“I was doing a bit of cocaine. One day they arrested the pusher…”

I’ll be there too Gino Paoli at the Turin Book Fair: the occasion was the presentation of his autobiography What will I do when i grow upwhich the great Genoese singer-songwriter, 89 years old in a more than lively manner, also discusses in an interview with the Corriere della Sera Turin edition.

A career, he recalls, that began almost “by chance”, like all the most important experiences of his life: “I was an advertising graphic designer and Gianfranco Reverberi he convinced me to record some songs that he wanted to present to Ricordi. Nanni Ricordian extraordinary man who was taking the label from classical to light, said: ‘Maybe the songs don’t interest me, but I like the singer.'” What convinced him once and for all to give up his “normal” life was his employer, pointing out that with just one evening of singing he earned more than with his entire salary.

The only moment of uncertainty came in 1968, when he was already one of the big names in Italian song. Blame the climate of that year: “They started asking me political songs. I didn’t understand what the hell they meant: for me life is politics. I no longer felt like singing, perhaps even ending up ‘on trial’ like De Gregori. So I found a casino in Levanto that needed a manager and I worked there for a few years. I did everything, I even organized concerts thanks to my friendship with Sergio Bernardini from Compass“.

Those were decidedly wild years: “In that period I was doing a bit of cocaineone day they arrested mine pusher and I was left without. I had continued to write things, I went to reread them when I was ‘healthy’ and they were horrendous. I can’t stand the lack of control over myself, so I stopped doing drugs and started writing again. Until Gianni Borgna he convinced me to return to a stage at the Pincio in Rome. I was terribly scared, I sang 15 minutes and I ran away, but the audience kept calling me.” And they still haven’t stopped.