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December 14th 2005. A Tenco case for a clueless Beppe Grillo

tenco6_1_.jpg

In picture: Luigi Tenco few days before his death (1967)

Beppe Grillo, the most famous italian blogger and popular comedian, like most of us write on his blog like about everything. His blog is beppegrillo.it, but you already know that.

Recently a magistrate reopened the case for the death of the great italian folksinger Luigi Tenco, who allegedly killed himself in his hotel room in Sanremo forty years ago, and Grillo jumped on the case, publishing a letter from folksinger Gino Paoli (it's a folk story, yep). Here:
http://www.beppegrillo.it/2005/12/vedrai_che_camb.html
(You can read more on the reopening of Tenco's case here, and also consider the interview with folksinger Lucio Dalla. Both in italian, sorry about that).

Paoli's letter basically says: leave Tenco resting in his grave, justice in Italy sucks, we should not reopen this 40 years old case, there are more important things to do, etc. A nice bar-chatting nonsense, were completely different and trifling things are put toghether with no other reason than to be published by Grillo.

Grillo completely agrees with the letter (another typical italian thing: he would not have it published at all if he did not agree with it in the first place) and adds:

Luigi Tenco commited suicide 39 years go in San Remo. In one of his songs/poems sung:
"This /it's not the Life for sure / you dreamt one day for us / You'll see, you'll see / You'll see it change / maybe not tomorrow / but one beautiful day, it will change / maybe not tomorrow / but one day it will change"
Tenco dreamt already then - Grillo goes on - a different Italy. Like us. You'll see we are going to make it. (Translation by Italy is Falling)

Oh, what is worse than politics smeared all over poetry like a scattered paint of crap?
This is enough, you megalomaniac Grillo ass. Yes I am addressing you, like you do with the big guns.

First thing: Vedrai, vedrai ("You'll see") is not a political song at all.

Grillo, please, pay attention. Not everything is politics. Not all the stuff that drives you emotional agrees with your idea of the world.

Vedrai, vedrai is a great, moving, bitter love song in french style, as most of the songs by Tenco are. Bitter love songs. The bitternes is often confused with a political stance against the establishment, but as a matter of fact Tenco never did such statements.
The fact that you are referring to his verses as political, means you don't care no shit about Tenco himself. You only want to pile up arguments in support of your heroical position in a supposed fight against the establishment.
Shame on you, mr. Grillo.

(I removed from the post second, third and fourth "thing" because I felt they were not that much interesting. They were mostly about why Tenco died in San Remo, why reopen the case today, and how Paoli is a big mafioso all but uninterested in the story and should just shut up. I may post this things in the comments later for all my morbidest readers)


 
 

 

4 Responses to “A Tenco case for a clueless Beppe Grillo” :

gp said

I think Grillo refers to the suspect according Tenco’s death was for corruptions in the winners election system. Reading his last letter, as the Wikipedia entry reported, I had the same suspect.

corpodibacco said

If Grillo refers to Tenco’s sucidal letter, why not quoting the letter? Why using the words of a beautiful love song, to praise his own political efforts?
I’ll tell you why: because Tenco’s last letter is a complete nonsense, and he needed something poignant to say instead.

As the folksinger Lucio Dalla also said in a recent interview on corriere.it, I think Tenco’s sucidal letter is pretty delirious, as a matter of fact, is completely crazy.

Tenco wrote:
“I loved the italian audience and I dedicated to them five years of my life. I do this not because I am tired of life (I am not at all), but as a action of protest against the audience that sent Io tu e le rose to the final and a commission that selects La rivoluzione. I hope this will help to clarify someone’s mind.”

To me, this last note is exactly one of the reasons to think that Tenco did not killed himself. Because it is an insult to intelligence.

What, you kill yourself as an act of protest against the music establishment?! Against the middle-class audience of the more obscurantist musical festival in the world? You, who can write the most beautiful songs, who can sing them?

Tenco’s case has been re-opened in 2003, when a book by a journalist proved that after the exclusion, Tenco was not that upset and certanly not suicidal. And because, moreover, there are a lot of unanswered questions about his death. The bullet, the gun, Dalida’s husband suicide years later etc.

Lucio Dalla, who was there, in the same hotel, when Tenco died, hints:
“Russian roulette..?”

Anyway, Grillo does not care: it is obvious to me how he just used Paoli’s vaguely menacing letter to have his own ego trip.

Jeremie Alexandre from Montreal(Canada) said

Well, i’m not from Italy.i’m a 24 year old canadian cinema student. i learned about Luigi Tenco in the movie about Dalida(the late great diva).He was pictured as a rather mixed-up person and we all know that artists can be really dark sometimes.i sorta developped a great admiration for him and for his work.He was a genius. I think that he could have committed suicide however i can’t prove that.If someone, somewhere knows that it could have been something else, they should definitely get out with the Truth.I think that everybody(the italian society and everyone)owes that to Luigi.The last thing that we can do for him now is give him justice so he can finally rest in peace. But if it’s proved that he really killed himself, we should definitely leave him alone.Not go over and over what happened that famous night in San Remo.We should celebrate him for the Great accomplished singer and leader that he was. His songs still have tremendous power not only in Italy but all around the world. Hope, justice, love,passion and courage;that’s what we should remember Him for.

Lara Y. said

If someone knows that LUIGI TENCO did not die as a result of suicide, then that person or persons should speak up so that this senseless death can be clarified. His death caused a lot of pian to a lot of people in Italy and elsewhere. We are in this planet to love and to help each other. Come on, I beg you: help Luigi Tenco’s relatives understand what happened. Bringing the truth out is a way of helping these people bring closure to this incident and let LUIGI rest in peace.

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