Volare – Domenico Modugno
In january this year Domenico Modugno, one of the most famous Italian singers of the twentieth century, would have celebrated his 90th birthday. Everybody knows his song Volare, although the original title is Nel blu dipinto di blu. With this song Modugno in 1958 won his first of four titles at the San Remo festival, finished third at the European Songcontest and was rewarded two Grammy’s. His next win at San Remo was immediately next year with Piove, better known as Ciao ciao bambino, that also secured him a sixth place at the European Songcontest.
The Italian singer-songwriter
Modugno actually was one of the first Italian cantautori, singers who wrote their own songs. Some of his songs are in dialect, either of his birthplace Polignago a Mare or Neapolitan. These are particularly nice to listen to and not very difficult to decifer, once you get the hang of it. Take for instance Tu si’ ’na grande cosa’ with which Modugno won the festival of the Napoletan song:
Tu si’ ‘na cosa grande pe’ mme
‘na cosa ca me fa nnammura’
‘na cosa ca si tu guard”a mme
je me ne moro accussi’
guardanno a tte
vurria sape’ ‘na cosa da te
pecche’ quanno i’ te guardo accussi’
si pure tu te siente ‘e muri’
nun m”o ddice
e nun m”o faje capi’, ma pecche’.
e dillo ‘na vota sola
si pure tu staje tremmanno
dillo ca me vuoi bene
comm’io, comm’io,
comm’io voglio bene a tte…
tu si’ ‘na cosa grande pe’ mme
‘na cosa ca tu stessa nun saje
‘na cosa ca nun aggio avuto maje
nu bene accussi’, accussi’ grande…
si pure tu te siente ‘e muri’
nun m”o ddice
e nun m”o faje capi’, ma pecche’.
e dillo ‘na vota sola
si pure tu staje tremmanno
dillo ca me vuoi bene
comm’io, comm’io,
comm’io voglio bene a tte…
tu si’ ‘na cosa grande pe’ mme
‘na cosa ca tu stessa nun saje
‘na cosa ca nun aggio avuto maje
nu bene accussi’, accussi’ grande
accussi’ grande,
accussi’ grande
Reading it aloud, you quickly understand some of the dialect vocabularly: si’=sei, ’na=una, pe’=per, ca=che, nnammura’=innammorare, accussi’=così, etc.
Modugno, who was also an actor and a member of parliament for a short time, died in 1994 of a heart attack. He was a master of the light song, making you marvel at his descriptions of simple life and his funny music. Just listen to ’Zitto zitto doce doce’ and try not to smile. Impossible. Whenever in a bad mood, apply a few songs of Domenico Modugno. Success guaranteed!
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