"The worst of us are a long drawn-out confession"

Nov 19, 2020 – the day Leo’s teacher called him “an intellect.” But before she does, and before her remark can cause me to burst into tears, my soundtrack pivots on a handful of songs that soothe and at the same time perpetuate a sudden, mysterious sense of malaise: "Cedars of Lebanon," and the song just before it, on the U2 album "No Line on the Horizon."

My pal Bono says:

"The worst of us are a long drawn-out confession
The best of us are geniuses of compression."

Bono doesn't need me to lionize him in any way but those are powerful lyrics that reveal an acumen in human psychology. I can imagine the people under the heading 'long drawn-out confession' as much as I can imagine those who keep it tight (maybe too tight).

He's writing about someone in the latter category who's lost a spouse to endless warfare and aggression. The character, if you will, has to keep living even though one of his main reasons for living has been snuffed out by a conflict with no resolution in sight. But in our day-to-day lives, how do we sum up tragedies like this? The details in the song about their domestic life are heartbreaking -- 'tidying the children's clothes and toys' -- and in the aftermath of her demise, he hasn't 'been with a woman, feels like for years.'

Then Bono ends the song here, with a world weariness so deep and menacing it sounds like a sneer:

"Choose your enemies carefully, 'cause they will define you
Make them interesting 'cause in some ways they will mind you
They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends
Gonna last with you longer than your friends."

Amy Winehouse died 10 years ago (essay for Entropy)

Hard to believe, but Amy Winehouse has been gone for a decade. For me, it was almost equally unbelievable that I would become a big fan of her work.

As I explained in an essay I wrote a few years ago for the literary magazine, Entropy, I was an older mother of a toddler. Not a typical Winehouse fan!

But then at some point during the years following her death, I became obsessed with a version of her song, “Tears Dry on Their Own,” which appears on the CD, “Amy Winehouse at The BBC.” Especially while driving – driving alone, where I can listen to the CD over and over. I can turn it up. I can sit close to the steering wheel as I do when I want to pay close attention to something, staring out at the street in search of an explanation. 

And I’ve found a form of genius inside of the song. She sings about a failed love affair that ends when the man “walks away,” and “the sun goes down,” while the narrator, the jilted one, stands and watches, forced to accept this turn of events. The inflection of her voice, and the rise and fall of the notes have the same effect on me as the love affair in the song had on Winehouse, or the song’s narrator (possibly, one in the same). 

You can read the essay here:

https://entropymag.org/variations-on-a-theme-in-memoriam-amy-winehouse-years-later-my-tears-are-still-drying-on-their-own/

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Question about the radio in your brain

March 24, 2021

Do you cue up the song on your computer or stereo and threaten to permanently dislodge it from your head?

Or do you lean into the loop your mind keeps replaying, even though it’s only your mind’s version of the song, and only the snippet your mind insists on replaying? 

(In this case, “The Street Only Knows Your Name,” by Van Morrison)

-30-

My Italian soundtrack

You love Italian coffee, Italian wine and Italian pasta. (You and Stanley Tucci!)

But what do you know about Italian pop music?

Probably the first time you’ve ever seen those words strung together in a sentence!

But bear with me, because if the only thing you know about Italian music is opera or Il Divo, then there’s room for a little more info in your mental music library. Plus singing along to Italian music is a much better way of boning up on your Italian than cracking open a phrase book.

So here are four Italian pop songs worth your time:

“Hai un momento, Dio?” by Ligabue ('You gotta minute, God?') -- click title to see/hear

In which Ligabue imagines coming face to face with God and asking him which soccer team tops Inter in the finals (as you might if you met God and were an Italian male), if it’s sunny in the Great Beyond and also why? Just why? Ligabue fancies himself the Italian answer to Bruce Springsteen if the Boss were from Bonjovi’s part of Jersey.

Another favorite is his song “Certe Notti,” in which he croons:

Certe notti la macchina è calda e dove ti porta lo decide lei.

Certe notti la strada non conta e quello che conta è sentire che vai.

Certe notti la radio che passa Neil Young sembra avere capito chi sei.

