Call me Ishmael

Thank you Manuel, for your comment on De Gregori's Il canto delle sirene.

You got the point: "Ismaele" does refer to something.

Well, it is probably a hint to one of the most famous texts in American literature.

It starts with one of the most quoted lines in literature. Just three words:

            "Call me Ishamel",

which are able to trigger all the memories and reminiscences you can think of.

The novel is Melville's Moby Dick. As everybody knows - and you do not, don't you? - the enormous White Whale is one of the greatest symbols in modern times for the ineffable, for an obsession, for something that just eludes our capability to understand.

De Gregori may refer to it as well when he mentions "nella schiuma della nostra scia qualcosa appare e scompare". When we are alone, in the middle of nowhere, and we think we might be seeing something that we cannot pin down, that we would never dare give a name to. In other words,

            "Who is the third who walks always beside you?"

However, Ishmael is also the name of the son of Abraham in the Bible, and his name means "God has listened" (in the song, De Gregori repeats "Ascoltaci o Signore", which in itself is another quote, familiar to whomever has been to a Christian Catholic sevice).

For more, you can read the following article, from La Repubblica:

CON DE GREGORI VERSO L' IGNOTO

Enjoy!