Gino Paoli
Per una storia

THE REVIEW

In the distant 2000, what I consider the artistic pinnacle of a great author like Gino Paoli hit the market. An author who is likely underrated compared to his schoolmates (Tenco and De André), whose value, in my opinion, will be appreciated in due time.

It's an artistic pinnacle because it takes us on a journey through time in the most significant moments of his career.

It's not just a usual compilation made to captivate the modern audience or for pure commercial purposes, but a summary of his life as an artist and as a character. It starts with "La gatta," a cheerful song but nothing more, then moves to "Che cosa c'é," an essential poem, stylistically Montalian I'd say, but incisive, which encapsulates the deepest nuances of love for a woman. "Il cielo in una stanza," revolutionary in the themes it addresses given the repression of sexuality common at the time. A touching song, anything but superficial, yet characterized by a simple harmonic structure that makes it seem straightforward; after all, the difficulty lies precisely in that. "Sapore di Sale" deserves its chapter, a song which I think only a great artist can conceive: accessible to all and popular, yet capable of delving into human loneliness expressed with melancholic tones. "Senza fine," a sweet, enveloping ballad that never tires the listener's ear. Proposing a waltz at the time was a real heresy in a market dominated by swing and rock 'n' roll. Result: millions of copies sold worldwide and abundant tributes from overseas, including those from Dean Martin and Connie Francis. The icing on the cake is a revisited version by one of the greatest jazz guitarists in history, Wes Montgomery, almost a recognition of the universality of that musical proposal.

"Come si fa," another gem of the Great Poet, not suited to times when songs were structured around the criticism of the economic system and the bourgeois society as a whole. A theme not adequate, therefore, to a historical period in which the artistic proposal mingled with political echoes and suggestions.

"Una lunga storia d'amore" marks a return to the scene after years of marginalization. With this work and others, Paoli shows a quality few can boast of: being able to sing about love and carnal passion without becoming pathetic and overly sweet, but always singing of an adult love that does not expose itself excessively outwardly but is internalized in the intimacy of those who love. "Averti addosso" is a manifesto of what Paoli's conception of the relationship with a woman is, as he has recalled in many interviews: having does not mean possession of a thing, but having as breathing, as appropriating something women leave us in memory, in our imagination.

A year later, in 1986, "Ti lascio una canzone" came out, a very moving song about a man's illness that could lead to his death, and despite this, the tones are not exaggerated. They are soft tones; the pain is experienced with great dignity.

"Questione di sopravvivenza" shows the love and attraction that women exert towards Paoli, "i tuoi difetti mi sono indispensabili" the flaws of women are another reason to respect and love them and a warning to men who never accept the opposite sex for what it is. Gino sings the beauty of love, but also the crosses it inevitably brings with it.

We come to the song I consider most representative of Gino's character and temperament, "Cosa farò da grande," where in those words, in that deeply felt interpretation, there is the liberation of a man who, despite market failures and critical hostility, is "still here" to reaffirm his presence. A man who, after crossing middle age, has the strength to say he "runs as an independent" who trusts only those who have given him their heart and that all roads lead to certainty "including the wrong ones." We finish the review with "E m'innamorerai," a song made famous to the general public thanks to the recent duet with Vanoni in 2005. Paoli's vocal interpretation is very clean, without smears, and as the quintessential anti-singer, a pure interpreter, he does not focus on high notes but seeks, with gestures, with different inflections of his voice, to give a soul to the song, and he succeeds brilliantly. Probably the last great song of Paoli's, even though it innovates musical content, it fundamentally proposes the same leitmotif. Here too, the declaration of his feelings is not violent or unkempt but is like a "castaway on tiptoe."

What to say, quoting an album by the same Paoli, just close your eyes and listen.