I was in college the first time I heard the Gipsy Kings. When I got back from Harlaxton, my new roommate was Amadeo Marino, a tennis player from Argentina. The Gipsy Kings were one of Amadeo’s favorite bands, so we listened to them a lot in our dorm room. Volare was one of my favorite tunes of theirs. I also really liked Bem, Bem, Maria and Bambaleo. Their rhythmic guitars drive a groove so wide you could drive a semi down the middle of it.
When I heard that the Gipsy Kings were going to be coming to Fort Collins, Colorado to play at Bohemian Nights’ New West Fest, I was stoked. They played a great concert, and the streets were packed. And, too top it all off, I got a cool trilby hat at the festival after the concert.
Volare Lyrics (English)
Volare, oh oh
Cantare, oh oh oh oh
Let’s fly way up to the clouds
Away from the maddening crowds
We can sing in the glow of a star that I know of
Where lovers enjoy peace of mind
Let us leave the confusion and all disillusion behind
Just like bird of a feather, a rainbow together we’ll find
Volare Lyrics (Spanish – Original)
Volare, oh oh
E contare, oh oh oh oh
No wonder my happy heart sings
Your love has given me wings
Penso che un sogno cosi non ritorni mai piu
Mi dipingi con le mani e la faccia di blu
Poi d’improvviso venivo dal veneto rapito
E incominciavo a volare nel cielo infinito
Volare, oh oh
E contare, oh oh oh oh
Nel blu, dipinto di blu
E ci dice di stare lassu
E volavo, volavo felice piu in alto del sole con coro piu su
Mentre il mondo pian piano spariva lontano laggiu
Una musica dolce suonava soltanto per me
Volare, oh oh
E cantare, oh oh oh oh
No wonder my happy heart sings
Your love has given me wings
Nel blu, dipinto di blu
Fenite di stare lassu
Volare according to Wikipedia
“Nel blu dipinto di blu” (English: In the blue, painted blue), popularly known as “Volare” (To fly), is a song recorded by Italian singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno. Written by Franco Migliacci and Domenico Modugno, it was released as a single on 1 February 1958.[1]
Winning the 8th Sanremo Music Festival, the song was chosen as the Italian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958, where it won third place out of ten songs in total. The combined sales of all the versions of the song exceed 22 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most popular Eurovision songs of all time and the most successful Sanremo Music Festival song ever.
It spent five non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in August and September 1958 and was Billboard‘s number-one single for the year. Modugno’s recording subsequently became the first Grammy winner for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1958.
The song was later translated in several languages and it was recorded by a wide range of performers, including Dean Martin, Al Martino, David Bowie, Gipsy Kings and Barry White.
Writing Background and composition
Franco Migliacci started working on the lyrics of the song in June 1957, inspired by two paintings by Marc Chagall. He had planned to go to the sea with Domenico Modugno, but after waiting for him in vain, Migliacci got drunk with wine and he fell asleep. Then he had nightmares, and when he woke up, he looked at the copies of the printings he had on the wall.[2] In “Le coq rouge” he noted a yellow man suspended in midair, while in “Le peintre et la modelle”, a half of the painter’s face was coloured of blue,[3] so he started writing about a man who dreams of painting himself blue, before starting to fly.[2][4] During the same night, despite being angry with him, Migliacci talked about his lyrics with his friend Modugno, and for several days they continued to work together on the song, tentatively titled “Sogno in blu” (Dream in blue).[5]
In 2008, Franca Gandolfi recounted that her husband, Domenico Modugno, was still unsatisfied with the lyrics of the song, when a storm suddenly opened his window, and then he got the inspiration to modify the chorus of the song, introducing the word “Volare” which is commonly known as the title of the song itself.[2]
Musical style and lyrical content
The English lyrics were written by Mitchell Parish. Alternative English lyrics were written in 1958 by Dame Gracie Fields, and they were used in most concerts she performed in from then until her death in 1979. She often changed the words to suit her performance and age.The song is a ballad[6] in a dramatic chanson style, in which Modugno describes the feeling he has, which resembles flying when with his lover. The song opens with a surreal prelude which the cover versions often left out: “Penso che un sogno così non ritorni mai più. Mi dipingevo le mani e la faccia di blu; poi d’improvviso venivo dal vento rapito, e incominciavo a volare nel cielo infinito.” (“I think that a dream like that will never return; I painted my hands and my face blue, then was suddenly swept up by the wind and started to fly in the infinite sky.”)
