Lucio Battisti
E penso a te

The following is my personal interpretation of the classic piece signed by Battisti/Mogol.

The first verse, in which Battisti lightly states "Io lavoro e penso a te" ("I work and think of you"), is a declaration on the man's part of his right to be a man as a male, clarifying who wears the pants, who works hard to keep the house running. There's irony in the first "E penso a te" ("And I think of you"). The man in the song appears confused, disoriented, almost falling from the pedestal, as if he were saying, "What? I work, I'm the man of the house, I should be serious, yet I think of you. Instead of devoting myself firmly to duty, I think of the pleasure I cannot seize here and now?" "Io lavoro e penso a te" serves as both an attack and a retreat.
The second verse "Torno a casa e penso a te" ("I come home and think of you") keeps the rhythm, ensuring the rituality. The song's protagonist is both a victim and executioner of his life dedicated to daily defeat in a bourgeois routine that, on one hand, annihilates him, yet on the other, fortunately, does not prevent him from still thinking with his own head, from loving, from desiring.
"Le telefono e intanto penso a te" ("I call her and meanwhile think of you"): from this closing line of the tercet, we deduce that two female figures are involved. While the man calls his girlfriend, he cannot help but think of the other girl, the ideal one, the one who is neither there beside him nor on the other end of the phone. It's clear then that in the first two lines, the protagonist is not speaking with the absent, ideal girl but with his current woman, the one he's talking to on the phone. In the last line of the tercet, it becomes clear that the man is thinking of both, and he is deeply torn, divided, because on one hand, in his mind, he sees his current woman, the partner he works for and for whom he comes home; and yet his woman is not at home, so much so that he is forced to call her on the phone, worried; on the other hand, he still needs to think of the other her, the other woman in his life, still undefined.
"Come stai? … Dove andiamo?" ("How are you? ... Where are we going?"): these are the ready-to-use canonical questions the protagonist asks his woman. Again the annihilating routine that turns a human being into a robot. "Le sorrido, abbasso gli occhi e penso a te" ("I smile at her, lower my eyes, and think of you"). Here there are two possible interpretations: either the man smiles on the phone and then lowers his eyes, or the lyricist, Mogol, has deliberately skipped a scene, transitioning from the phone call to the meeting with the female figure of reference. In both cases, silence is the key. The smile and eyes looking down speak more than any words spoken. In "E penso a te" Mogol demonstrates his lyrical talent, consisting of a perfect examination of emotions and rituals that are, however, synthesized into a few lines. In the first two tercets alone, Mogol has managed to capture the listener through the gift of synthesis.
The next two tercets are emblematic, highlighting the growing complexity of the protagonist's thoughts, which, however, do nothing but elaborate on reflections as old as time and seemingly simple. "Non so con chi adesso sei, non so che cosa fai, ma so di certo cosa stai pensando" ("I don't know who you're with now, I don't know what you do, but I know for sure what you're thinking"): by the process of elimination, the song's man realizes how closely he aligns with his ideal girl, his "second" woman. He doesn't care who she is with or what she is doing, the outward where and what, because he knows without a shadow of a doubt that she feels the same things he does: their inner life is what counts. It's not just him thinking (specifically "of you"), but she is also given to think, to have the same inner turmoil. "E’ troppo grande la città" ("The city is too big") takes on the value of a cry, a protest against urbanization and standardization imposed by the system. The city's vastness is disorienting, driving the man further away from his her, indeed Battisti sings, "Per due che come noi non sperano però si stan cercando" ("For two like us who don't hope but are searching for each other"). Both protagonists (the man and his ideal woman, not the life partner) are desperate, don't know what to do and what to be in the devouring city, yet despite everything, they continue to search for each other, they don't give up. It seems like a contradiction, as if it were a "desperate hope." The entire tercet "E’ troppo grande la città per due che come noi non sperano, però si stan cercando" cannot but be considered a masterpiece, the work of a lyrical genius. Here the author reveals the "second" woman's identity. Mogol (and/or Battisti) thinks about women in general, all the women he cannot have, that he cannot love because he is already engaged. Mogol's is a declaration of love to all the lonely women searching for the other half, who don't give up because they can't, because pure desperation would lead to total annihilation. The male protagonist and the "any" woman may be emotionally involved with other people, may have sexual affairs, but they can't help feeling the same sense of unease, inadequacy; they therefore need to search for each other, to desire each other.
With "Scusa è tardi e penso a te" ("Sorry it's late and I think of you") the protagonist turns back to his partner. The evening, in general, hasn’t been great, as understood from the whispered, almost timid "Ti accompagno" ("I'll walk you"). The outing hasn't been one of the best because he wasn’t "fun." Why wasn't he fun? In what sense wasn't he fun? Did he perhaps talk with his partner about his thoughts, maybe gave vent to his musings, depressing her and making her feel unimportant? Probably negatively touched by her man's universal declaration of love, she wanted to end the evening, and the man, in the heat of having to make amends, naively proposed to accompany her.
Again the rituality with "Sono al buio … chiudo gli occhi … io non dormo" ("I'm in the dark ... I close my eyes ... I don't sleep"), in a climax tinged with irony, yet erupting in desperation. And it is again a cry, a protest. The protagonist cannot sleep at the thought of having disappointed both women in his life, his partner, and the entire female gender.
Anyone still accusing the Mogol/Battisti duo of being misogynistic and sexist should listen to "E penso a te" a couple of times and would realize the irrationality of the prejudice. "E penso a te" is an absolute masterpiece of the Italian song, a perfect synthesis of Mogol's poetics.