J-Ax

"C'è un proverbio che ho sentito a The Voice: | «Tira più un Pelù di Litfiba | che un carro di buoi»."

"(About Matteo Salvini) He always makes people laugh, like a fart. I imagine Salvini in government in six years' time: he will have reintroduced the racial laws of Fascism. [About the failure to grant a visa for Nigeria] He's lucky, if someone translates what he says to the Nigerians, I don't know if he'll get back from Nigeria."

"Gaber didn't say “I'm a singer-songwriter”, he didn't take sides. He took what he heard on the street and gave it back to the people honestly, with his own personal touch. Which was a cool touch, from someone who knew how to tell the truth to those in power."

"I have always respected Mango, a virtuoso and respectable singer, always on stage performing his art, right up to the end."

"Il tempo è giustiziere Rino | ora i tuoi dischi suonano come se fossero appena usciti. | Rino, hai vinto tu."

"“'Time is the avenger Rino | now your records sound as if they had just been released. | Rino, you won.”'"

"In Italy, it seems that the Rome are always to blame for everything. And the most unforgivable thing is the rise of Matteo Salvini. Explain to me why if an Italian goes abroad, it's a brain drain, but if a young person comes to us, they're a black person stealing our jobs, even if they have two degrees."

"(Talking to Red Ronnie about choosing vegetarianism) At first, as I told you, I tried it out of curiosity, to see if what you had been telling me so emphatically for a month was true. I tried it and saw that it was true. Continuing with this choice is a personal matter, but in my opinion, you have to see things for yourself before you can choose, right? We are not given the opportunity to choose; we are brought up to eat meat, so I advise everyone to try it and then choose, because in reality you feel – I don't want to say better or worse – but different."

"(In memory of his cat) […] you saved my life. Perhaps it may seem strange to some to talk about a cat in this way […]. But then again, you always understood me. Perhaps not my words, but my soul — yes, that always. […] No matter what happened to me during the day, whether I came home a winner or a loser — you were there. You were always there. […] You were there even when I thought that the only way to forget, to numb the pain, was alcohol. You helped me quit. Without you, I wouldn't be here today. That's why, the day I found out you were ill, I was so scared. […] Almost everyone told me you wouldn't make it. But I knew you wouldn't give up. All it took was giving you back 1/10 of what you gave me over the years to see you come back to life. Some people told me that the treatment was “exaggerated”. That you're not a person, but “just a cat”. They're right, you're just a cat. In fact, no person has ever given me what I got from you. Because that's how cats are. And I know you would have taken care of me as I did with you. I know, because you already did. And now that you've lost the battle, I miss you every day."

"Mi serve sentirti Rino | presto al mattino | per non sentirmi solo e per sentire un po' di orgoglio per il posto dove sono nato, vivo e scrivo.'"

"For years, bullies made me believe that I was worthless and that my soul was insignificant until I defeated them with music. I want to convey this message to young people who are bullied because they are gay or for other reasons: persevere and you too will defeat them. And to the friends of those who are bullied: be good allies and help your friends. Your soul is at stake."

"When we first heard Giorgio Gaber's songs, it was electrifying. What we are trying to do in our career, he was already doing perfectly in the early 1970s. Playing rock, we could say. Not rock misunderstood as self-destruction, but rock as a language. A language that allows you to respond deeply to anyone who prevents the individual from being free: practically, culturally, intellectually."

"Rino still gives me energy and anger. He had a rock attitude and a hoarse voice, he was an outsider even in terms of composition. :*Quoted in Luigi Bolognini, “”Rap' n' roll J-Ax: Now I want to understand if I'm really a rebel“”, “'la Repubblica”', 12 June 2012."

"Rino mi piaci un casino | tanto quanto mi piacevi da bambino, | mamma dice che eri quello che preferivo | perché eri il solo colorato in un cantautorato grigio."

"You're like a beautiful song by a band you hate, you confuse me but I can't help listening to you."

"J-Ax, Dalla strada al palco (pp. 31-32); in Andrea Pedrinelli (editor), Gaber, Giorgio, il Signor G. Raccontato da intellettuali, amici, artisti, Kowalski, Milano, 2008. ISBN 978-88-7496-754-4 (in Italian)."