Sanremo 2025 - LUCIO CORSI in my life I have always chased songs

Lucio Corsi is preparing to take the stage for the first time at the 75th edition of the Sanremo Festival.

The singer-songwriter will bring the song “Volevo essere un duro” to the competition, an intense and reflective ballad that addresses themes of acceptance and fragility with his unmistakable style.

In this interview, Corsi guides us through his musical and personal world, telling the meaning of the song, future projects and the importance of being authentic.

THE FESTIVAL

I've been chasing songs since I was a child and going to the Italian Song Festival is a great thing!

It's the thing that I've always enjoyed doing the most, especially with this language, with Italian.

When you have a certain number of chords, a verse, and you need to summarize a concept in that specific time, Italian allows us to do it in many ways. We have ten possibilities to say the same concept in multiple ways, perhaps with a different rhythm. So it's a puzzle, I experience it as a game.

I spend whole days trying to say a concept in that space in the best possible way, both rhythmically and synthetically.
Being on the Ariston stage is an honor. Musicians I love have passed by: I think of Rino Gaetano, Dalla, Ivan Graziani with 'Maledette Malelingue', Vasco Rossi with 'Vita Spericolata' and even Peter Gabriel who arrived on stage hanging from a vine.

Then there are many others that I love and who have never been there. For years it was an internal battle for me, a voice saying, “Go, go, go!” Now I'm here, and it's a coincidence I can't ignore.”

THE SONG I BRING TO SANREMO

“I wanted to be a tough guy” is a song that talks about how much the world would like us to be infallible, with the solidity of stones and the perfection of flowers, without telling us, however, that all flowers are hanging by a thread. It is often difficult to become what we hoped to be, but sometimes what we hoped to be is no better than what we are. It also talks about acceptance, about that precarious balance we have over all things.

I want to underline that this song was written with the album in mind, not with Sanremo in mind.
Songs shouldn't be written to fit into a container. When you force them, they rebel.
They must be written out of necessity, for an idea, a story.
The fact that it ended up in Sanremo is one more thing that makes me happy.

It would have been one of the singles from the album I'm preparing anyway.
In the song there is folk, there is a bit of rock'n'roll, there are different things. It's a ballad, a type of structure that I'm fond of.

THE NEW RECORD

We are finishing the album in these months.
I looked for a change, especially in the writing of the lyrics. I tried to talk more concretely about people. Before I used images such as wind, waves, animals; now I try to tell people more directly. I am inspired by timeless stories, songs that do not belong to a specific year. When you listen to Conte or Robert Wyatt, you can't tell what era they were written in. This is my goal: to talk about things that remain universal.”

There will be nine songs, including those already released, such as 'You are the morning' and 'In the heart of the night'. These two tracks open and close the album, and it's a coincidence that surprised me. I hadn't planned on tying them this way, but I realized they made sense that way.

I like that there is a common thread, a story that ends naturally. The title? It is not yet decided, sometimes it comes immediately, other times at the end. We will see.”

THE LOOK

My aesthetic was formed during adolescence. I was looking through photos of Mick Rock and the Rolling Stones. I wanted to be like them, and that's something that never changed. Fashion passes, but my style remains linked to that musical world.

For me it's always been about the music, not the clothes.
When I go to buy cigarettes, I'm dressed like when I go on stage. Maybe with a few more accessories, but it's all part of my everyday life.”

BOREDOM

As a child I wanted to be a paleontologist. Growing up in the countryside you had to deal with boredom and long days. I've learned to deal with it.

And that boredom was a blessing: it gave me time to learn to play an instrument. I couldn't go into town, so I played over records. I would put on a song and play along with it. I started like this.

Then I took guitar and piano lessons, and during high school I played with friends.
That passion grew, and here I am, chasing songs like I did as a child.”

THE TOUR

The concerts start again in April. Chasing songs from city to city is what I love most, it's the dream I've had since I was a child.
Going on stage means encountering music, as Paolo Conte says in 'Alle con una verde milonga'.

Each stage is a springboard to another reality. Up there I can really imagine being something else.

The band will be the same one I've been playing with for some time: harmonica, guitars, everything complete. No pre-recorded backing tracks, just live music. This is how I want to present my songs.”

THE DATES

13 April 2025 – Estragon, Bologna
15 April 2025 – Concordia Theatre, Venaria Reale (TO)
16 April 2025 – Cartiere Carrara Theatre, Florence
18 April 2025 – Largo Venue, Rome
23 April 2025 – Casa Della Musica, Naples
28 April 2025 – Hall, Padua
April 29, 2025 – Alcatraz, Milan