Song contests
Sanremo Music Festival
In 1958, the song participated in the selection process for the eighth Sanremo Music Festival, held in 1958. The jury charged with selecting the entries to the competition was going to reject “Nel blu dipinto di blu”, but in the end it was one of the 20 admitted songs.[7]
On 31 January 1958, the song was performed for the first time, during the second night of the eighth Sanremo Music Festival, by Domenico Modugno and Johnny Dorelli.[8] It was Dorelli’s first appearance on the Sanremo Music Festival. According to his team-partner, Dorelli was so nervous that he had to be punched by Modugno to be persuaded to perform on the stage.[9]
After being admitted to the final,[10] held at the Sanremo Casino on 1 February 1958, the song was performed again, and it won the contest,[11] beating the song “L’edera” by Nilla Pizzi and Tonina Torrielli, which came in second place.[10]
Dorelli’s performance didn’t have a big impact on the audience,[5] while Modugno’s is now considered to be the event which changed the history of Italian music.[12] During his performance, Modugno opened his arms, as if he was going to fly.[5] This contributed to making it the most successful Sanremo Music Festival song,[13] and marked a change in the way of performing, since Italian singers were used to standing with their arms on their chest, without moving on the stage.[7]
Eurovision Song Contest
Following the first place at the Sanremo Music Festival, the song was chosen to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 1958, which took place on 12 March in Hilversum, Netherlands. Domenico Modugno was chosen as the interpreter.
The song was performed first on the night, preceding the Netherlands’ Corry Brokken with “Heel de wereld”.[14] Due to a transmission fault, the song was not heard in all countries transmitting the event, so it was performed at the end as well, before the voting took place.[15] At the end of the voting, it had received 13 points, placing 3rd in a field of 10.[14] Despite this, it became one of the most successful songs ever performed in Eurovision Song Contest history.[16]
It was succeeded as Italian entry at the 1959 contest by “Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)”, also performed by Modugno.[17]
Commercial success
The song became an instant success in Italy, selling more than 20,000 copies in only 12 days.[1] Following the results obtained in Italy, the song was also released in the United States and in the rest of Europe. In the United Kingdom, Modugno’s single was released on 23 August 1958, together with eight other versions recorded by international artists.[1] The single obtained global acclaim,[16] becoming an international hit.[13]
In the United States, the single debuted at number 54 on the very first Billboard Hot 100, on 4 August 1958, and the next week it climbed at number two, marking the biggest jump to the runner-up spot in the chart’s history.[18] On 18 August 1958, it topped the Hot 100, becoming the second song to reach the top spot on the chart, after Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool”.[19] The song later completed a run of five non-consecutive weeks at the top of the chart,[20] selling 2 million copies in the United States during 1958[21] and becoming Billboard‘s Song of the Year.[19] ”Nel blu dipinto di blu” was the first non American, Canadian or British single to achieve this honor in the rock era, and it was the only one until 1994′s “The Sign” by Swedish group Ace of Base. It is also one of the only two songs by Modugno charting on the Hot 100, together with “Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)”, which peaked at number 97.[19]
In the United Kingdom, the single debuted at number 15 on 6 September 1958, and the following week it rose and peaked at number ten on the UK Singles Chart.[22] It also peaked at number two on the Norwegian Singles Chart.[23]
The song’s popularity endures, and in 2004, according to the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers, it was the most played Italian song, in Italy as well as in the whole world.[24] Moreover, the combined sales of all the recorded versions of the song exceed 22 million units.[13][25]
Awards and accolades
