Italian Songwriters: Francesco De Gregori |
Alice |
Alice |
Alice guarda i gatti e i gatti guardano nel sole |
Alice looks at the cats and the cats look in the sun (1) |
Ma io non ci sto più |
But the groom shouted: No! I'm not there |
Alice guarda i gatti e i gatti muoiono nel sole |
Alice looks at the cats and cats die in the sun |
Ma io non ci sto più |
No, I'm not there, and you are the mad ones |
Alice guarda i gatti e i gatti girano nel sole |
Alice looks at the cats and the cats are going around in the sun |
Ma io non ci sto più |
But the groom shouted: No! I'm not there |
On YouTube (Recommended Video) |
|
Studio version (1971) |
|
|
|
Live version (1988) |
|
Notes |
Alice could be a dreaming young girl as in the book of Lewis Carrol, or a character in this short story, built up with four successive impressions. Maybe she is in love with the reluctant groom, but he is going to marry Irene, that is the bride in the following scene, but she is waiting a baby from him, perhaps he didn't agree, but she has hidden him to be pregnant to force him to the wedding, but he is in love with the sophisticated mature lady, Lili Marlene, probably now between the invites in the wedding, and Alice feels now so distant from the world around, she watches distantly those unlucky and unhappy people like the ill beggar or the desperate lover, feeling unable to know where the life is going. Or, if you prefer, each other interpretation that these images can suggest to the listener. |
|
(1) |
An image taken directly from the city where Francesco De Gregori lives and in which we can image this short story happens: Rome. In each courtyard of the city centre there is a group of cats, usually feeded by someone in the palace, and, as all the cats, they rest in the sun if it's cold, or they go around, and they born, live and die in the courtyard. And Alice from the windows of her house often spent time watching the cats. |
(3) |
A clear reference to the famous German actress and singer. |
(2) |
The hats worn by the ladies in the formal wedding ceremony. |
(3) |
A clear reference to the Italian novelist Cesare Pavese, who actually was involved in such a situation when he was in love, an unlucky love, with an actress and dancer, in the 40s. He was then already famous but with a difficult relation with women. He committed suicide in 1950. Very famous and appreciated for his original novels between young people in Italy in the 60s and 70s, typically for the high school students, this reference was clear to the listener of this song when the radio started to broadcast it. |
(4) |
The short moment in the evening or during the sunrise when bothe the sun and the moon are in the sky. |
|
|
© Music-Graffiti May 2015 |