Carissimi De-FankazzPostFrikkettDeBaseriani,
Non so se vi è mai capitato di attraversare un periodo nella vostra esistenza in cui avete cambiato stile di vita, quasi naturalmente, quasi senza nemmeno pensarci davvero più di tanto, realizzando che l'unico modo di vivere e reagire ad eventi che descrivevano tagli netti nell'anima fosse cazzeggiare follemente e senza sosta. E così dimenticarvi di tutte le vostre forze se non per impegnarle a far lunghe improponibili passeggiate, fumare amaramente prima e convintamene poi qualche spinello, coglioneggiare con le sbarbine e cose del genere.
Lo so, a voi non interesserà troppo ma io psicolabile in quell'anno e mezzo di disorientamento, alla ricerca di me stesso e del perché di un'esistenza non propriamente serena, mi svegliavo tutte le mattine o quasi, cazzone barbuto e nel pieno delle mie forze di cazzeggiatore ad arte, con le note di "Dreadlock Holiday".
Fino ad allora non sapevo nemmeno chi fossero i 10CC - originali e irriverenti nel loro nome (10cc sono il quantitativo medio di un eiaculato) - ma il reggae festaiolo e spensierato di questa hit mi rapirono letteralmente. E sognavo di viaggiare con loro, lontano, strafottente come la loro musica : una mistura fine di pop-rock stragodibile ed elegante con influenze che spaziano leggere dal blues al funky al reggae al jazz.
Idealmente 'Bloody Tourists', infatti, è proprio un viaggio dolce che si articola dal punto di vista compositivo e lirico su due piani: un primo puramente fisico, intento a descrivere colori, suoni, groove di mete esotiche e non; un secondo molto più intimo, quasi un sussurrare per non disturbare per raccontarci dei più disparati aspetti che l'uomo assapora, proprio come uno squinternato turista impreparato, nel suo personale viaggio all'interno dell'universo che più di tutti fa sanguinare: quello dell'amore. Entrambe le dimensioni trovano la loro giusta e calibrata definizione musicale, sempre misurata e perfettamente calzante col contesto lirico sviluppato.
E allora via! Partiamo per la Jamaica sulle ali di quella sorta di solare peana reggae-poppettaro che è "Dreadlock Holiday", per poi essere subito deliziati dal lentone strappalacrime di "For You and I", che melanconicamente ci proietta tristi tristi nelle insidie e nei problemi di un coinvolgimento emotivo (On a one way street/ We can't control our feet/ We're on the road to ruin/ Don't know what we're doin'), mentre la successiva scoppiettante "Take These Chains" subito ci rincuora, mostrandoci il lato positivo dell'amore, quello per il quale esclami, miracolosamente avvolto nel miele "Paradise with you is twice as nice". "Shock on the Tube (Don't Want Love)", rock steady immediato e di impatto, ci catapulta prepotentemente in metropolitana dove si sa certe cose proprio non succedono mai. Ed è un peccato! (The carriage was spinning/ We were up on the floor/ She was whirling like a dervish/ I was whirling like a fool). La successiva "Last Night", boogie-rock arioso e ruffiano nel suo refrain che ammicca sinuoso e malandrino, rafforza il concetto insistendo sulla bellezza di un piacevole rapporto sessuale (con la squinzia di turno? Da cui one-night-stand).
E dolcemente si scivola nella funkeggiante, pomposa e a tratti spudoratamente disco "Anonymous Alcoholic" che descrive la delusione di un amore rincuorato da una bella sbronza con finale tragicomico mentre il romanticismo e la tristezza di "Reds in My Bed" istupidiscono per la semplicità della sua bellezza lirica e melodica (We could meet at the zoo where the tiger roams/ In a prison of steel/ He reminds me so much of the way I feel). E il viaggio continua piacevole emozionando ogni volta come la prima volta : e ci ricorda dell'importanza di sentirsi anche solo per telefono, e sfogarsi, raccontare e, perché no, raccontarsi ("Life Line" in cui è emblematico è il verso "Telephone line's a life line"), si spinge fino alla ipertecnologica, fiammeggiante, disorientante Tokio (l'eterea "Tokio") e giù giù fino al caos di della scoppiettante filastrocca pop di "From Rochedale to Ocho Rios", in cui magari è facile imbattersi in qualche vagabondo ("Old Mister Time", sicuramente la traccia più evocativa, più immaginifica), passando per l'ennesima brillante sfuriata lasciva nel sesso del pop rock di "Everything You Wanted To Know About!!!".
Lo so, forse sono stato per l'ennesima volta esagerato, ed è per questo che lascio a voi il commento di questa proposta, nella speranza che ogni volta ne avrete voglia possiate rifugiarvi anche voi in queste righe, nella musica raffinata di questo LP dei 10CC: ogniqualvolta vi sentite un po' giù, siete alla ricerca di dolcezza, di qualcosa che possa darvi emozioni sincere o anche semplicemente sentite il bisogno di spensieratezza.
Sinceramente nostalgico, vostro Fenni.
See Ya!
