Novecento

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of a bygone era, a "nineteenth century" that feels both specific and dreamlike. We hear tales of skies suited for horses and roads like "stage dust," of pale women sewing "percale dusters" on old "Singer" machines, their clothes taut against the wind. These images suggest a world of meticulous, perhaps even slightly theatrical, domesticity and a sense of performance in everyday life, all dismissed as "lies" or "old Chinese work." The central tension arises from the contrast between these nostalgic, almost quaint, recollections and a feeling of their ultimate dismissal or irrelevance. The lyrics mention an "old song from the eighteen hundreds" that makes one smile, and "dolls pierced by an Indian arrow," presented as "memories of the century before." This past is further evoked by the "flash of magnesium" on "manganese red," a stark, almost chemical imagery that feels more like a scientific observation than a romantic memory, hinting at a more complex, perhaps industrial or even violent, undercurrent. A striking element is the juxtaposition of natural and artificial, ancient and modern. The "indigo silence" and the "Great Spirit slowing the frost" evoke a primal, almost mythic landscape. This is immediately followed by the image of a "cook scolding the ghosts of gourmets," a domestic scene that feels strangely spectral. Later, the "pleistocenic stage" and "prehistoric plateau" are described as "volcanic and then galvanic," blending geological time with a sense of electrical energy, culminating in "big enthusiastic motors" being freed by the wind. What makes these lyrics resonate is their ability to evoke a sense of faded grandeur and the ephemeral nature of time. The recurring motif of "they say" or "dicono" creates a distance, as if these are stories heard rather than lived experiences. The final image of an airplane sparkling like the eyes of boys watching it from cherry trees bridges the gap between a distant, almost fantastical past and a more immediate, youthful wonder, suggesting that even as eras pass, the capacity for awe remains.