Meaning of 'Ho conosciuto il dolore'

by Roberto Vecchioni

Interpretation

In the lyrics of the song "Ho conosciuto il dolore" by Roberto Vecchioni, it is about the personal experience of pain and suffering. The singer describes that he has personally known pain and that they have been friends since forever. He says that he has never lost pain and vice versa. Pain feels lost when it doesn't see or hear the singer for a day.

Pain is described as something ridiculous when the singer elbows it or tells it in the face: "Who do you want to scare?". Pain represents different forms of suffering: a sick child, a lost lover, a shattered dream, the world's indifference towards hunger, poverty, and life in general.

The singer accepts pain with songs and words and tries to shake it, fade it, and push it back into the corner. He describes pain as beaten, confused, and defeated. But then he meets pain in a bar, where nobody knows it, and tells it that it can't do anything to him.

The singer feels compassion for pain and its loneliness. He considers its eyes as abysses and cracks of broken dreams. He asks pain to listen to him and not to breathe. He tells it that he has done everything to disarm his life, but pain can't escape because the singer is alive and pain means nothing.

The lyrics of the song end by saying that the singer met pain on a winter night, one of those nights that resemble a day but amidst invisible and extinguished stars. He explains that he is a man and pain means nothing.

The lyrics of the song convey the message that pain is part of life, but it can be overcome and not let it take control. It is a call to be strong and defeat pain.