Dare e avere

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of love as a transactional, almost burdensome, exchange. The narrator questions how many hands love must pass through, how much it must change its appearance, and how much it must hide behind a facade before it's eventually reduced to a "boring siege of words." This initial questioning sets a tone of weariness, suggesting that love, in its pursuit of being presentable, loses its essence and becomes a hollow performance. The central tension arises from the narrator's struggle with the concept of "dare e avere" – give and take – in the context of love and life. The repeated French phrase, "Je voudrais savoir / Comme oublier l'amour" (I would like to know how to forget love), reveals a deep desire to escape the emotional calculus. This yearning is directly linked to the feeling that "my accounts will never balance," implying a persistent imbalance and a sense of owing or being owed, which makes true resolution impossible. The most striking aspect is the relentless repetition of "Questo dare e avere." This phrase, acting as a refrain, hammers home the idea that life, particularly emotional life, is characterized by an unending cycle of exchange, often with no clear profit or loss, just a continuous accounting that never settles. The shift in the pre-chorus from "someone will make me die" to "someone will make you pay" subtly broadens the scope, suggesting this inescapable accounting applies to everyone, not just the narrator. Ultimately, the lyrics resonate because they articulate a common, if unspoken, feeling about relationships and life's obligations. The weariness isn't just about romantic love, but about the constant effort to manage expectations, give and take, and keep accounts that can never truly be settled. The simple, almost resigned, repetition of "dare e avere" captures the exhausting, perpetual nature of this emotional and social bookkeeping.