albums did not sell in large numbers, they were noted by critics for the unusual mix of Roversi's weird lyrics with Dalla's improvisatory, and sometimes experimental, compositional abilities.
The duo had already broken up by the time the concept album Automobili was released. Roversi, who had been against the album's release, chose the pseudonym "Norisso" when it was time to register the songs. The album, however, included one of Dalla's most popular songs, "Nuvolari", named after the famous 1930s Italian racer.
Affected by the end of the collaboration, Dalla decided to write the lyrics of his next albums himself. This decision proved to be surprisingly good, and he soon emerged as one of the most intelligent and musically cultured of the Italian singer-songwriters. The first album of this new phase was Com'è profondo il mare (1977), in which Dalla was accompanied by some members of the future pop band Stadio. The title track or "Quale allegria" are today ranked among the best Italian songs.
Dalla's poetic inspiration was confirmed by the following albums, all entitled Lucio Dalla or Dalla and all best-sellers. They contain classics like "Anna e Marco", "L'anno che verrà", "Futura", and "Cara".
In 1979, his popularity was confirmed by the success of the Banana Republic tour and album of 1979 together with singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori, his band, and his friend Ron.
The hit single Attenti al Lupo (1990) gave him wider success in Europe.
He was invited for duetting on Pavarotti and friends, singing his own hit "Caruso" with Luciano Pavarotti.
He died from a heart attack in 1 March 2012 while on tour at Switzerland.
Trash
Lucio Dalla Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Una merda sopra un prato, che cosa c'è
Che cos'è che mi ha deluso
Che mi ha come dimezzato, dimmi cos'è
Prima assai considerato
Ma poi subito scartato, soprattutto da me
All'inizio era la noia
Poi è scoppiata la caldaia, hai capito perché
E mi smonto e mi rimonto, senza un perché
Io non ci sto, stavolta no
Oggi mi alzerò
Respirerò, la vita respirerò
Depression, fuck you now
Sai com'ero massacrato
Un rottame biciclato, ma c'è un perché
Era l'ansia micidiale
Il complesso del maiale, che c'era in me
E da lì giù a pensare
Che sto bene se sto male
Perché uno tocca il fondo
Non è detto che è uno stronzo, soprattutto di me
Io non ci sto, stavolta no
Oggi mi alzerò
Respirerò, la vita respirerò
Depression, fuck you now
Davvero giuro
Io non ci sto, stavolta no
Oggi mi alzerò
E volerò, nel cielo io volerò
Depression, fuck you now
The song Trash by Lucio Dalla is written in Italian and talks about the struggles of the singer. The song starts with the singer describing himself as a "disgraziato" which means an unfortunate or miserable person. The singer expresses his frustration and disappointment in life and says that he feels like trash on a field. He then asks himself what has disappointed him and made him feel worthless. He reflects on how he was once considered important by others but was quickly discarded, especially by himself. He describes feeling a sense of boredom, which led to an explosion of frustration, and now he is left feeling alone and without purpose.
The chorus shows a change in the singer's mood, who says that he will not take the negativity anymore. He resolves to stand up and breathe life, and tells depression to go away. He then talks about how he was previously beaten down, like a wrecked bicycle, but there was a reason behind his misery. He suffered from anxiety and inferiority complex, and he came to understand that it is okay to hit rock bottom because it does not necessarily make him a bad person, especially in his own eyes.
Overall, Trash is a song that describes how easily one can feel worthless and alone, even after being initially considered important by others. The song teaches listeners to keep fighting despite hardships and says that it is okay to hit rock bottom because it doesn't make a person a bad one.
Line by Line Meaning
Sono un disgraziato
I feel like a failure
Una merda sopra un prato, che cosa c'è
I am insignificant and useless
Che cos'è che mi ha deluso
What has disappointed me
Che mi ha come dimezzato, dimmi cos'è
What has made me feel incomplete
Prima assai considerato
I was once regarded highly
Ma poi subito scartato, soprattutto da me
But then quickly rejected, especially by myself
All'inizio era la noia
It all started with boredom
Poi è scoppiata la caldaia, hai capito perché
Then the pressure built up and I exploded, do you understand why?
È che sono solo al mondo
It's because I am alone in this world
E mi smonto e mi rimonto, senza un perché
And I fall apart and put myself back together, for no reason at all
Io non ci sto, stavolta no
I won't accept it this time
Oggi mi alzerò
Today I will get up
Respirerò, la vita respirerò
I will breathe, I will breathe life
Depression, fuck you now
Depression, I won't let you control me anymore
Sai com'ero massacrato
You know how beaten up I was
Un rottame biciclato, ma c'è un perché
A broken-down bicycle, but there is a reason
Era l'ansia micidiale
It was the deadly anxiety
Il complesso del maiale, che c'era in me
The feeling of being inferior, that was inside of me
E da lì giù a pensare
And from there, I started to think
Che sto bene se sto male
That I feel better when I feel bad
Perché uno tocca il fondo
Because sometimes hitting rock-bottom
Non è detto che è uno stronzo, soprattutto di me
Doesn't necessarily mean you're a jerk, especially not me
Davvero giuro
I swear it's true
E volerò, nel cielo io volerò
And I will fly, I will fly in the sky
Contributed by Camilla E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Alessandro
Capolavoro assoluto di un genio 😎
Enrico Ravetta
Visto live in piazza duomo, era il 1999, avevo i capelli e 30kg di meno ma oggi come allora è bellissimo
Riccardo Falcini VEG
Sei stato un grande Amico!
Francesco Alessandro Squillino
Un Genio.