E il sabato sera Cenerentola spende tutti i suoi soldi, si compra una parrucca verde di plastica, il rossetto da bambola cosmetica, occhialoni da insetto, tuta trasparente di plastica sexy, make-up fantastico e chi la vede passare dice: “OH YEAH!!!” [ Manthra positivi, eh ragazzi …… Ma dove vai?….] Ah! Ma cenerentola si annoia, è sola e triste, e per non andare in paranoia senza rendersi bene conto, per tirarsi un po’ su butta giù due o tre pillole, forse qualche cosina anche di più: 3 Mandrax, 2 Talvin, Cardiozol, 5 Optalidon, 1 Revonal, 3 Preludin, 5 Mandrax, 2 anfetamine, 3 Mitomax, la pillola immaginaria.
…
Cenerentola segue l’illusione, il Principe Azzurro, il sogno della vita, il pop star, (Gesù, che bello) ma intanto la musica era finita in champagne, rose rosse e stivali di serpente, groupies, bambole, “che sorriso affascinante”. “È lui, è lui! non è una visione… che fantoccio…che delusione!!”
– “Hei, bambola , vieni qui..”
– “No! Che fai?…no, no, no….. ci vediamo… cosa? Vuoi una scarpa? ….beh, no,….ciao, eh!!… ciao”
– “Ma per la collezione!!…”
(And on Saturday evening Cinderella spends all her money, buys a green plastic wig, babydoll lipstick, bug-eyed glasses, a sexy transparent plastic jumpsuit, fantasy make-up, and whoever sees her passing by says: “OH YEAH!!!” [positive mantra, eh guys?…… But where are you going?….] Ah! But Cinderella is bored, lonely, and sad, and in order not to become inadvertently paranoid, to cheer herself up a little, she swallows two or three pills, perhaps something else too: 3 Quaaludes, 2 Talwins, Cardiozol, 5 Optalidons, 1 Tramadol, 3 Preludins, 5 Quaaludes, 2 amphetamines, 3 Mitomax, the imaginary pill.
…
Cinderella follows her illusion, Prince Charming, her life’s dream, the pop star, (Jeez, how cool!) but meanwhile the music had ended in champagne, red roses and snakeskin boots, groupies, dolls, “what a charming smile.” “It’s him, it’s him! It’s not a mirage… what a puppet… what a disappointment!!”
– “Hey, doll, come here…”
– “No! What are you doing?…no, no, no…..see you…what? Do you want a shoe?….well, no,….bye, eh!!…Bye”
– “But for my collection!!…”)
Cinderella, like other characters in Camerini’s songs from this period, is a girl who tries to break free from the mold in which she often feels crushed.
It is a vision of the world that highlights the contrast between values of ecology and solidarity, and the ultra-consumerist and individualist scene, as in the opening song on the album: “La ballata dell’invasione degli extraterrestri” (“The Ballad of the Extraterrestrial Invasion”), which tells a story of aliens who arrive on earth and then are chased away:
…si materializzarono con la stessa armonia
con cui da un bagno d’ acido si fa una fotografia.
Quando erano in troppi per poter tornare indietro,
quando era troppo tardi erano già al di qua del vetro
per cacciarli nuovamente nello spazio con la guerra
e cancellarli definitivamente dalla faccia della terra.
Li chiamavano marziani, animali, fuorilegge,
briganti, guerriglieri, sognatori,
capitani dello spazio, viaggiatori,
visionari, anarchici, trovatori.
(…they materialize with the same harmony
as a photograph from an acid bath.
When there were too many of them to turn back,
when it was too late, they were already on this side of the glass,
to chase them back into space with war
and definitively erase them from the face of the earth.
They called them Martians, animals, outlaws,
brigands, guerrillas, dreamers,
space captains, travelers,
visionaries, anarchists, troubadours.)
In the fertile and still highly politicized musical environment of the ‘70s, singer-songwriters such as Camerini and Finardi maintained their cultural and political activism while distancing themselves from the style of the previous generation of singer-songwriters like De André, Guccini and De Gregori, searching for new inspirations in the musical avant-garde and contemporary, increasingly electronic sounds.