Certe notti somigliano a un vizio che non voglio smettere, smettere mai

 

(TRANS: Some nights, the car is warm and the one who decides where you’re going

Some nights, the road doesn’t matter, what matters is going somewhere

Some nights the radio that’s playing Neil Young seems to know who you are

Some nights are like a vice that I don’t ever ever want to quit

(2)

“America” by Gianna Nannini -- Video above

The title of the song is likely to grab your attention. But if not, how about this: it’s about self-pleasure. It’s also one of the “hardest” songs in the Italian pop repertoire – a repertoire not known for grungy, realistic rock.

Would you like to know more? The song, by one of the only bad girls in Italian rock, is an anthem about independence and the difficulty of ever knowing anyone really well. But even if you don't know the words, the beat tells you everything you need to know about rebelling, Italian-style.

(3)

“Le Ragazze” by Luca Carboni (“Girls”) -- click here to hear/see

The song is about women getting tans and flying around like butterflies but also stinging men, including the singer, like bees. No, really -- that's what it's about.

Le ragazze si abbronzano

Ma le ragazze, a cosa pensano?

(Girls get tans/But what do girls think about?)

Later he sings:

Poi di notte si accendono

(Then come nighttime, they light up)

There are so many more songs that I love and I think it’s largely because of the way I trace my journey into Italian music. It begins with “La canzone del sole,” by Lucio Battisti. 

Nando is strumming his acoustic guitar in piazza; behind us is the fountain and nowhere to be seen are the horses that will take center stage here in Piazza del Campo, come summer. The way he sings the song, the way we’re sitting in a piazza in Siena, Italy, like we have a reason to be there (like a girl from Hicksville has a reason to be there), well I couldn’t turn my back on Italian music. It made me feel just a little Italian when I was anything but.

-30-

Pianos for Peace -- Atlanta edition

Pianos for Peace -- I don't know who you are, I don't know where you're based and I don't need to know. I only know Leo and I were wandering around Piedmont Park one warm summer afternoon recently and we stumbled upon this lovely red piano. We had no agenda that day and were looking for an adventure. For 15 minutes or so, Little Red Piano, you provided it.

Because not only did we sit down and try to play ourselves, we managed to entice others to try their hand at tinkling the ivories, as they say. People were intrigued, like us (can we really just sit down and play this piano? Um, yep, it would appear to be the case!). And taking chance, I prevailed upon a few good sports to see if they could remember their childhood piano lessons.

The man in the picture remembered something -- I think if he'd had more time, he would have remembered all kinds of songs. He was a bit shy, perhaps the way we all are when we remember a past love or a past hobby or some activity we gave up, which now seems lost to time, seemingly with no way to ever recover it.

I think there IS a way to recover it, in this case. Perhaps Pianos for Peace can help. I've since seen another piano that is part of the initiative, stationed under the Freedom Parkway overpass on the Beltline.

Hey Atlanta, if you're not already bothering fellow citizens with your recollection of "Chopsticks," get to it. This one is near the pool in Piedmont Park!

P.S. -- According to the link, the pianos will be around Atlanta until Sept. 18.

Luca Carboni's "La Mia Ragazza" Feels Right Now

I've been listening to Italian music and podcasts and interviews and anything I can think of, in preparation for my trip to Florence next week.

This slow-tempo, contemplative song by Luca Carboni has long been one of my favorites and feels right this week, as unexpected emergencies explode in our little domestic life, and render the trip a bit of an afterthought.

In many ways, the visit to Florence is neither here nor there. Sounds odd to say, but I simply love Italy. And I will love it, from near or afar.

Enjoy the song! It's about a man who falls in love with his girlfriend all over again as he sees her give birth to their son.

From the Leo Journal (Nina Simone edition)

The last two evenings, Leo has jumped up after dinner to say, “Let’s listen to some music.”

He runs over to the boom box on a corner bookshelf in the kitchen and begins fiddling with the knobs. He knows which CD is his – a children’s album of Woody Guthrie songs from my friend, Margie – but he’s also curious about my jazz CDs.

The first night, he listens to the song "Take Me Riding In the Car," and shouts out certain words: Back seat! Blow the horn! There's a frog in the car!

Then he looks at Nina Simone’s face on one of my CDs and decides he wants a listen. I cue up “My Baby Just Cares For Me,” one of my favorite songs, and try to dance him around the dining room. He’s not having it.

