E ogni volta è così. Ogni volta che metto questo disco sul piatto. E' la sensazione di riafferrare un vecchio (ma vivo) ricordo da sotto un velo di nostalgia. E quel velo non è di polvere, perché - davvero - mai ho lasciato che l'album in questione ne prendesse. Quando un disco continua a suonarti attuale lasciandoti l'illusione che ogni volta sia la prima, e se continua a "parlarti" con l'impressione che quelle parole siano sempre nuove... allora non c'è tempo né spazio per la polvere. Ma solo per quei suoni. Mai invecchiati, in realtà. Mai troppo lontani da sembrare "datati".
"Kite" è un disco Pop nel senso più vero e profondo del termine (quello che più spesso si perde di vista, peraltro). Ma a differenza della stragrande maggioranza dei dischi pop usciti nell'89 e dintorni, non ha perso una virgola del suo valore in questi quasi venticinque anni. Il motivo? Forse l'avrete già intuito, e comunque è tanto semplice da apparire ovvio: non ha nulla di pre-confezionato, nulla di artificiale, nessuna caratteristica che lo marchi come un "prodotto" discografico tipicamente ottantiano. Potrebbe essere stato inciso ieri, tanto è distante dai luoghi comuni dell'epoca. Distante quanto lo era Kirsty: mai pop-star (e mai ambiziosa d'esserlo ad ogni costo), mai donna da copertine patinate, mai confusa nel marasma della musica usa & getta. Sensibilità rara, personalità sfuggente, immagine raffinata e gentile, lontana dai riflettori come dall'aggressività scenica degli idoli del decennio. Mai scesa a compromessi, pur di non snaturare la sincerità della sua proposta.
Era troppo A SE', Kirsty. Troppo, per quegli anni di concerti pomposi e colori abbaglianti. Ne pagò il prezzo nella misura in cui il suo Talento finissimo non fu mai del tutto riconosciuto. Qualche anno prima, "Desperate Character" era stato tutto meno che una falsa partenza o un disco da dimenticare: anzi, col senno di poi è difficile non amarne l'ingenua e sbarazzina semplicità. Poi furono anni nelle retrovie ma non di silenzio, Smiths e Talking Heads (fra i primi) scoprirono la grandezza di un Personaggio che, di importante (!), non aveva il solo cognome. La sua Voce consegnata alla Storia da "Fairytale Of New York", la fiducia recuperata dopo un lungo periodo di insicurezze e paura del palcoscenico, e - sul finire del decennio - il nuovo tassello a una vicenda solistica frammentaria ma costellata di gioielli autentici. Prodotto dall'allora marito Steve Lillywhite (superflua ogni presentazione) e preludio alla varietà extra-ordinaria di "Electric Landlady".
"Thank you for the days, those endless days, those sacred days you gave me... and though your gone, you're with me every single day, believe me" - già, raramente cover fu più azzeccata. Kirsty aveva molto dell'attitudine di Ray Davies, di quella malinconia nascosta dal sorriso che più volte traspariva dalle sue canzoni: "Days" è qualcosa di più di un tributo, dal canto suo "Fifteen Minutes" è KINKSIANA dall'inizio alla fine - nella scrittura e nella resa. Emblematica del suo stile al pari di "Don't Come The Cowboy With Me, Sonny Jim!"- i cowboys non sono quelli a cavallo col cappello, ma "i ragazzi dai cuori di ghiaccio che non conoscono il significato del dolore, e tu Sonny non sei come loro...": ballatona country simile a tante incise a Nashville & dintorni, ma unica per l'INGLESITA' inconfondibile che Kirsty vi aggiunge.
Se "Innocence" è colma di quell'(auto-)ironia evidente anche dal relativo video (!), pezzi come "Free World" riservano dietro la propria orecchiabilità uno sguardo all'Inghilterra e al thatcherianismo agli sgoccioli. Per il resto, ogni volta è l'avvolgente melodia dolcissima di "No Victims" a trascinarmi, e le chitarre da serenata-mariachi di "Dancing In Limbo" a commuovermi - nessuna realtà ultraterrena nel LIMBO, solo l'estiva noia pomeridiana del "tempo che scorre lento", e al proposito la memoria non può che andare a "Sunny Afternoon" (anche lei davisiana, guarda caso...). E due pezzi scritti a quattro mani con Johnny Marr, il cui tocco strumentale non è difficile riconoscere nella completezza armonica del disco: "The End Of A Perfect Day" e "You & Me Baby", il probabile Capolavoro, dove la Voce di Kirsty (magnificata dalle sovraincisioni, come altrove) si lascia accompagnare dalla Chitarra di David Gilmour...
