Mogol and Lucio Battisti like salt and pepper: mutually necessary. A lyricist and a songwriter destined to form a memorable artistic partnership and to change the history of Italian music. In anticipation of what would have been the singer’s 80th birthday, today it is the record producer who narrates their first, lucky meeting in Corriere della Sera. Against all odds, Mogol candidly admits: “At first it didn’t seem like much. I hadn’t guessed anything.” Then he tackles the delicate issue of the relationship between their songs and politics: “We didn’t write for communism”. On the “woods of outstretched arms” of the piece “The cherry tree hill” he adds: “They wanted to call me a fascist”.
One cannot speak of the revolutionary Lucio Battisti without quoting Giulio Rapetti Mogol and vice versa. We thought that everything had been said and written about the singer-songwriter from Poggio Bustone. And yet it is not so. As the anniversary of what would have been Battisti’s 80th birthday, born on March 5, 1943, approaches, it is Mogol who gives a precious interview to Corriere della Sera. Anecdotes, revelations and uncomfortable truths: everything emerges naturally and masterfully. “He introduced us to Christine Leroux, director of a music publishing house who had signed a contract with Lucio. He played me two songs. “They don’t look like much to me,” I said. And he “Actually…I agree”. He was simple and humble, he smiled despite the beating. In order not to feel like a miserable worm, I proposed that we meet to try and do something together. “Dolce di giorno” and “Per una lira” were born. I would make a good impression to say it, but I hadn’t intuited anything”: the record producer begins in all honesty.
Read also: Mogol and the revelation about Lucio Battisti: “Emotions? I wrote it while driving a 500”
A novice boy but full of talent and surprising qualities, this is how the great Battisti would soon reveal himself. Mogul continues: “He was modern. He didn’t sing to make his voice heard, but to communicate something. He was a mathematician. He studied the songs of the greatest world artists seven hours a day. I was the literary part, he called me “the poet”. I have always written the words after the music because I believe that every musical phrase already has its own meaning”. Then he goes back in time and recalls the dynamics of the fruitful working method: “We met every morning in my country villa in Molteno. I prepared the first coffee to welcome him, he the next ones. Lucio was on the sofa with the guitar, I on the carpet with pen and paper. We worked for an hour and a song was born a day. The first hearing was reserved for a gardener friend”.
On the song “My free song” he says: “It tells of my new love after the divorce. At the time it wasn’t common and in fact it begins with “in a world that no longer takes us”. This detail gives the Mogul the opportunity to move on to the topic of the link between the lyrics of famous songs and politics, without letting one guess the scope of the statement. The “woods of outstretched arms”, mentioned in the piece “The hill of cherry trees”, were interpreted as a crowd of people making the Roman salute. The lyricist, without hesitation, says: “Those arms weren’t a political symbol. They also said it for those on the cover of “My free song”. But they are arms with palms open as if invoking the lord. They wanted to call me a fascist because I didn’t make committed songs. I’ve never heard Lucio talk about politics: we just didn’t write songs for communism. However, Lucio’s records were found in the Br’s hideout: it’s a historical fact”. On the refusal of fashions, Mogol affirms: “It was a response to the climate of the time. Someone like me risked… he shot himself. public trial of De Gregori, one with a raised fist, because he earned by being a singer. To avoid insults, I advised Lucio not to do any more concerts”. Then, in conclusion, he greets his companion in great adventures: “Lucio, don’t worry, he in a while we will be together again… I’m 86 years old…”.
