Francesco De Gregori
Le Origini

THE REVIEW

Francesco De Gregori is one of the best Italian singer-songwriters, the most authentic "native son", though not a mere clone, of Bob Dylan.

The core of his songs are the lyrics: hermetic, metaphorical, poetic. The music is almost always simple and primarily serves as an accompaniment to the singing. The artist's preferred instruments are the acoustic guitar, piano, and harmonica. De Gregori's voice, which is very distinctive and nasal, often interprets, more than sings, usually in falsetto.

De Gregori reached the peak of his poetry between the '70s and '80s, from the album "Alice" in 1973 to his biggest hit "La Donna Cannone" in 1983.

This collection, now out of print, includes almost all of his best compositions from this first decade.

It begins with the three most famous tracks: the poetic "La donna cannone", with a beautiful melody drawn on the piano, the poignant and disenchanted "Rimmel", possibly the artist's best composition, and the melancholic ballad-anthem "Generale", which opens with the evocative and unforgettable intro "Generale, dietro la collina/ ci sta la notte crucca ed assassina/..."

Other essential episodes in De Gregori's career are undoubtedly the wonderful piano ballad "La leva calcistica della classe '68", a metaphorical transposition of the defeat of the generation aspiring to revolution, the very sweet "Pezzi di vetro", the seemingly cheerful "Titanic", the poignant ode to freedom "Due zingari", the serene "Raggio di Sole", the martial "Viva l'Italia", and finally the Dylan-like "Buonanotte Fiorellino".

The collection closes with some lesser-known tracks, still never banal or negligible: the sweet and naive "Piccola Mela", the metaphorical "Quattro Cani", the sad "Festival", dedicated to Luigi Tenco, the melancholic "Natale", the more cheerful melodies of "Piano Bar" and "Renoir", the hermetic "Alice" and "Pablo", the jovial "Caterina", and finally the moving "I muscoli del capitano".

After this golden decade, De Gregori would progressively lose inspiration, giving rise to albums that are less and less successful, with few tracks that could be placed on the same level as his classics.

"Le origini" is, ultimately, an excellent collection of De Gregori's songs. The only missing gems, in my opinion, are "Niente da capire", "Atlantide", and "Ma come fanno i marinai", composed and sung with his friend Lucio Dalla.

In an ideal songbook of the entire career of the Roman artist, I would also include the more recent "Il bandito e il campione", "La storia", "Adelante! Adelante!", "Bellamore", "Stella della strada" and "Cose".