In 1977 Camerini released Il Gelato Metropolitano (Metropolitan Ice Cream), produced by Ares Tavolazzi and Giulio Capiozzo of the band Area. The album features political and ecological themes, recounted using South American/Brazilian sounds. It opens with an autobiographical ballad, “Alberto,” which tells of his arrival in Italy:
Poi un giorno di marzo,
mio padre decide,
mia madre che ride
e piange di gioia
si torna in Italia,
che io non conoscevo,
che allora non volevo,
cosa importava a me
in cambio dei giochi,
del mercato di frutta,
dell’aria di strada,
della felicità
e dei mille compagni,
del campo di calcio
che c’era per strada,
che non scorderò più…
(Then one day in March,
my father decides,
my mother laughs
and cries with joy
we’re going back to Italy,
a place I didn’t know
and didn’t want to back then,
what did it matter to me
in place of games,
the fruit market,
life in the streets,
happiness,
and a thousand companions
on the makeshift soccer field
in the middle of the street,
that I will never forget…)
Camerini also wrote songs about fantastical and fairy-tale stories, such as “Nembo Kid & Baby Lavatrice,” in which the superhero Nembo Kid (one of Superman’s Italian names) falls madly in love with a washing machine he saw in the window of a department store, or “Ali Baba in the Jungle,” in which the protagonist fights the forty thieves (commanded by Scrooge McDuck) to free the jungle from capitalistic speculation and pollution.
The third album, Comici cosmetici (1978), is a concept album that tells the story of a clown named Neurox, and it highlights Alberto’s passion for theatre, masks and fairy tales reinterpreted in a post-modern key, which would later become the main inspiration for subsequent records.
It was Alberto’s last production for Cramps records, which would soon close its doors, putting an end to the most politically engaged period of his career.
Alberto then signed for a major label, CBS, and in 1980 the album Alberto Camerini was released. Here the singer-songwriter is inspired by more danceable and refined sounds, with an ever-increasing attention to electronic music. The most famous song on the album, however, is a ska ballad, “Ska-Tenati” (which in Italian is a pun on the word scatenati, meaning “unhinged”), bringing the album a certain amount of success.
However, it was with “Rock’n’roll Robot,” a song from the 1981 album Rudy & Rita, that Camerini achieved great public success. The song quickly became a catchphrase, and Alberto gave up the role of the singer-songwriter minstrel to take on the part of a glam harlequin who talks about computers and quotes Chuck Berry: a change in sensibilities which was common to many artists of the period and which marked the beginning of a transition from the cultural activism of the ‘70s to the disengagement of the ‘80s.
Success came once again in 1982 with the album Rockmantico, which entered the top ten in the sales charts, especially with the single “Tanz bambolina.” The term “rockmantico” is a fusion of the words rock, romantic and ancient, and it aptly represents the album’s contents, alternating pop songs such as “Maccheroni Elettronici” (“Electronic Macaroni”) and “Fanatico di Rock’n’roll” (“Rock’n’roll Fanatic”), to other songs with literary references (“Arlecchino educato dall’amore” (“Harlequin Refined by Love”) is the title of a song from Rockmantico, which references a 1720 comedy by Marivaux, Arlequin poli par l’amour.)
His Harlequin character would remain, even in the following years when Alberto mixed together increasingly electronic atmospheres, classical inspirations and rock’n’roll.
In 1984 he participated in the Sanremo Festival with “La Bottega del Caffè” (“The Coffee Shop”), which continues the musician’s references to eighteenth-century theatre (it is also the title of one of Carlo Goldoni’s most acclaimed comedies). The song met with a rather cold reception and likely caused the break between Alberto and his record company the following year.
Camerini continued to play outdoor concerts into the ‘90s, when he created Dove l’Arcobaleno Arriva (Where the Rainbow Ends), once again featuring Brazilian sounds, and then moves closer to the electronic punk style with the album Cyberclown in 2001, finally ending with a punk-rock sound on his 2005 album Kids Wanna Rock. Camerini, with his ability to explore different styles and his ironic and postmodern approach, was a unique artist in the Italian music scene. With his Harlequin character he became one of the great pop icons of the 1980s in Italy, still remembered and quoted even today.