But he likes the next song, “Don’t Smoke In Bed.” On the second night, he begins playing his CD, then says, suddenly, with perfect enunciation and recall, “Don’t Smoke In Bed.” I roar with delight, and he says, again, “Don’t smoke in bed, Mommy."

Nicolette - No Government

I love this song so much by the British/Nigerian singer, Nicolette. Listening to it, I feel as though I'm committing a crime or telling a lie, its beat is so infectious and sinister.

"LA STRADA" - Ilaria Graziano & Francesco Forni

One of the most gorgeous voices I've ever heard.

Thinking of a Jovanotti song today

Beautiful thought:" È questa la vita che sognavo da bambino."

("This is the life I dreamt about as a child.")

Harry Belafonte and Florence

Local radio can sometimes furnish a cozy little world in our minds, with its eclectic choices and homespun style. Listening to WRFG this morning, I heard a song with vaguely Caribbean rhythms, and within a few seconds I was transported to a spare, sunken living room in a fourth-floor walkup in Florence, Italy.

The living room was the largest room in the apartment, and it was there that I spent many a night during my first winter in Florence, listening to my roommate’s tape of a Harry Belafonte concert.

I had little money and was still finding my way in the expat racket of English lessons and translations. With little to spend, my diet consisted largely of big bowl-life cups of caffelatte into which I dunked endless amounts of cheap biscotti. At night, I’d eat bowls of vegetables or greens swimming in olive oil, dipping crusty chunks of bread into the golden salsina that developed to stretch the threadbare meal.

In the background was Belafonte, singing traditional Caribbean songs. It became the soundtrack to my early desperate months in a city that would take its time to welcome strangers, particularly ones who were pawing around aimlessly for a life raft.

I got up early those days and worked what I considered a graveyard shift: the 7:30 a.m. class for the factory workers at the plant where I taught English. It was on the outskirts of the city, and after the class, I’d take the 23 bus back into the city to have the first of my various daily caffelatte meals.

As I compose these lines, I’m driving down the streets of my neighborhood in Atlanta – first Waldo, then a left on Glenwood, and finally a right on Boulevard to access the highway. But mentally, I’m sitting at the drafting table in that sunken living room on Via dei Serragli, locking onto the longing Belafonte conveys, longing for his homeland, longing for what was, longing for a time when whatever evil chasing us has become tired.

My longing at that drafting table, of course, was different. I was longing to settle down to my much-awaited Italian life. I was longing for steady work. I was longing to meet people. Day to day, I was just longing to make a little money so I could buy a cappuccino at a corner coffee bar and maybe get myself a proper meal.

Right now I’m remembering that sense of longing felt so keenly night after night in that windowless living room. And it's all because a local radio station played a song that sounded like a Harry Belafonte ballad, lodged deep inside my memory.

Ilaria Graziano è mitica!

Jovanotti in Atlanta -- Oct 8!!!!

Jovanotti will be in Atlanta October 8 at the Variety Playhouse and I will be there, too! 

Non ci posso credere!!!

I think it's the Italian rapper's first Atlanta concert ever. 

I can't believe he'll actually be here; last time I wrote about him he was about to play a concert in New York.

My hope is he plays "Ragazzo Fortunato," my absolute favorite Jovanotti song. SEI BELLA (O) COME IL SOLE!


"Ragazzo Fortunato"

Se io potessi sarei sempre in vacanza
se io fossi capace scriverei il cielo in una stanza
ma se devo dirla tutta qui non è il paradiso
ma all'inferno delle verità io mento col sorriso
problemi zero problemi a non finire
un giorno sembra l'ultimo
un altro è da impazzire
ma se devo dirla tutta qui non è il paradiso
ma all'inferno delle verità io mento col sorriso
di 10 cose fatte te ne è riuscita mezza
e dove c'è uno strappo non metti mai una pezza (2 volte)
sono un ragazzo fortunato perché m'hanno regalato un sogno sono fortunato perché non c'è niente che ho bisogno
e quando viene sera e tornerò da te
è andata come è andata la fortuna di incontrarti ancora
sei bella come il sole a me mi fai impazzire s
ei bella come il sole a me mi fai impazzire.
Siddartha me l'ha detto che conta solo l'amore che
tutto quello che ti serve può stare dentro al cuore
ma se devo dirla tutta qui non è il paradiso ma all'inferno delle verità io mento col sorriso
di 10 cose fatte te ne è riuscita mezza
e dove c'è uno strappo non metti mai una pezza (2 volte)
sono un ragazzo fortunato perché m'hanno regalato un sogno sono fortunato perché non c'è niente che ho bisogno
e quando viene sera e tornerò da te
è andata come è andata la fortuna di incontrarti ancora
sei bella come il sole a me mi fai impazzire
sei bella come il sole a me mi fai impazzire
sei bella come il sole a me mi fai impazzire.

