Now, after Jim Groom’s provocation of his Italian Lolita on #ds106 Radio Libera, I cannot leave him alone. So, what’s better than sharing one of my fixations, ie my love for variations of a same theme. I wasn’t born when these songs were written, but I have listened profusely to many American variations, both old and new, of such beautiful songs. Especially with Italian songs of the 40’s and 50’s (which borrowed rhythms heavily from the US) the American variation I tend to like best is the version. Let it be known that this task distracted me from doing my homework!
This is the playlist:
The bumper is from Roman Polanski himself (The Tenant).
First song: Ba Ba Baciami Piccina (“Botcha Me”, Kiss Me). Performed by maestro Ravagliati, it is a very famous song from 1940. My mother used to sing it!
First variation: Botcha Me from Rosemary Clooney, a splendid version with a very funny strong Italian accent. Enjoy!
Third song is the wonderful “Buonasera signorina” by Fred Buscaglione, another music giant, here performed by present-time popstar Jovanotti in a splendid variation.
The “American” variation is performed by Louis Prima, and the rhythm is rendered as a wonderful Swing. Dance it!
Then, there’s Renato Carosone‘s “Tu Vo’ fa’ l’americano” (“You wannabe American”). First I propose the variation, which is actually from a French guy, Dany Brillant, who I believe arranged it for the shoot in the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley, in which it gets sung by Italian showman Fiorello together with Jude Law and a very young Matt Damon. You shall not miss this.
The last track is Carosone himself playing his great song in perfect Rock’n’roll! Go dance!
I remember when as a child I read and dreamt with his fascinating books, especially the sci-fi “From the Earth to the Moon“, “20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” and the fun “