...indimenticabile quanto Lei.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Innocence (04:09)
(Kirsty MacColl/Pete Glenister)
It wouldn't take a long time
To explain what lies between us
And it wouldn't take a genius
To work out what the scene is
It might just take a pilot
To give you a natural high
But you're sending off those bottletops
For your 'free piece of mind!'
And are you just waving or drowning?
It's so hard to tell when you're so far away
Oh innocence has passed you by
A long long time ago
I was the fly upon your wall
And I saw what you know
Your pornographic priestess left you for another guy
You frighten little children and you always wonder why
Always wonder why
The mercury is rising
And it's not all that surprising
In the land of milk and honey
Where you make 'Big Money'
And it always keeps the rain off
And it always keeps you dry
But back home the people hate you
And you never did know why
But I think I'm going to tell you
Just give me fifty thousand lire for my thoughts
Oh innocence has passed you by
A long long time ago
I was the fly upon your wall
And I saw what you know
The supermarket checkout girl
Once smacked you in the eye
When you eat no one else does
But you always wonder why
Always wonder why
It would take a gunshot
Just to clear your head awhile
And after all this time
How can you stand there
Look at me and smile?
Now are you just waving or drowning?
It's so hard to tell when you're so far away
Oh innocence has passed you by
A long long time ago
I was the fly upon your wall
And I saw what you know
Degeneration suits you, now I'm going home to cry
You won't be seeing me again
But you'll always wonder why
Always wonder why
02 Free World (02:38)
I thought of you when they closed down the school
And the hospital too
Did they think that you were better?
They were wrong
You had so many friends
They all left you in the end
'Cause they couldn't take the patter (stand)
And I'll see you baby when the clans rise again
Women and men united by a struggle (children)
Going down
You've got to walk into the water
With your sister and your daughter
In this free world
If I wore your shades could I share your point of view?
Could I make you feel better?
Paint a picture, write a letter?
Well I know what you're saying
But I see the things you do
And it's much too dangerous
To get closer to you
But I will see you baby when the clans rise again
Women and men united by the struggle
Going down
With a pocketful of plastic
Like a dollar on elastic
In this free world
(I wouldn't tell you if I didn't care)
I'll see you baby when the clans rise again
Women and men united by the struggle
And the ghettoes are full of Mercedes Benz
And you'd never hurt a friend
Who wouldn't tell you
It's cold and it's going to get colder
You may not get much older
You're much too scared of living
And to die is a reliable exit
So you push it and you test it
With 'Thunderbird' and 'Rivin'
And I'll see you baby when the clans rise again
Women and men united in the struggle
In this free world baby
Got to take it got to grab it
Got to get it up and shag it
In this free world
Going down
You've got to get into the water
Like a lamb goes to the slaughter
In this free world baby
Baby going down
With a pocketful of plastic
Like a dollar on elastic
In this free world
(I wouldn't tell you if I didn't care)
03 Mother's Ruin (03:57)
'Mother's ruin'
She said to herself
'I'm just screwing my own mental health'
But Fridays and Saturdays
She walks down those alleyways
A latter day lady of the lamp
How you doing?
You ain't from round here
Won't you come in?
