Francesco Guccini
Amerigo

THE REVIEW

Dear debasers, after the storm of comments triggered by my review of 'Via Paolo Fabbri 43', I decided to try to be nicer, so much so that I had another rejection in mind, so I changed the record.

'Amerigo', 1976, is Guccini's reflection on America. A bit of biography never hurts: it seems to me that Guccini lived and worked in America around the period following his first two LPs, here he had a love story that echoed throughout his production, I know that Guccini taught at an American college but I don't know if it happened during the same period of this first trip of his, nor for what reason he moved, the fact is that in this album he makes his own a very strong and present topic for his generation. America shines in the memories of our grandparents, the land from which the allies had arrived, and they had brought rock 'n' roll and blue jeans, the land of redemption, where everyone could, relying only on themselves, become rich, or at least establish themselves, and in a way, in America, it really worked like that. For the migrants it was 'work and blood, hard work the same morning and evening', but it was also a great opportunity, even today the Italian community in America is very large.

De Gregori, I think in the same year, had released 'Bufalo Bill', the enigmatic LP on a similar theme. In Guccini, America is little more than a pretext, and this LP can be considered the account of that experience, the comparison between the ideal image of the Promised Land, and the reality experienced by him, as years before by his uncle, an emigrant, and finally by the two together, in the title track, which is a synthesis of the two experiences, one flowing into the other in which Guccini sees himself in the thirst for travel, in the uncle's dream, in his gestures before leaving, in the immense courage, but also in defeat, in returning aged and poor, beaten by reality and its harshness. Life as an existential defeat, as a fight against a windmill and cries against a wall, is already a clear idea in Guccini, however, this transoceanic experiment is nice and offers ideas for excellent songs.

Among these, I prefer the title track, which Guccini often remembers as one of his most important and successful songs, in one case even entrusting the 'philosophy' of his production to the synthesis of this song and 'La locomotiva', as two sides of his expression, of his revolt first of all internal and for this reason human, before being collective, at least for me, which is why I struggle to recognize the importance of a song like 'La locomotiva' while I find in 'Amerigo' a significant song precisely because it is, in its own way, intimate, rough but sweet, sad but indignant.

Apart from a few episodes (especially 'Mondo nuovo', which seems almost added to things already done), let's say it, in this LP we find many of our favorite songs. Among the two 'almost' love stories, namely '100 Pennsylvania Ave' and 'Eskimo', both very autobiographical, I prefer the darkness of the first, a song of extreme simplicity, usual words, vivid, colorful images, a song that immediately captures for the ease of identification, a somewhat atypical song for Guccini, but extraordinarily melancholic and sweet, that gives a squeeze to the heart already in the first verses, when we see Guccini leaving, facing America holding his love's hand, and watching the roads flow by him and with every step leaving behind, farther and farther away, the road home and the past, for a future all to imagine and dream about.

"The road from Pennsylvania Station

seemed to cross the Continent

as if it never turned back

but always went forward, to the West

through iron and glass tombs

plains, poles, and people..."

this is just the first stanza. The second, alas, starts with the poignant

"And back, instead, and quickly, I returned..."

What can I say?! Here come the tears, thank you 'Maestrone'!