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Rating: How many Italian albums still warrant a review 36 years after their release? I believe a significant portion of these belongs to the heritage of the Poet De André.
Tutti morimmo a stento is a dark, intense, and heavy piece, with powerful lyrics and distressing musical content.
All of this, combined, forms a unique, unsurpassed masterpiece, matched only by other works of Fabrizio such as "Non al denaro...".
I'm not a big fan of track-by-track reviews, but I now find it necessary to dive into the dark world of this great album. It begins with the Cantico dei drogati, a particularly beautiful and sad song containing phrases that will stay in our memory (when I hear the wind between the leaves again... whisper the silences that the evening gathers...), a true anthem of solitude and fears, an unusual text for the '60s. It is followed by the first of three intermezzos, which, although brief, play a fundamental role within the album. Not that they are joyful, but without them, the album would have been excruciatingly difficult, a burden despite its brevity.
More melancholy comes with Leggenda di Natale, inspired by a song by Brassens. It talks about a little girl, disappointed by "Father Christmas" with evil eyes, a child deprived of her childhood (a wilted flower at Christmas). After this dive into the black despair and the anguish of stolen innocence, De André leads us to the second intermezzo, which introduces the merciless "Ballata degli impiccati" with its obsessive and raw rhythm (what we once called pain is just a suspended speech...) and almost sarcastic at points, literally a suicidal ballad. The rage, the rawness of the "Ballata degli impiccati" precedes the sweet, extraordinary, bucolic, dreamy, romantic, melancholic (as you wish) Inverno, one of the most beautiful songs existing, amidst snow, cypresses, cemeteries, and "the warm wind of another summer".
After Inverno, the "song form" fades away, giving space to "Girotondo", a hymn of peace, and the Corale/Leggenda del Re infelice, a heart-wrenching narrative that ends with the lyrics: Don't seek happiness in everyone you have given to expecting compensation but only in yourself, in your heart if you have given only out of pity out of pity out of pity... Pity for the afflicted has always been the core of Fabrizio's works.
In short, I'm sorry I went on for so long, but I would never have allowed myself to dismiss an album that has engaged millions of senses in each of us for so long with just a few clichéd words. From the lyrical point of view, we are probably dealing with De André's most beautiful lyrics.
Unmissable, unforgettable, just like his entire discography.
A piece of advice: visit the various sites about De André and download the entire collection with all his lyrics and read them as if it were a poetry book. Maybe, IT IS A POETRY BOOK. Perhaps just the ravings of a madman, but one we have loved dearly. That's all.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
07 Girotondo (03:07)
Se verrà la guerra, Marcondiro'ndero
se verrà la guerra, Marcondiro'ndà
sul mare e sulla terra, Marcondiro'ndera
sul mare e sulla terra chi ci salverà?
Ci salverà il soldato che non la vorrà
ci salverà il soldato che la guerra rifiuterà.
La guerra è già scoppiata, Marcondiro'ndero
la guerra è già scoppiata, chi ci aiuterà.
Ci aiuterà il buon Dio, Marcondiro'ndera
ci aiuterà il buon Dio, lui ci salverà.
Buon Dio è già scappato, dove non si sa
buon Dio se n'è andato, chissà quando ritornerà.
L'aeroplano vola, Marcondiro'ndera
l'aeroplano vola, Marcondiro'ndà.
Se getterà la bomba, Marcondiro'ndero
se getterà la bomba chi ci salverà?
Ci salva l'aviatore che non lo farà
ci salva l'aviatore che la bomba non getterà.
La bomba è già caduta, Marcondiro'ndero
la bomba è già caduta, chi la prenderà?
La prenderanno tutti, Marcondiro'ndera
siam belli o siam brutti, Marcondiro'ndà
Siam grandi o siam piccini li distruggerà
siam furbi o siam cretini li fulminerà.
Ci sono troppe buche, Marcondiro'ndera
ci sono troppe buche, chi le riempirà?
Non potremo più giocare al Marcondiro'ndera
non potremo più giocare al Marcondiro'ndà.
E voi a divertirvi andate un po' più in là
andate a divertirvi dove la guerra non ci sarà.
La guerra è dappertutto, Marcondiro'ndera
la terra è tutta un lutto, chi la consolerà?
Ci penseranno gli uomini, le bestie e i fiori
i boschi e le stagioni con i mille colori.
Di gente, bestie e fiori no, non ce n'è più
viventi siam rimasti noi e nulla più.
La terra è tutta nostra, Marcondiro'ndera
ne faremo una gran giostra, Marcondiro'ndà.
Abbiam tutta la terra Marcondiro'ndera
giocheremo a far la guerra, Marcondiro'ndà...
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Other reviews
By De-cano
From a young age, Faber very wisely understood what life was, how terrible life was, and he described it in his own way in his songs.
"People, lest in the last minute you are overtaken by late remorse for never having had pity... know that death watches over you... like a farmer watches the growing grain until it is ripe for the scythe."
By Lord.Galamoth
This album, both in the stunning poems recited by De André’s baritone voice and in the redundant and baroque arrangements, is the darkest and most desperate thing ever recorded up to now.
We are facing one of the greatest masterpieces of modern music of our time: it is an album truly worthy in all respects, and at least one listen among friends is a must.
By hypnosphere boy
"'Tutti morimmo a stento' is absolutely the first concept album produced in Italy, as well as the first of four thematic albums by Fabrizio de André."
"The unrest and dramatic tension come from the awareness of death crossing life, restoring human dignity and beauty to death through poetic intuition."
By $Maudit$
"Tutti morimmo a stento represents a journey into the desolation of humanity, sentenced to death, drug addicts, pedophiles, and shaken children."
"It should make us reflect a lot, anyway, one of the masterpieces left to us by this formidable singer-songwriter."
By Cimbarello132
We run across a bridge over the sea without realizing that the bridge is broken in the middle.
We are not dead. We have never lived.