"Zingara" di Iva Zanicchi

I fell in love with this song when I saw the movie "Il Compleanno" (see review on April 12).

You'll need to ignore the slide show of gypsy women ("zingare") but I wanted to post this version rather than the live versions I found on YouTube that I didn't think were as good.

The song played while two of the movie's main characters are riding on a motorbike near the beach. It just shouts out 'summer' and 'freedom'!

Here are the words:

Prendi questa mano,
zingara,
dimmi pure che destino avrò
parla del mio amore,
io non ho paura
perché
lo so
che ormai
non m'appartiene.

Guarda nei miei occhi,
zingara
vedi l'oro dei capelli suoi.
Dimmi se ricambia
parte del mio amore,
devi dirlo
questo
tocca a te.

Ma se e' scritto che
lo perderò,
come neve al sole
si scioglierà
un amore.

Prendi questa mano,
zingara

Ma se e' scritto che
lo perderò,
come neve al sole
si scioglierà
un amore.

Prendi questa mano,
zingara,
leggi pure che destino avrò
Dimmi che mi ama,
dammi la speranza,
solo questo
conta
ormai per me.


Godi!

New Ligabue album out this week!

"ARRIVEDERCI, MOSTRO!" è il nuovo album di Luciano Ligabue. Questo disco esce a esattamente vent'anni dal primo (pubblicato nel maggio 1990), con l'importante compito di demarcare un nuovo inizio.

One of the first singles, "Nel Tempo," is above. Here's a preview of all the songs on the new album:



Not sure if it sounds like one of his best (hard to beat past albums that included songs such as "Certe Notti"), but certainly worth a listen. And without a doubt, he'd be worth seeing live.

Infatti, if you're going to be in Italy this summer, check him out:

09/07 Roma Stadio Olimpico (SOLD OUT!)
10/07 Roma Stadio Olimpico
13/07 Firenze Stadio A. Franchi
16/07 Milano Stadio San Siro (SOLD OUT!)
17/07 Milano Stadio San Siro
20/07 Padova Stadio Euganeo
24/07 Messina Stadio S.Filippo
02/08 Pescara Stadio Adriatico (nuova data!)
07/08 Oristano Aeroporto Fenosu (nuova data!)

Mario Biondi: "This Is What You Are"

Ilaria -- per te, un po' in ritardo, per il tuo compleanno.

Musica: "La Mia Ragazza"

"La Mia Ragazza" di Luca Carboni

Watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTIHSKo6iKA

La mia ragazza è un fiore che vedo sbocciare
sulle lenzuola dell'ospedale
sul suo vestito bianco il suo viso stanco
piange gocce di rugiada

La mia ragazza è l'Africa, è calda e limpida
la mia ragazza è tutto il mondo
...e tiene in braccio il suo bambino
apre gli occhi è piccolino...

La mia ragazza è terra, è carne e sangue
dal suo seno nasce il grano

La mia ragazza è anima, spirito e preghiera
dal suo cuore nasce amore
è un raggio di sole che illumina la stanza
la mia ragazza è mia x sempre

...e tiene in braccio il mio bambino
chiude gli occhi è piccolino
e tiene in braccio il mio bambino
apre il becco è un uccellino...

Infermiere, ostetriche, pediatri e dottori
poi i re magi ed i pastori
e questo è il centro di tutto il pianeta
in cielo la stella cometa

...e tiene in braccio il suo bambino
apre gli occhi è piccolino
e tiene in braccio il mio bambino
muove le ali è un uccellino...

Sta tutto dentro ad una mano
apre le ali è già lontano...

