(Sylvia Fricker-Mogol) \u2013 Equipe 84 ,1966<\/p>\n
Il problema pi\u00f9 grande per un musicista \u00e8 il bisogno continuo di ascoltare musica e ancora musica. Quella \u00e8 la sua droga, cibo per il suo cervello. Probabilmente non sa risolvere divisioni, somme o sottrazioni, ma \u00e8 nato per decifrare un complicato intreccio matematico di armonie e melodie che gli provocano sensazioni meravigliose che nemmeno riesce a descrivere a chi musicista non \u00e8. Nutrirsi di musica negli anni Sessanta erThe biggest problem for a musician is the constant need to listen to music and then again, even more music. That is his drug, his food for thought. He probably doesn\u2019t know how to divide, add or subtract, but he was born to decipher a complicated mathematical interweaving of harmonies and melodies that give him amazing sensations that he can\u2019t even describe to people who aren\u2019t musicians. Growing up on music in the 1960s was very easy. It was everywhere. It came out of jukeboxes, truly free radio stations like as Radio Luxemburg, Radio Carolina, Radio Veronica, with the first deejays broadcasting the songs they loved the most, and not because they were obliged by sponsors. Back in the day, age sixteen was celebrated with a brand new portable turntable, the Lesa \u201csuitcase\u201d.<\/p>\n
Singles, 45s, at a more than affordable price, were starting to fill the first record stores. The first groups were formed and I was with them. At night I recorded the hits they played directly from England and America. I listened to unknown artists who would later become famous. Who had composed that music? Who knows! It didn\u2019t matter. I chose the most striking pieces, learned them on the guitar, wrote a text in Italian, arranged it until I made it my own, and performed it with the rest of the group in public. It was hard to go wrong. It was always a hit.<\/p>\n
Here in Italy no composer would have been able to write things like that yet. I tried to do it. The \u201crecord company\u201d that signed me for the first songs and lyrics I tried to compose, convinced me that it would be impossible for me to pass the SIAE exam and that \u201ceventually\u201d I would receive some income. Eventually? Money? I never saw a penny. And so, partly because of trauma and partly because, as a good talent scout, I knew how to locate in the fray the songs that could be hits in Italy, I continued to look for \u201cmy\u201d composers on the radio stations that were broadcasting from so far away.<\/p>\n
I console myself at the thought of Elvis Presley who sang hundreds of covers, as well as most of the artists including the Beatles (Anna, A Taste of Honey , etc). Barry McGuire, to whom everyone attributes the original of Io ho in mente te (You Were On My Mind), confirmed when I met him that, in his case too, that song was a cover. It was in fact recorded by the author Sylvia Fricker with her husband under the name of Ian & Sylvia in 1964. Some still wonder, why covers? Because in the 1960s, in that generational shift of music and customs, between Claudio Villa\u2019s bel canto and the Beat, not a soul was writing good pieces for us. And all this lasted for a long time, until one day I met a guy who had written so many songs that I didn\u2019t have time to listen to them all and who, if I remember correctly, was named Lucio Battisti …<\/p>\n
Vandelli, Maurizio, Noi, incollati alla radio, in: \u201cLa Repubblica\u201d, 10 February 2013, p. 33<\/p>\n
a facilissimo, era ovunque. Sgorgava dai jukebox, dalle radio veramente libere come Radio Luxemburg, Radio Carolina, Radio Veronica, con i primi deejay che trasmettevano le canzoni che pi\u00f9 amavano, e non perch\u00e9 obbligati da sponsor. I sedici anni dei ragazzi di allora venivano festeggiati con un \ufb01ammante giradischi portatile, la \u201cfonovaligia\u201d Lesa.<\/p>\n
I 45 giri, a un prezzo pi\u00f9 che accessibile, cominciavano a riempire i primi negozi di dischi. Nascevano i primi gruppi e io con loro. Registravo di notte i successi che arrivavano in onde medie direttamente dall\u2019Inghilterra e dall’America. Ascoltavo artisti sconosciuti che poi sarebbero diventati famosi. Chi aveva composto quella musica? Chi lo sa! Poco importava. Sceglievo quella che mi colpiva di pi\u00f9, la imparavo con la chitarra, scrivevo un testo in italiano, la arrangiavo \ufb01no a farla mia, la eseguivo con il resto del gruppo in pubblico. Era dif\ufb01cile sbagliare, era sempre un successo.<\/p>\n
Qui in Italia nessun compositore sarebbe stato ancora in grado di scrivere cose come quelle. Ci provai io. I testi e le prime canzoni che tentai di comporre me le \ufb01rm\u00f2 il \u201cdiscogra\ufb01co” convincendomi che sarebbe stato impossibile per me passare l\u2019esame della SIAE e che \u201ceventualmente\u201d mi avrebbe girato gli introiti. Eventualmente? Soldi? Mai visto un centesimo. E cos\u00ec, un po\u2019 per trauma e un po\u2019 perch\u00e9, da buon talent-scout, sapevo localizzare nella mischia le canzoni che avrebbero potuto avere successo in ltalia, continuai a cercare i \u201cmiei\u201d compositori nelle radio che trasmettevano da cos\u00ec lontano.<\/p>\n
Mi consolo al pensiero di Elvis Presley che cant\u00f2 centinaia di cover, oltre alla maggior parte degli artisti tra i quali anche gli stessi Beatles (Anna, A<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Taste<\/em>\u00a0Of Honey<\/em><\/strong>, ecc). Barry McGuire addirittura, a cui tutti attribuiscono l’originale di\u00a0Io ho in mente<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0te<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(You Were On My Mind<\/em><\/strong>) mi conferm\u00f2, quando lo conobbi che, anche nel suo caso, quella canzone era una cover. Fu infatti incisa dall\u2019autrice Sylvia Fricker insieme al marito col nome di Ian & Sylvia nel 1964. Ancora qualcuno si chiede perch\u00e9 le cover? Perch\u00e9 negli anni Sessanta, in quel passaggio generazionale di musica e costume, tra il bel canto di Claudio Villa e il Beat, a scrivere pezzi buoni per noi non c\u2019era anima viva. E tutto questo dur\u00f2 per molto tempo, \ufb01no a quando un giorno incontrai un ragazzo che aveva scritto talmente tante canzoni che non feci in tempo ad ascoltarle tutte e che, se ben ricordo, si chiamava Lucio Battisti…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n