Charts and playlists – Edoardo Bennato

A short selection to rediscover about ten hidden gems from Edoardo Bennato's golden period, i.e. the first twenty years of his career. A maximum of one song per album was used, to try to keep the result as varied as possible: during the period in question, moreover, the artist was so inspired that some discs would have had to be included in full, in which case, however, the sense of a selection based on individual songs would have been lost. From the bestsellers “Purattino senza fili” and “Sono solo canzonette”, however, no songs were selected, given that music lovers in Italy tend to know them in full.
Each title has been linked to a link for listening on YouTube (it was not possible to create a Spotify playlist due to the absence of the album “It's dry mad 'oh master”).
“Let's save what can be saved” (1974, album: “The Good and the Bad”)

One of the best examples of Bennato one-man bandwith an arrangement built on strumming of acoustic guitar, pedal tambourine and kazoo. The text narrates the collapse of the state machine and a political class that refuses its responsibilities, thus still being relevant today: “I was ahead and acted as a guide, and how many people got lost along the way, I was in good faith but… save what could be saved. I had nothing to do with it, you, you… save what could be saved”.

One of the first Italian songs, at least published by a high-profile figure, to openly attack the Pope. Previously Antonello Venditti, in the song “Brucia Roma”, had sung the verse “Brucia Roma cor papa inside”, but in that same song he launched arrows towards any system of power, ending up diluting that specific attack: this by Bennato is instead an accusation ad personamon an aggressive base of acoustic guitar, harmonica and shaker: “Look out, bless, look at us, look at us, you've been watching for almost two thousand years”.
At the end, a surprise reprise of the song “Io che non sono l'interno” appears.

“Fandango“ (1976, album: “The Tower of Babel”)

It is not the first time in which Bennato demonstrates his love for orchestral arrangements: think of “In fila per tre”, from “The Good and the Bad”, strongly influenced by Gioachino Rossini's comic opera.
However, if that song has earned a strong cult following over time, “Fandango” has remained in the shadows, perhaps due to an even more elaborate arrangement (which falls within the great tradition of Argentine tango), a more cryptic text (which takes aim at the performativism of the intellectual class of the time) and a chaotic and surreal ending, full of overdubs, in which Bennato plays the part of the presenter of a festival dedicated to tango in Spanish.

Just two minutes long, it is a brilliant song in ancient church style in which Bennato notes the impotence of the committed singer-songwriter in the face of the habits and distortions of society: “Despite my repeated invitations to tolerance and self-criticism, the result is disheartening”.

The most overwhelming approach to funk of his career, with a strong break between verse and chorus, during which the speed of the metric soars. Between solids groove of bass, syncopated guitar interweavings (the usually masterful Lucio Bardi) and dense percussive layers, the text deals with the generational divide that afflicted the society of the time (and which upon closer inspection has always affected the most advanced forms of civilization): “Don't complain, don't bring up generational conflicts, the countermeasures that you propose are remedies worse than the evils”.

“It's a goal” (1984, album: “Live! It's goal”)

Studio piece conceived as unreleased to open the artist's first live album. Very atmospheric, with an intense sax attack, it shows a Bennato who is careful not to be overcome by technological developments, moving between electronic new wave, heartland rock and arena rock. The text is dedicated to the epic game of football, but also to the excessive load of expectations it generates: “This time you were good, but from now on there will be a spotlight on your every move, and then we will see how much you are really worth”.
It was the theme song for the program “La Domenica Sportive” in 1984-'85.

Dark urban rock with carpets of keyboards, effected guitars and rhythms sharp as a razor blade, a sort of missing link between Billy Idol's “Rebel Yell” and Judas Priest's “Turbo Lover”, having been released after one, but before the other.
The commercial potential was undermined by the text, which however is the masterpiece within the masterpiece, a labyrinth of hermeticism, geometries, wordplay and science fiction suggestions, certainly the most experimental ever written by the artist, to the point that even on the Internet all the transcriptions contain inaccuracies (even the one on Bennato.net). Below is an integral and corrected version:

AA, motion lines,

AA, precautions,

A, phase, DU-Radio rays,

because when you move

always sunsets tomorrow,

travel, bills that don't add up.