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Dreadlock Holiday (04:30)
I was walkin' down the street
Concentratin' on truckin' right
I heard a dark voice beside of me
And I looked round in a state of fright
I saw four faces one mad
A brother from the gutter
They looked me up and down a bit
And turned to each other
I say
I don't like cricket oh no
I love it
I don't like cricket no no
I love it
Don't you walk thru my words
You got to show some respect
Don't you walk thru my words
'Cause you ain't heard me out yet
Well he looked down at my silver chain
He said I'll give you one dollar
I said You've got to be jokin' man
It was a present from me Mother
He said I like it I want it
I'll take it off your hands
And you'll be sorry you crossed me
You'd better understand that you're alone
A long way from home
And I say
I don't like reggae no no
I love it
I don't like reggae oh no
I love it
Don't you cramp me style
Don't you queer on me pitch
Don't you walk thru my words
'Cause you ain't heard me out yet
I hurried back to the swimming pool
Sinkin' pina coladas
I heard a dark voice beside me say
Would you like something harder
She said I've got it you want it
My harvest is the best
And if you try it you'll like it
And wallow in a Dreadlock Holiday
And I say
Don't like Jamaica oh no
I love her
Don't like Jamaica oh no
I love her oh yea
Don't you walk thru her words
You got to show some respect
Don't you walk thru her words
'Cause you ain't heard her out yet
I don't like cricket
I love it (Dreadlock Holiday)
I don't like reggae
I love it (Dreadlock Holiday)
Don't like Jamaica
I love her (Dreadlock Holiday)
03 Take These Chains (02:38)
Baby baby oh baby
I'd love to love you
But my hands are tied
Break these chains
Oh oh these chains that are killing me
You don't need money if you've got love
We've got each other and its more than enough
Break these chains
Oh oh these chains that are holding me
Ooh ooh my love
It's all too much for me to take
Take these chains
Take these chains
She never thought that I could live without her
All the little things she used to do
Then I fell in love with you
You found me
You took me in
When no one wanted me
Making love on a sandy beach
The stars above us and we're clean out of reach
Of my chains
oh oh the chains that were killing me
And you make everything a paradise
And paradise with you is twice as nice
Never change, never change what you're doing to me
Never change
Never change
07 Reds in My Bed (04:11)
There's a fat man who offers a change of scene
Says he'll guarantee my sheet will be clean
When I get on the outside
But who can you trust when the walls have ears
I'm for takin' a chance, like a drownin' man
I'm going under
I've got reds in my bed
I'm not easily led to the slaughter
And while the cold war exists
I'll stay warm with the commisar's daughter
We could meet at the zoo where the tiger roams
In a prison of steel
He reminds me so much of the way I feel
And we know that we're both in the danger zone
Where the eyes of the world
Full of shutters and bugs are upon us now
I've got reds in my bed
I get blues looking out of my window
And we're never alone, there's a tap on the phone
And my pillow
Let me go home
(There's a girl in a distant land)
Let me go home
(Who's nothing more than a memory)
She don't know that I'm gonna be free
Let me go home
(You're a land full of misery)
Let me go home
(You're a cruel and a faceless race)
I don't like your philosophy
I don't like your philosophy
The connections are made and the time is right
So my body is walled in the shell of a car
in the dead of night
And I laugh through the pain and the agony
As they cut me away to be born again
back to humanity
You've got reds in your bed
There's a man lookin' over your shoulder
But don't you give him your mind
It's too late when you find that it's over
You!
Let me go home
(You're a land full of misery)
Let me go home
(You're nothing more than a memory)
I don't like your philosophy
Let me go home
(You're a cruel and a faceless race)
Let me go home
(You're nothing more than a memory)
I don't like your philosophy
09 Tokyo (04:30)
Transistorised, and anodised
Chrome plated, squeaky clean
Oh Tokyo, oh Tokyo
Oh Tokyo I love you
You're trembling, you're choking
But you're magical to me
Oh Tokyo, oh Tokyo
Oh Tokyo I love you
Kimonos, and Geisha girls
From grade one, down to three
Oh Tokyo, oh Tokyo
Oh Tokyo I love you
Land of the rising sun
You have taken my heart away
With your beauty you nearly blinded me
In your beauty I want to stay
I bow to you with my heart
I think of you every day
When I dream you are there beside me
But when I waken you're far away
Perfection, in miniature
With tiny hands, smiling eyes
Oh Tokyo, oh Tokyo
Oh Tokyo I love you
Tokyo
When I dream you are there beside me
11 From Rochdale to Ocho Rios (03:44)
From Rochdale to Ocho Rios
From Ocho Rios to Dorking
From Dorking its back to Rochdale
From Rochdale to Ocho Rios
You spend half your life in transit
But that's just the way God plans it
Pack a shirt and some fresh pajamas
That's all you need
Tried to get a flight out to San Juan
But Air Jamaica don't fly on Sunday
Gotta get a flight out to San Juan
Because I wanna see the Mama and the Papa
When I look into your blue eyes
I bend the truth but I never tell you lies
I need my lover, I need your care
Understandings not enough to make it fair
From Rochdale to Ocho Rios
From Ocho Rios to Dorking
From Dorking its back to Rochdale
From Rochdale to Ocho Rios
Asleep in a stream of sunlight
Awake in a dream at midnight
I'm rushing to wait for jumbo
Oh where am I now
Tried to get a flight out to San Juan
But Air Jamaica don't fly on Sunday
Gotta get a flight out to San Juan
Because I wanna see the Mama and the Papa
A dressing room so far from home
A corridor with a broken telephone
I wanna call but I got to go
The curtains up and it's time to do the show
Show time!
I just got in to the city
Yeah, it's so insane
But the man with the suitcase
is on the road again
Tried to get a flight out to San Juan
But Air Jamaica don't fly on Sunday
Gotta get a flight out to San Juan
Because I wanna see the Mama and the Papa
Asleep in a stream of sunlight
Awake in a dream at midnight
I'm rushing to wait for jumbo
Oh where am I now
You spend half your life in transit
But that's just the way God plans it
Pack a shirt and some fresh pajamas
That's all you need
Everybody sing!
From Rochdale to Ocho Rios
From Ocho Rios to Dorking
From Dorking its back to Rochdale
Oh where are we now
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