Heading into night four, it’s one of the top three in the Sanremo 2021 rankings, proving particularly popular with the press voters. But what exactly is Willie Peyote’s “Mai dire mai (La locura)” all about?
Scroll down for “Mai dire mai (La locura)” lyrics
Sanremo 2021: Willie Peyote “Mai dire mai (La locura)”
Guglielmo Bruno, known as Willie Peyote, is a singer-songwriter and rapper. His stage name combines the animated character Wile E. Coyote with peyote, a hallucinogenic plant from North America. On YouTube, his most viewed videos are “Ottima scusa” and “La mia futura ex moglie”.
What do the “Mai dire mai (La locura)” lyrics mean?
Sanremo 2021’s only authentic rap entry is a fast and relentless, vitriolic satire of Italian music. Willie Peyote talks about the new songwriting and dancing on TikTok. The slavery of the social network expands to civil society. That’s why “Mai dire mai (La locura)” or “Never Say Never (The Madness)” is the most political song of the Festival. “They pump the trash in the name of LOL and then you’re surprised by the exit polls”. The “locura” of the title is a quotation from the Italian satirical series Boris. In fact the song opens with the voice of actor Valerio Aprea, taken from a famous scene in the third season: “This is the Italy of the future: a country of music while outside there is death”.
The lyrics also reference (“The bad intension…” what’s up?) to the iconically cringe moment at last year’s Sanremo Festival, which led to Morgan and Bugo’s shock disqualification from the competition.
“Mai dire mai (La locura)” lyrics — Willie Peyote (Sanremo 2021)
Written and Composed by: W. Peyote, C. Cavalieri D’Oro, D. Bestonzo and G. Petrelli
Italian text |
English translation |
“Questa è l’Italia del futuro, un paese di musichette mentre fuori c’è la morte”
Ora che sanno che questo è il trend tutti ‘sti rapper c’hanno la band C’è il coatto che parla alla pancia ma l’intellettuale è più snob Siamo giovani affamati, siamo schiavi dell’hype Siamo giovani affermati, siamo schiavi dell’hype Mai dire mai, mai dire mai Ora che sanno che questo è il trend tutti che vendono il culo a un brand Cosa ci vuole a decidere “tutta ‘sta roba c’ha rotto i coglioni?” Siamo giovani affamati, siamo schiavi dell’hype Siamo giovani affermati, siamo schiavi dell’hype Non so se mi piego, non so se mi spezzo Se è vero che il fine giustifica il mezzo Siamo giovani affamati, siamo schiavi dell’hype Siamo giovani affermati, siamo schiavi dell’hype Mai dire mai, mai dire mai |
“This is the Italy of the future, a country of music while outside there is death”.
Now that they know that this is the trend, all these rappers have a band There’s the chav who appeals to the worst instincts of people but the intellectual is more snobby We’re hungry young people, we’re slaves to hype We are young and established, we are slaves of hype Never say never, never say never Now that they know that this is the trend everyone sells their ass to a brand What does it take to decide “all this stuff has broken our balls”? We are hungry young people, we are slaves of hype We are young and established, we are slaves of hype I don’t know if I bend, I don’t know if I break If it’s true that the end justifies the means We are hungry young people, we are slaves to hype We are young and established, we are slaves of hype Never say never, never say never |
What do you think of “Mai dire mai (La locura)” could it win Sanremo? Would it work at Eurovision? Comment below.
I already love the song and the lyrics make it more enjoyable. Impressive how Sanremo allows a song like this to compete. Kudos to the producer!
This is actually really cool. I like his song and I like that he’s not afraid to give his opinion about all of these things. More surprised it’s doing so well, but not unpleasantly surprised.
Wow, he really is writing an essay here. As much I understand his criticism about the capitalistic aspects of modern music and artists selling out, it still is too harsh towards the trend of current music. It’s just a change of production and music genres. I remember reading that people hated The Beatles at the beginning of their career because they played rock and rock was seen as something horrible and vulgar at that time. It’s easy to judge trends without understanding that there is just a general shift in music that happens in every decade.
My second place after Irama
I love this song and totally disagree with the comments. You can have a bad opinion of TikTok, Phone addicts and twerk without being and old guy considering that all young people are idiots. Good luck to him at Sanremo !!!
Ok boomer
I rly like this song but these lyrics are aggressively 50-year-old-cant-understand-the-current-generation-and-doesnt-like-that-he-doesnt.
Sounds like he’s having a midlife crisis.