Adriano Celentano
La Pubblica Ottusità

And in the first track of the album, Celentano lashes out against public dullness, which "with its smearing also obscures the sun's rays." "Public dullness" is what is killing the sea, polluting the air, and creating ecological monsters. "Public dullness" is what does not want to see and seeks to enclose itself in its gray and petty selfishness. Emblematic is the cover.
"Public dullness" is a formidable opponent that wants to bury us and overwhelms us.

An exhortation from Celentano, the author of this piece, to become an active part of society and not to limit oneself only to one's own surroundings... "What matters is us and this can be enough," avoiding thinking about society's problems, that's what the national Adriano contests.
Following that, "Dolce Rompi", where a man, left alone by his beloved troublemaker, spends time idling, leaving everything messy, drinking coffee, eating garlic, calling friends, etc. (et cetera). Overcome by boredom ("Days of yawns, nights of TV"), he decides to finally reunite with the "dear sweet troublemaker, sweet trouble dear." The song was also used as the background for a well-known coffee brand.
The third track is "È Ancora Sabato", introduced by a soft-sounding bass, which shows us a passive man, who doesn't know what to do, waiting for Sunday, the day of celebration. A man who must try to lift himself up, must try something more, must try to go out and not say no, rather than distress himself with "it doesn't matter." It then transitions to "Fresco", a cute self-referential song, where the lyrics, full of rhymes, assonances, and neologisms ["I'm already rimba(mbito?)"], let Celentano play the role of the heartthrob, the Latin lover. ("What a bother I am, I'm handsome", "If I say no, she'll throw herself into the Po." )

Surreal is "The Last Giant", meaning the 78 rpm, now in extinction, that knocks in winter at the protagonist's door on his birthday and asks if it can put on the 78 rpm of "Rock Around The Clock". Interesting is the interruption that follows to make way for the explosive song by Bill Haley & The Comets. The 78 rpm acts this way to remind Celentano of his entire history, from working as a watchmaker to rock'n'roll.
In "There's Something Wrong" a woman tries to seduce the singer's persona, using all the tricks of pleasure. However, the performer is convinced that something is wrong and repeats it to us until exhaustion throughout the track. At the end of the song, it is revealed what is wrong: the woman is in a hurry and does not desire to discover the person she tries to seduce only a little at a time.
" You no longer know what should and can be loved,
if everything you want you can have whenever you want and soon!",
to use the same words from Celentano's lyrics.

And here is "You Attract Me": a woman attracts Celentano's attention like a magnet. The woman in question is not very beautiful, but the Andalusian gait, the play of glances... in short, "on the roof of fantasy" the woman is "the most beautiful cat there is."
At the conclusion of the album, "The Light of the Sun", a religious invocation, a prayer from a children's choir to the Lord. Toward the end, Celentano intervenes, addressing God, singing:
"You are truly extravagant,
maybe you didn't notice,
see that I study you inside my dreams.
Yours is just a beautiful speech,
that began the day it was,
when the light of your face arrived down here."
And the choir promptly responds:
"And that speech will end when man destroyed will have
the love of your immense splendor
that radiated this humanity".

This was to give you an idea of ​​the content of the last piece's lyrics, which, as for the musical part, resembles the arrangement of "Another Brick In The Wall" by Pink Floyd.

PUBLIC DULLNESS (1987)
Public Dullness (Celentano/Soffici) (5:43)
Sweet Trouble (Albini/Bigazzi/Prudente) (3:57)
It's Still Saturday (Calabrese/Pirazzoli/Jackson) (4:22)
Fresco (Santercole/Del Prete/Santercole) (3:15)
The Last Giant / Rock Around The Clock (Celentano/Barbagallo; Freedman/Knight) (3:57)
There's Something Wrong (Celentano) (4:59)
You Attract Me (Albini/Bigazzi) (3:31)
The Light of the Sun (Celentano/Pirazzoli) (6:08)

As can be seen, in general, the more pessimistic and preachy lyrics are those by Celentano. Moreover, there's only one song entrusted to the traditional and prolific lyricists of the clan (Santercole/Del Prete), namely "Fresco." REVIEW ON COMMISSION CJBS ©