I'm really not scared-
'Cause Fridays and Saturdays
I still do it anyways
And anything is better than out there
Now don't wake me up again
Don't let me feel anything
But when you go
Let me dream that I go with you
So I won't cry myself dry anymore
Mothers ruin
Their own little girls
Keep them dreaming
There's more to this world
But turn her the other way
And every day's Father's Day
He stays until there's nothing left to say
But don't wake me up again
Don't let me feel anything
But when you go
Let me dream that I go with you
'Cause I can't take it 'round here anymore
Now don't wake me up again
Don't let me feel anything
But when you go
Let me dream that I go with you
So you won't make my heart ache anymore
Leave the light on and don't shut the door
04 Days (03:00)
(Raymond D. Davies)
Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I'm thinking of the days
I won't forget a single day believe me
I bless the light
I bless the light that lights on you believe me
And though you're gone
You're with me every single day believe me
Days I'll remember all my life
Days when you can't see wrong from right
You took my life
But then I knew that very soon you'd leave me
But it's alright
Now I'm not frightened of this world believe me
I wish today could be tomorrow
The night is long
It just brings sorrow let it wait
Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I'm thinking of the days
I won't forget a single day believe me
Days I'll remember all my life
Days when you can't see wrong from right
You took my life
But then I knew that very soon you'd leave me
But it's alright
Now I'm not frightened of this world believe me
Days, Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I'm thinking of the days
I won't forget a single day believe me
I bless the light
I bless the light that lights on you believe me
And though you're gone
You're with me every single day believe me
Days
08 Tread Lightly (03:20)
(Kirsty MacColl/Pete Glenister)
Another time, another day
Another baby on the way
A dreamboy for your nightmare nights
Who never shouts and never fights
Happy with your 2.2
What else is there for you to do
But turn and wet the baby's head
And pray he will be happier than you or me?
That's how it's meant to be
It's called a lifetime
At first you never notice
Then the years go flying by and I say
Tread lightly in your dreams
They might come true for you tomorrow
Say sorry to the boys and girls
You're sorry for this bloody world
Sorry for the sick and old
And sorry for the lies you told
Sorry for the things I did
The thighs we should have left unsaid
And walked away instead of
Rubbing salt on all those open sores and wounds
We should have left to heal
I never knew just what to feel or to expect
I tried to stretch my mind but I'd just
Get my body wrecked and now I
Tread lightly in my dreams
They might come true tomorrow
And I don't sleep at night in case
I don't wake up tomorrow
I curse the day I met you
But I won't forget you
Not in my lifetime
Another time, another day
You'd never give your heart away
You'd never think and never cry
You'd look the devil in the eye
And tell him to be gone, bye bye
He'll never get you in this lifetime
He'd love to touch you but his hands are tied
So just tread lightly in your dreams
They might come true for you tomorrow
Tread lightly in your dreams
They might come true for you tomorrow
They might come true for you tomorrow
They might come true tomorrow
10 Dancing in Limbo (02:51)
(Kirsty MacColl)
He said, 'Baby don't go'
So she sat down again
And they said they'd be friends
Her mother said
She'd told her so
She'd made her own bed
Now she'd have to lie in it, and the
Time goes
Summertime slow
And the world stops turning
And they're dancing in limbo, limbo, limbo
Took my pills today
But I don't feel better
In a funny sort of way
When it's too hot for anything
It's too hot to sleep
Your mind runs down to where
The river runs deep, and the
Time goes
Summertime slow
And the world stops turning
And they're dancing in limbo, limbo, limbo
His dream, peaches and cream
A cheesecake betty from the celluloid screen
So close he holds out his hand
But she sleeps like a woman
When he wakes like a man, and the
Time goes
Summertime slow
And the world stops turning
And they're dancing in limbo, limbo, limbo
13 You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby (02:50)
(Morrissey/Marr)
If you're wondering why
All the love that you long for eludes you
And people are rude and cruel to you
I'll tell you why
I'll tell you why
I'll tell you why
I'll tell you why
But you wouldn't believe me
You just haven't earned it yet baby
You just haven't earned it son
You just haven't earned it yet baby
You must suffer and cry for a longer time
You just haven't earned it yet baby
And I'm telling you now
If you're wondering why
When all I wanted from life was to be famous
I have tried for so long it's all gone wrong
I'll tell you why
I'll tell you why
I'll tell you why
Today I am remembering the time
When they pulled me back and held me down
And looked me in the eyes and said
You just haven't earned it yet baby
You just haven't earned it son
You just haven't earned it yet baby
You must stay on your own for slightly longer
You just haven't earned it yet baby
And I'm telling you now
You just haven't earned it yet baby
You just haven't earned it son
You just haven't earned it yet baby
You must suffer and cry for a longer time
Suffer and cry
You must suffer and cry for slightly longer
Suffer and cry
You must suffer and cry for a longer time
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