In his 2004 album "Ritratti", Francesco Guccini released the song "Odysseus", his musical interpretation of the "Odyssey", inspired, by his own admission, not only by Homer, but also by Dante, Ugo Foscolo, Constantine Cavafy and Jean-Claude Izzo. These numerous references give rise to a multi-layered Odysseus who is not born a seafarer, but possesses a “peasant’s soul” and is driven towards the sea by a desire for knowledge. Rather than recounting the return to Ithaca, in fact, the song reflects on the constant tension between the desire to set out and that to return, on nostalgia, on restlessness and on the impossibility of finding a final resting place. Odysseus’s journey becomes a symbol of the human condition, of advancing age and of the search for meaning that never ends with the arrival at one’s destination. It was a song of which the Maestrone was very proud. In an interview in 2022, to mark the release of the album "Canzoni da intorto", he said: “From a lyrical point of view, it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever written.”Below you will find the song and the full lyrics:This needs to be emphasised stronglyThat, of course, I did not belong to the seaEven though the gods of Olympus and mortal folkOne day, it prompted me to browseAnd if I were to look at the rocky islandOlive groves and flocks of sheep on every hillMy heart was at the very top of everythingThere was my soul, which is that of a peasantAn island of ploughs and wheatWithout sails, without fishermenThe sweat and the earth were silverWine and olive oil were my treasuresBut if you look at a mountain that’s facing youYou feel another mountain pushing you onAn island embraced by the seaAnother island opposite is calling youAnd I gave form to my own chimeras; I built ships of daring designConcave ships with black sailsAnd in the sea, my life changedAnd the neglected sea swept me awayI knew my future lay at seaHowever, one doubt remained unresolvedMy browsing had no futureBut in the future, plots from the pastThey come together in fragments of the presentWater brings out the best in it, and it tastes best when savouryMind-blowingAnd on every journey, reinvent yourself as a legendRedesigning the world at every meetingAnd lose yourself in the thrill of the forbiddenFurther and further downAnd to days as white as the scorching heatA breath of wind and the strength of one’s armsHand on the helm and gaze into the pureFoam that leaves a fleeting traceStep into the night that envelops youGazing at the twinkling starsAbove, the Great Bear and a sign pointing towards youStraight north of the North StarAnd carry on as if driven by fateTowards a war, towards an adventureAnd to defy every predictionAgainst the Gods and Against FearAnd set off for enchanted islandsTowards other loves, towards arcane forcesLost comrades and shipwrecksFor months, years, or just weeksMemory confuses and leads to oblivionWho was Nausicaa, and where were the sirens Circe and Calypso, lost in the hubbub?Entries that I don’t know how to link togetherI’m missing the rudder, sail and oarThe divide between the beginning and the endThe cry of the blind PolyphemusAnd my browsing to escapeAnd in fleeing one dies, and my deathI feel close to it when all is quietBy the sea, and I curse my fateI cannot find peace. Perhaps because I am all aloneBut my hand wasn’t shaking thenAnd the oars turned to wings for the mad flightBeyond humanThe sea route marks out false coursesEvery route at sea is deceptiveJust legends lost in the nightAn evergreen from the one who once sang to meBut granting me eternal lifeEnclosed in verses, in rhythms, in a rhymeStill giving me the boundless joy of entering previously unknown harbours