Paolo Vallesi
Le Persone Inutili

In 1991, Slint released one of the most beautiful creations that two guitars, a bass, a drum, and a voice have ever generated.

In 1991, as can be inferred from the touching cover of "Spiderland", Brian McMahon, Dave Pajo, Ethan Bucker, and Britt Walford had just started shaving a few months before. The story of those four young men, who took the liberty of deforming rock and whispering it to the entire world, seems extraordinarily intense and poetic to me, especially if I play "Washer" in the background.

. . . . . . . .

" I know it's dark outside
don't be afraid
everytime I ever cried from fear
was just a mistake that I made
wash yourself in your tears
and build your church
on the strength of your faith"

. . . . . . . .

In 1991, Paolo Vallesi was 27 years old, and he had had a beard for quite a while. That didn’t stop him from appearing on the stage of the Sanremo Festival, in the "New Proposals" section. It seemed that handsome beard of a young man was precisely what charmed the seated Italian audience. It was, in fact, a triumph, and a moved Vallesi was able to receive the first prize: he had just been crowned as the best budding talent of Italian Music. Cotillons.
The piece that impressed the judges so much was called "Le persone inutili". I wonder if any of you, like me, remember the melody. Despite my aversion to the de-formed torrents of copy-paste, it seems essential to reproduce the full text.

Le persone inutili - (P. Vallesi/B. Dati, 1991)

C'è anche un'altra umanità
dietro a sé non lascerà
leggi e monumenti
gente destinata a perdere
e nessuno canterà
i suoi fallimenti.
Uomini in balia
di un Dio e della disallegria
che non li abbandona mai
aghi nei pagliai
nascosti fra i passanti.

Sono le persone inutili
gente che non riesce a vivere
che non mostra i denti e i muscoli
che si arrende prima o poi.
Sono le persone inutili
le più vere le più umili
che non troveremo mai
sui giornali o nei cortei
ma che amano ogni giorno molto più di noi.

E continuano così
rassegnati a dire sì
a tirare avanti
sempre condannati a illudersi
di trovarsi dentro a un film
finalmente amanti.
Uomini in balia
dei sogni e della nostalgia
che non cresceranno mai
nani in mezzo ai guai
col cuore di giganti.

Sono le persone inutili
gente destinata a perdersi
che nell'anima ha troppi lividi
che non si difende più
e si ammala prima o poi.
Perché le persone inutili
sono sole sono fragili
e non prenderanno mai
né medaglie né trofei
ma amano ogni giorno
molto più di noi.

Tutte le persone inutili
vinceranno prima o poi
ma non lo sapranno mai
e nel loro paradiso
non ci andremo noi.

Not yet accustomed to this grim and pointless life, I remember that I was quite impressed at the time that this text was considered one of the expressions of the national artistic avant-garde.
I would have wanted to convene Paolo Vallesi, B. Dati, all the voters of that edition, and a popular sample.

I would have asked everyone how "people who don't show their teeth and muscles and give up sooner or later" should constitute a model of love "much more than us." I would have objected that true love disposes man to struggle, commitment, passion. I would have asked for clarification on the attribution of "a heart like giants" to "men at the mercy of dreams and nostalgia, who will never grow up." I would have argued that a giant heart belongs to those who can abandon preconceived positions to embark on growth. But above all, I would have wanted the syllogism revealed according to which, though they never know it, the aforementioned useless people will eventually win, having earned a paradise for us, alas, forbidden.

But above all, I would have concluded by asking Paolo if I was included in his repeated "us," and whether we would therefore have to share the same otherworldly space one day. It chilled me to think that there could only be an afterworld of useless people and that of Paolo Vallesi and B. Dati. Was there, in short, a third way for my eternity?

A few months later, I slipped "Spiderland" into my ancient, glorious Pioneer.

P.S. : In 2005, the reunited Slint were in Italy, setting afire a handful of hearts (of dwarves). In the same country, Paolo Vallesi was the "mole" in the eponymous reality show. When utility meets pleasure.