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Un'urgenza particolare accomuna alcune tra le più commoventi pagine della storia della musica: molte fra esse sono parto naturale di un'ansia di liberazione che l'artista traduce volentieri - con ausilio più o meno calcato della metafora - in sogno di fuga. Fuga da se stessi, dall'altro, dall'insostenibilità di un sentimento; fuga da tutto ciò che - ostile a ogni forma di controllo - si tramuta in immediato, cogente malessere. Il ticchettio della pioggia sui vetri dei palazzi, a Glasgow, non è un suono dolce; è il ritmo ossessivo che scandisce la monotona sinfonia di una devastazione urbana da cui è difficile fuggire. Alienazione, miseria, frustrazione sono le parole-chiave di un'ordinaria follia intrisa di smog e pioggia, figlia sporca di un cielo plumbeo che non si apre al minimo spiraglio. Dipingere un siffatto scenario nei termini di una vera e propria "tempesta" è lucida, dolente coerenza.
Una tale consapevolezza, quella di essere "nato in una tempesta", Ricky Ross non è certo stato il primo a conseguirla; è forse, però, il primo ad averla urlata al mondo con un grido distinto e rabbioso, il disperato sfogo di chi sa che il sogno di una terra promessa in cui regni l'amore - "the very thing" - deve essere da qualche parte, non può rimanere meta di un viaggio meramente interiore. "Raintown" (1987) si presenta allora come una medaglia a due facce: da un lato, l'affresco doloroso, lucido, disincantato di una generazione di antieroi urbani, nuovi disadattati voluti da Lady Tatcher ("She offered me belongings / She thought I was the ragman", "Ragman"), costretti a maledire le proprie radici (la title-track, "Town To Be Blamed"), incapaci di riconoscere l'amore ("He calls her the chocolate girl / 'Cause he thinks she melts when he touches her", "Chocolate Girl") o addirittura impauriti da esso ("Love's Great Fears"); dall'altro - immutati i protagonisti - la narrazione (ben poco epica) delle gesta di piccoli eroi che oppongono all'incubo della quotidianità un anelito di redenzione, da rintracciare sotto le voci "amore" e, soprattutto, "dignità".
I nipotini del celebre plurale steelydaniano fondono i due lati della medaglia in quello che è uno dei più belli, significativi e sentiti dischi d'esordio degli anni '80, cui purtroppo non sarà concesso degno seguito (già il successivo "When The World Knows Your Name", 1989, pur valido, si collocherà varie tacche sotto alla prima prova). A farla da padrone sono le tastiere in questo mèlange che unisce pop energico (notevole la sezione ritmica in "Ragman" e "The Very Thing") a coinvolgenti ballate soul ("When Will You"), scampoli di dolcezze country (la deliziosa 'slide' di "Chocolate Girl") a melodie fresche ed immediate ("He Looks Like Spencer Tracy Now", la stupenda "Love's Great Fears"), per dare il colpo di coda con piccoli capolavori della forma-canzone (la perfezione di "Loaded", l'intro d'effetto e la carica emotiva in "Dignity"). Raramente parole così sofferte sono state contrappuntate da note tanto consolatorie; è questa l'intima forza, la grandezza di "Raintown". Un gioiellino di equilibrio melodico-lirico da concedersi e regalare, testamento indiscutibile di una potenza emotivo-espressiva che - ovunque si trovi ora Ricky Ross - non smetterà di fare breccia nel cuore di nuovi adepti.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
02 Raintown (03:50)
it's a rain-dirt-town-job hurts, but it don't pay
all these calls they're making me and driving you insane
don't you see don't you understand
waiting for the phone to ring to make me all i am
you're in the suburbs waiting for somewhere to go
i'm down here working on some dumb show
in a raintown raintown rain down
on all those tired eyes and tears and frowns
in a raintown raintown rain down
on all those days you're not around
it takes a big hearted girl from the north country you can tell
how you payed those bills and went through heaven and hell
and you you cried and you travelled and you spat but you never asked
well how long how long how long is this pain
you're on for three minutes trying hard to say "hello"
i'm down here working on some dumb show
in a raintown raintown rain down
on all those tired eyes and tears and frowns
in a raintown raintown rain down
on all those days you're not around
sitting at home listening to your radio
listening for your old friend talking on some dumb show
in a raintown raintown rain down
on all those tired eyes and tears and frowns
in a raintown raintown rain down
on all those days you're not around
