Il coyote

The song Il coyote, part of the album Il giorno aveva cinque teste, stands out as a turning point in the career of Lucio Dalla. Released in April 1973, this work marked the beginning of an important creative partnership with the poet Roberto Roversi. This collaboration, which would span four years and result in three albums, including Anidride solforosa and Automobili, is considered fundamental both for Dalla's career and for the evolution of Italian music. Dalla, until then, had primarily worked with Sergio Bardotti and Gianfranco Baldazzi on his lyrics, but for this project, he decided to explore a new path with Roversi, who was originally from Bologna.

Lucio Dalla, born in Bologna in 1943 and passed away in Montreux in 2012, was a multifaceted artist, recognized as a singer-songwriter and actor. His career, which spanned nearly half a century, established him as one of Italy's most influential authors. With an initial background in jazz, Dalla explored various styles throughout his work, from the beat era to rhythmic and musical experimentation, without neglecting singer-songwriter tradition and paving the way for Italian lyrics and melody. His beginnings as a clarinetist in a jazz group in Rome exposed him to figures such as the future music critic Fabrizio Zampa and the comedian Massimo Catalano, with the support of maestro Carlo Loffredo.

In his performances, he often improvised scat-style vocalizations, a technique also practiced by Adriano Celentano in the 60s and 70s. Dalla also studied the vocal style of James Brown, a funk pioneer, adopting a deliberately dissonant and rough vocal use, with a jazzy inclination to embellish melodic lines with unexpected variations. It was Gino Paoli who discovered him and encouraged him to pursue a solo career. The duration of Il coyote is 4 minutes and 35 seconds.