Now wherever you go,

now wherever you go,

now wherever I go

the Radio law tries,

now where you show

can U-Radio like

let man U say

how and where to play.

Tren-Tren, I don't change,

I ask, is this credible,

I ask myself, never go with deception.

I, wow! Very promptly

I say no, no, always forever,

I say yes, never, ever.

Nobody ready, no,

no voice, no,

carrier confirmation,

no one ready, no,

and the sad man now,

in the space of a crime,

you know the radius Fow

and the journey goes, I go, I go,

go, go, go.

AA, zero in conduct. [x6]

And then AA, adrift,

on your private screen

false data confuses you,

and beyond the wall of fortune

as well as moving lines

I knew, gone is the red yellow.

And on the radio now,

and on the radio now

I'll write a line

and I'll ask why I cry, cry, go, go, go!

Coming from what is probably the best album made by Bennato in the Eighties, unfortunately very underrated in general today, given that despite half a million copies sold at the time, none of his songs have remained in the collective imagination, not even radio hits like the title track and “You want America.”

“Chi beve, chi beve” is a dynamic electronic blues rock, with a fully programmed rhythm section, and conceptually refers to a great classic of Neapolitan song, “La rumba degli scugnizzi” (Raffaele Viviani, 1932), from which it takes up the staging of the popular markets of the Montecalvario district and the immediate surroundings, but intersecting it with the list of economic, political and structural problems of the city.

Also in this case there are no complete and error-free transcriptions online, a shortcoming which we will try to remedy below (the many repetitions have been omitted, so as not to make the reading difficult, while a couple of sections in which despite everything doubts remain have been marked with an asterisk):

Cigarettes, cigarettes, fizzy drinks, who drinks?
'And palammetre live songs, 'and palammetre a thousand lire,
'and the most beautiful ones from Pignasecca, they live, they live!
Cigarettes, cigarettes, three packs of six thousand lire!
Shut up, shut up, guards are coming.
Who drinks, who drinks, who drinks fresh eggs?
I'm beautiful, I'm beautiful this morning!
Eighteen fifty billion in the subway
and yet I saw nothing,
no less than ten years have passed and they are still in ruins.
'And taralle, 'and taralle, how fresh are 'and taralle!
One thousand two hundred and odd billions in Bagnoli int'o factory,
They're all smoking!
Ciro, come here, the car is passing by!
'And about billions are leaving, 'and about billions are leaving,
'or business center, as it is in Cientosessantasette in Secondigliano,
'A crazy 'mmano 'and creatures,
grab a scarf and Maradona!
'And millions, it's billions.
*Let's hurry so we can get to the stall!
'And billions for the unemployed, 'and billions for the prisoners.
Gums, sweets, popsicles!*
'To music, 'to music, buy 'and recorded cassettes for five thousand lire!
Young man, buy fake cassettes, the original ones are better!

From the project sung entirely in Neapolitan, using the pseudonym Joe Sarnataro and with the accompaniment of Blue Stuff, a band from his fellow citizen who played tasty blues rock with traditional arrangements. This is one of the most sly songs of the setlist, both in terms of performance and content, and questions once again the waste of resources and the poor management of public works that afflicted the Campania capital at the time: “I'm at home in Fuorigrotta […] for two years and two years the noise has killed me, night and day, but what did they care about? Can you tell me what's under Viale Augusto?”.

Supported by the arrangements of the faithful drummer Mauro Spina, Bennato arrives at the production techniques of the early nineties, and the basis of this jewel is a labyrinth of drum machines (Roland?), funky guitars reminiscent of Inxs, bass jazz fusion and numerous references to the blues (harmonica, electric organ, piano arpeggios, and at 2'34″ the quote from a famous riff bass, originally appeared in almost all historical versions of a Los Angeles garage rock classic such as “Hey Joe”, from Leaves to Jimi Hendrix). The singing, however, rhythmically tight, borders on hip-hop and sounds like a natural outlet for the artist, who has always been a master of tongue twisters and metrics engulfed by many more syllables than would naturally fit.

The text warns those who want to emigrate to Italy, mocking the country through a series of antiphrases (“Everything is going swimmingly”, “There are no scandals or government crises”, “Racism has never taken root here”).

Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM

Subscribe to Updates

What's Hot

Charts and playlists – Edoardo Bennato

Related Posts