Top 5 Italian Rock Songs

My friend Laura said the Jovanotti concert in New York last week was great and it got me thinking......

Top 5 Italian rock songs (in random order):

"Inno Nazionale" -- Luca Carboni
"Spirito" -- Litfiba
"Ragazzo Fortunato" -- Jovanotti
"La Canzone del Sole" -- Lucio Battisti
"America" -- Gianna Nannini

Si? No? Fatevi sentire.

You could also easily make the argument that it's "Certe notti" by Ligabue.

Or "Hai un momento, Dio?" (Also by Ligabue)

Maybe one more by Ligabue: I love "Urlando control il cielo."

Italian rock is an acquired taste, but once acquired, it's shot through with memories of the days you've spent in Il Bel Paese.

-30-

Jovanotti @ New York

UPDATE: I know a lucky bastard who lives in New York and is attending the Jovanotti show tonight: my friend Laura! So maybe Laura will be able to share her impressions of the concert with Ciambellina readers. Divertiti cara amica! I hope he plays "Ragazzo Fortunato" -- my favorite Jovanotti song.


Italian rapper/singer/DJ Jovanotti is in New York this week!

You lucky bastards who live in New York can see him play tonight! Italian students at NYU will get a chance to hear his thoughts later in the week.

Here's an excerpt from Jovanotti's blog (http://www.soleluna.com/), with details about his stops in and around the city:

JOVA DJ-18 febbraio ore 20-CONCERTO all'HIGHLINE BALLROOM (in chelsea).Il concerto nel locale più "cool" della città è sold out ma in genere a New York un'ora prima dello show mettono fuori qualche biglietto.

19 febbraio-Ore 17.00-ISTUTUTO ITALIANO DI CULTURA (park avenue-uptown manhattan). Lorenzo e il giornalista Pier Negri parleranno di New York e di quello che questa città rappresenta per due del 66 cresciuti a pane e musica. Una bella chiacchierata aperta al pubblico (pochi posti disponibili,al massimo 200 quindi datevi una regolata se siete in città)

19 febbraio ore 20.00-CONCERTO a LE POISSON ROUGE (bleecker street-east village manhattan).Il secondo show a grande richiesta in un locale bellissimo e storico per il rock e la musica nuova (sold out ma vale il discorso del concerto precedente).

20 febbraio ore 18-NEW YORK UNIVERSITY-Lorenzo parlerà agli studenti dell'NYU interessati alla cultura italiana e alla scena pop in generale. Mostrerà i suoi video e parlerà con il Professore e Giornalista Antonio Monda (La Repubblica) della sua storia,del suo rapporto con l'immagine ecc. (ci saranno gli studenti di cinema). L'incontro è aperto anche a quelli che non sono studenti all'NYU ma che hanno piacere di esserci.

Musical explosion from Puglia!

A short note about the three videos I just posted (see below for same date).

Some women go to the shoe store and go a little crazy.

Me? Well, every now and again I go to YouTube, and go a little crazy. That's because at times it's able to illustrate what I've seen in Italy, and then allow me to share it with you on this very blog.

When I returned from a vacation in Puglia in September of 2007, my mind was filled with entirely new images. I don't think that happens every day.

Afterall, I had already spent a lot of time in Italy. I had seen its countryside, its quaint towns, its majestic coastline.

But Puglia, well Puglia is something else entirely.

What captured my euphoria the best was a CD I bought in Lecce called "Glocalizm Vol I: Samples, Traditionals & Folk!!" (yes, the album title includes two exclamation points; see photo above).

It's traditional folk music from Puglia but remixed by Italian DJ Stefano Miele. That combination makes it hard to find in the States, and when I first returned from Puglia, I had trouble finding much on the Web about it.

Until now that is!

How often can we say we're hearing something we have NEVER heard before? How often can we say we've heard something out of this world?

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

One of the thrilling discoveries is the Arabic underpinning of the music.

It's part and parcel of a region that offers the same things as many other areas of Italy -- countless groves of olive trees; picturesque beachfront towns; simple but powerful food -- yet serves them all up in brilliant Technicolor and with a nod to a unique cultural history that's included for better or for worse long periods of domination by foreign invaders (i.e. the Moors).

Enjoy these videos! They bring us a little piece of Puglia right here on Ciambellina.