03 Ragman (03:07)
offered her a roof
the rain had made it shine
offered her a song
wasn't really mine
i showed her all my things
she offered me belongings
she thought i was a ragman
she offered me possessions
i tied them in a knot
wrapped it in a note
kept it in my pocket
i showed her all my things
she offered me belongings
she thought i was a ragman
i came to her too soon
she should have had a ragdoll
and wound up with a ragman
wing and kites and wedding rings
all these charms i said i'd bring
i showed her all my things
she offered me belongings
she thought i was a ragman
baby you're a rich man
lost in a small world
looking for a ragdoll
wound up with a ragman
with a ragman
ragman
05 Loaded (04:30)
you sigh, you walk, you talk, you care about nothing
sometimes you feel that life has treated you wrong
i've got a feeling you know what the score is baby
but it's hard when you're sitting here surrounded by friends
i've got a love that i'll cling on to
and i'll stay there stay there till the end
'cause one thing i know is
i have found an answer i don't think you don't care
just you laugh 'cause you're loaded
and things are different from there
i have found an answer i don't think you don't care
just you laugh 'cause you're loaded
and things are different from there
you walk and you talk
and you sing and you shout
and you justify about anything
and you rant and you rave and you hope and you say nothing
and you eat and you drink and you dress and you live as if
no one else did baby
no one else like you lives out in this world
i've got a love that i'll cling on to
and i'll stay there stay there till the end
'cause one thing i know is
i have found an answer i don't think you don't care
just you laugh 'cause you're loaded
and things are different from there
i have found an answer i don't think you don't care
just you laugh 'cause you're loaded
i have found an answer i don't think you don't care
just you laugh 'cause you're loaded
and things are different from there
i have found an answer i don't think you don't care
just you laugh 'cause you're loaded
and things are different from there
06 When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring) (05:02)
pale blue eyes
same old house no ties
a little bit older but not so
worldly wise
that i can't see
your light's on me
making me regretfully say
the wonder of it all was you
and underneath it all it wasn't true
i want you in everything
in everything
in anything i do
when will you make my phone ring
and tell me i can't give you anything
anything at all now
tiny steps
from ruthless legs
when you've been walking so long
now don't you rest
from disharmony
from disunity
from anything that isn't you and me
the wonder of it all was you
and underneath it all it wasn't true
i want you in everything
in everything
in anything i do
when will you make my phone ring
and tell me i can't give you anything
anything at all now
tired of chasing old dreams
tired of wasting days
tired of waking mornings
just to wait for you till late
tired of searching high
tired of getting low
tired of listening hard
just to wait for you to know that
i want you in everything
in everything
in anything i do
when will you make my phone ring
and tell me i can't give you anything
anything at all now
08 Dignity (04:00)
there's a man i meet walks up our street
he's a worker for the council
has been twenty years
and he takes no lip off nobody
and litter off the gutter
puts it in a bag
and never seems to mutter
and he packs his lunch in a "sunblest" bag
the children call him "bogie"
he never lets on
but i know 'cause he once told me
he let me know a secret about the money in his kitty
he's gonna buy a dinghy
gonna call her dignity
and i'll sail her up the west coast
through villages and towns
i'll be on my holidays
they'll be doing their rounds
they'll ask me how i got her i'll say "i saved my money"
they'll say isn't she pretty that ship called dignity
and i'm telling this story
in a faraway scene
sipping down raki
and reading maynard keynes
and i'm thinking about home and all that means
and a place in the winter for dignity
and i'll sail her up the west coast
through villages and towns
i'll be on my holidays
they'll be doing their rounds
they'll ask me how i got her i'll say "i saved my money"
they'll say isn't she pretty that ship called dignity
and i'm thinking about home
and i'm thinking about faith
and i'm thinking about work
and i'm thinking about how good it would be
to be here some day
on a ship called dignity
a ship called dignity
that ship
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