Di Battisti, who was born 80 years ago on March 5, everyone has their favorite songs. We offer you the Playlist selected by Luca Sofri, director of the Post, for his book.
Lucio Battisti
(1943, Poggio Bustone, Rieti – 1998, Milan)
Lucio Battisti was and is the greatest of Italian pop music: “light” music. He has tried them all and they have all been successful. You could only fill a jukebox with your best songs. And he was so good that he made familiar and bearable even verses that would have been embarrassing in any other mouth. Now it’s gone.
For a lira
(Lucio Battisti, 1969)
It was our first 45 rpm, which was much sought after by collectors (it was printed in limited copies to put a damper on it when he was only considered a good writer for other voices: the biggest investments were in, for example the performance of the same song by the rebels). There are those soulful gimmicks that he would often use in the years to come.
March’s Gardens
(Human Man: The Dream, 1972)
At the bottom of the soul lies the immeasurable, as I always understood as a child, faithful to the scholastic subject-verb-objective schemes (or vice versa, in this case). Instead, as you well know, it says “immense skys”.
And I am thinking of you
(Human Man: The Dream, 1972)
Among the many talents of the Mogol-Battisti duo was a rare passion for writing dialogue. Think of “Fiori rosa, fiori di pesco”, “Innocenti evasioni”, “Anche per te”, “Ami ancora Elisa” and “Why not”. “And I think of you” was first a neglected B-side by Bruno Lauzi, then a negligible cover by Tanita Tikaram: right in the middle of this extraordinary love song, supplanted by the legendary “para-para-parappa-pa”, fruit of the arrangement by Gian Piero Reverberi.
The Light of the East
(My Free Song, 1972)
Though the title evokes the sol of the future (even in the “bright red sun”), behind the curtain she remains in her place – complete with “Gunshot” – and this song, too, became a pointer against the supposed right-wing inspirations of Battisti (along with the “Forest of Outstretched Arms” in “The Cherry Hill”).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJQUEkgVnN0
wind in the wind
(My Free Song, 1972)
With that unusual piano attack, it’s one of Battisti fans’ favorite songs. The orchestral passage was then taken up by De Gregori in The Soccer Lever of the ’68 Class. In the first episode of each year, certain radio hosts usually dedicate the stanza “and the new season behind the glass…” to the technicians.
Our dear angel
(Our Dear Angel, 1973)
Exceptional introduction, with the guitar playing having a rhythm that can only be compared to that of Everything but the Girl’s “Bittersweet”. It was never clarified whether the angel in the title also alluded to the newborn Luca Battisti.
Hug her, hug her, hug her
(Latin Soul, 1974)
One of those fantastic strands of sound invented by Battisti. While the lyrics inspire solidarity with his loved ones: he must have been someone who often stopped to chat, most beautifully.
Two worlds
(Latin Soul, 1974)
Great musical invention sung with Mara Cubeddu (formerly of Flora, Fauna and Cement and of the Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble, the one on “Soleado”) who doesn’t fare very well but in the end everything works and has a great rhythm. One of Battisti’s first modern danceable pieces: at the end of the Anima Latina disc there was also a slow reprise lasting a minute.
The company
(drums, bass etc., 1976)
A rarity: it is not a song by Battisti, neither written by him nor written for him. Mogol gave it to Marisa Sannia in 1969. Then it belonged to Battisti, who still had a penchant for soul in 1976 and unleashed himself here in a memorable falsetto.
You still love Elisa
(I You Us All, 1977)
“Now I am calm, like a duck on the lake”. Who is this Eliza? There had been talk of Francesca (but it wasn’t her), Anna had been wanted. But Elise? And anyway, when someone insists so much on convincing you that they no longer love Elisha, some doubts arise.
I’m a year older
(I You Us All, 1977)
Everyone has felt this way sooner or later, aged, gleefully disillusioned and with some sentimental regret. This usually happens on birthdays. The most important thing is to have a friend who won’t give you your car keys or phone back until you’re that drunk.
Not even a minute without love
(I You Us All, 1977)
There are devotees of Battisti’s various periods who argue endlessly about which was the most outstanding. Here the record called Io tu noi tutti is believed to be the one with the greatest songs of his entire career. This is a wonderful tale of a few minutes of sentimental misunderstanding, fear and relief with an automotive background (a background covered in more detail in “Yes, Travel” on the same CD).
Question about the cell
(I You Us All, 1977)
In the long-running battle between cowardly supporters of genetic alibis, or the inevitability of fate, and brazen individualists who pretend to forge their own destiny, Battisti was with the latter: “and no, and no, it’s not about cells, it’s about choice that you meet is mine not to live halfway”.
love each other a little
(I You Us All, 1977)
“But not loving each other, participating is difficult, almost like flying.” Still on sentimental maturity. It was the best-selling 45 of 1977 (it said “Yes, travel” on the back).
With the pink ribbon
(A Dark Day, 1980)
Perhaps only Nanni Moretti implanted so many expressions in Italian popular culture that have become commonplace. Dozens of Battisti allowed themselves to be quoted, but “we only find out by living”, celebrated by Gialappa, now even elementary school kids use it when asked if they’ve done their homework.
Are you crying
(Don Giovanni, 1986)
It was the beginning of the fertile new life Battisti returned to after the change on the bench: Mogol out, followed by Signora Battisti’s temporary and unforgettable interregnum, and then Pasquale Panella, poet and daredevil word-bundler, in. This is where his repertoire of wordplay comes into its own, along with the liberating invitation of the title. And it’s a great piece to dance to.
i am selling house
(The Adventures of Lucio Battisti and Mogol, 2004)
“A sandwich, a beer and then…” It was written for Dik Dik, who sang it in 1971. Battisti’s simultaneous acoustic recording was released many years later. The topic of moving and especially the real estate transaction is also later treated by Ivano Fossati in “E di nuovo Cambio casa” (“I am selling a house for a car, the solution is the best”).