Francesco de Gregori

[Geno]

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Francesco De Gregori (Rome, April 4, 1951) is an Italian singer-songwriter and musician.

The artists most important of the Italian music scene, in his songs are musically meet various sounds, from rock to singer-songwriters, with sometimes even references to popular music while the lyrics there is a wide use of synaesthesia and metaphor often not immediately recognizable, with passages of intimate inspiration, literary-poetic and ethical-political space in which there are references to current events and history.

It is often referred songwriter and poet, although he prefers to be simply identified as "artist." He is also one of the artists with the most number of awards from the Club Tenco, with six plates and a Premio Tenco The words of the music.

It is thanks to his brother that the young Francis began to perform in public: Luigi fact, with the stage name of Ludwig, plays every week at Folkstudio, presenting traditional American songs and their songs. One day, at the beginning of 1969, Francis made him listen to his brother a song he had just written, titled Goodnight Nina, whose agreements were taken from a song by Fabrizio De André, but performed in reverse order. Luigi the learned and sang to Folkstudio successfully (years after the impact in his first LP, Accused of freedom), for which he proposed to his brother to sing the following Sunday, which Francis made.

At Folkstudio De Gregori knows many musicians, including Caterina Bueno, Antonello Venditti, Tnt, Giovanna Marinuzzi (with whom he had a brief fling mentioned years later in the song Nothing to understand), Ernesto Bassignano, Edoardo De Angelis and Giorgio Lo Cascio.

For a short time creates, together with the latter, in a duo - Francis and George - which in many ways goes back to Simon and Garfunkel; their repertoire includes songs of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.

Always with Lo Cascio and with the collaboration of Antonello Venditti and Ernesto Bassignano, Francis performs at Folkstudio in a space called the program "Young folk"; the acronym will then be used by four performances in the rest of Italy. The quartet is also remembered by Antonello Venditti in the famous lines "I remember four guys with a guitar and a piano on his shoulder" that open the song Nightmare before.

Playing at Folkstudio, the Tuscan singer Caterina Bueno (which years later will be dedicated the song Caterina (contained LP Titanic) knows and De Gregori, looking for a guitarist that summer Giovanna Marini proposes precisely De Gregori who accepts; it It comes the first tour of the young Roman singer in Tuscany. Noteworthy is the fact that the same Bueno insisted to split the pay of each concert in three between her and her two guitarists.

[Geno]

Alice - Francesco de Gregori

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju0z8FEhn7o

The song participated in a disc for the summer in 1973, finishing in last place; over the years become, however, one of the most famous songs by De Gregori.

The text combines various images, corresponding to the thoughts of Alice Title: this is a girl looking quiet what happens around. In the first stanza are juxtaposed Irene, girl who contemplates suicide (which De Gregori will dedicate a homonymous song [3]) and Lili Marleen seen in a poster, still beautiful despite her age, and already mentioned in the song "Famous blue raincoat" of Leonard Cohen. The chorus speaks instead of a boy, forced to marry to have knocked up his girlfriend, during the ceremony cries no longer wants the marriage, causing the indignation of those present. In the second stanza, that of Cesare Pavese (... and Caesar lost in the rain waiting for six hours on his ballerina love) that, in 1925, became ill with pleurisy staying long in the rain to wait for a singer dancer variety a local student crowd, which had fallen in love.

In the third verse he speaks of a seriously ill Arab beggar who has no money, and even a place to sleep. The verse "... the Arab beggar has something in the hat ..." it was originally written by De Gregori as "... the beggar Arabic has cancer in the hat ..."; but he was censored by RAI with the following motivation: "The song is aired in special spaces and times also around noon and people do not like hearing about" [4] at that hour cancer. Francesco De Gregori has always sung the original version in live performance.

Each stanza ends with the verse "... but all this Alice does not know": the girl looks all those that revolve around, but in reality remains extraneous to the little great tragedies that happen to them.

[Geno]

Generale - Francesco de Gregori

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG7aT8jb3Zc

It is one of the most famous songs by De Gregori. It is a ballad introduced by a piano riff Alberto Visentin; the text refers to the period of military service performed by singer-songwriter at the Alpine Battalion "Tirano" of Mals. The hill is the Col Tarces, the night "Kraut and murderous" that is German-speaking and drenched in the blood spilled by terrorists separatist South Tyrol. The train 'behind the station "was clearly visible from the baths of Wackernell barracks which stood right in Station Street. The song comes following the visit to the barracks of a general meeting of Alpine and arouses the pacifists and nostalgic feelings of those who are away from home to do military service and longs to return and normal life.

"General" was included by De Gregori in many live records: