Amor Fou
A name in between italian and french, as “amour fou” would mean insane love (in such a meaningful way that really belongs to french language), while “amor fu” is a poetic way to say “it was love” in italian. So it’s something on the edge, passion and loss, as opposed dimensions but maybe just complementary stages of love stories. Alessandro Raina, leader and singer, comes from my town Pavia and moved to Milan to start this band, that unfortunately never had real success. Nowadays he works in the staff of a tv talent show, a common story of youth dreams gone and real life kicking in.
De Pedis is probably the best song in Amor Fou second album “I moralisti”, published in 2010, and one of the best recorded by the band together with Filemone e Bauci and Il periodo ipotetico. The title is the surname of an infamous gangster, Enrico de Pedis (nickname “Renatino” and also known as “Dandy” in the books/movies/serie “Romanzo Criminale” based on the story of his gang, “La banda della Magliana”). What was hitting the imagination of Alessandro Raina when writing this song was probably the contradictory figure of a man who killed or ordered to kill hundreds of persons, but is buried in Vatican (in Sant’Apollinare alle Terme). The author throws a vision of him, who just before dying turns to God, and to his city Rome (in a mother-like dimension that seems to complete the first invocation to the Father), to ask for mercy.
“De Pedis”
Arrivederci primo amore mio
chi si violenta gode
Arrivederci Padre
scusi se
non ho saputo ritrovare Dio
cercando solo in me.
Anche se ho visto certe cose che
offendono la sua bellezza,
se le sue mani mi volessero
le sposerei con le mie mani
mi direi che questa vita no
non è finita.
Arrivederci Roma scusa se
ti ho ricordato che si muore
arrivederci giovinezza mia
Trastevere di brutte cose
ricordati di me.
Anche se ho fatto certe cose che
amplificano la mia vanità
se le tue mani mi volessero
le sposerei tra le mie mani
ti direi che questa vita no
non è possibile, non è possibile.
“De Pedis”
Goodbye my first love,
who rapes himself, pleases himself.
Goodbye Father,
forgive me if
i wasn’t able to rediscover God,
looking for him only inside me.
Even if i saw some things that
insult his beauty,
if his hands would want me
i’d marry them with my hands.
I would tell myself that this life, no,
is not over.
Goodbye Rome, sorry if
i remembered you that people die.
Goodbye my youth,
Trastevere of bad things,
remember me.
Even if i did some things
that amplify my vanity,
if your hands would want me
i’d marry them in my hands.
I’d tell you that this life no,
is not possible, is not possible.