Awards
During the 1st Grammy Awards, held on 4 May 1959 at Hollywood’s Beverly Hilton Hotel, “Nel blu dipinto di blu” received two awards, for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.[26] The song is the only foreign-language recording to achieve this honor,[27] and it is the only song competing in the Eurovision Song Contest to receive a Grammy Award.[28]
In 2001, seven years after his death, Modugno was awarded with the Sanremo Music Festival Special Award, “given to the one who, [...] in 1958, with “Nel blu dipinto di blu”, turned the Sanremo Music Festival in a stage of worldwide relevance”.[29] During 2008′s Sanremo Music Festival, Franco Migliacci and Modugno’s wife, Franca Gandolfi, received the special Award for Creativity for the song “Nel blu dipinto di blu”. The award was presented by Italian Society of Authors and Publishers’ chairman Giorgio Assumma.[30]
Accolades
In 2005, a concert was held in Copenhagen, Denmark to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest. During the event, “Nel blu dipinto di blu” was ranked second on the list of the “all time favourite songs of the Eurovision Song Contest”, behind ABBA’s “Waterloo”. ABBA’s former member Benny Andersson, while received the prize, commented:
I myself voted for “Volare” but I am pleased that so many people voted for us.
- ― Benny Andersson[31]
In 2008, the 50th anniversary of the song was celebrated in Italy by releasing a postage stamp showing a man who is flying on a blue background.[32][33][34] During the 2010 Viña del Mar International Song Festival, the song, performed by Italian singer Simona Galeandro, was also declared the most popular song of the 20th century, winning the international competition of the contest.[35]
Plagiarism allegations
Immediately after the release of “Nel blu dipinto di blu”, Antonio De Marco accused Modugno and Migliacci of plagiarising his 1956 song “Il castello dei sogni”.[36][37] The song was not released, but it had been played during some concerts in the previous years.[36] As a response, Modugno sued De Marco for defamation,[36] and in July 1958 De Marco was convicted by the Milan court of justice.[38]
During the trial for plagiarism, De Marco claimed that he lost his sheet music in Rome, while registering his song with the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers, suggesting that Modugno somehow found it[39][40] and plagiarised both the lyrics and the music of his composition.[36] However, the Rome court of justice absolved Modugno and Migliacci,[41] following the opinion of an expert who claimed that the two songs don’t have any relevant similarity.[40]
Usage in media
- Sports: A version was used by fans of Arsenal to serenade the midfielder Patrick Vieira, and Manchester United fans have created versions for cult heroes Diego Forlán and Nemanja Vidić, as well as a parody of Arsenal’s song for Vieira, mocking the midfielder’s error in the 1999 FA Cup Semi-Final replay which led to Ryan Giggs’ famous extra-time winner.
- Samba Adaptation: The sixth season of the American version of Dancing with the Stars featured Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas dancing Samba to the Gipsy Kings version of the song.
- In Film: The 1980 comedy film The Hollywood Knights uses the song in a witty version performed by Newbomb Turk (Robert Wuhl) to the delight of a High School Pep Rally audience, albeit with adverse reactions from the sponsoring adults in the scene due to Newbomb’s use of flatulence to punctuate between verses. In the movie Absolute Beginners (1986) a radio broadcast a cover of the song performed, in Italian, by David Bowie (who also appeared in the film), though the cover was not included on the soundtrack. The song was recorded by singer Vitamin C for The Lizzie McGuire Movie Soundtrack and can also be heard in the film while Lizzie and Paolo are roaming Rome, as well as in I cento passi while the family is arriving to a celebration. Kevin Kline sings an excerpt from this song in the movie A Fish Called Wanda
- TV: The TV series Columbo featured Volare as the theme to a murder in the episode “Troubled Waters”. Air Date February 9, 1975 (1975-02-09).
- TV Commercial: Italian-American tenor Sergio Franchi sang the song, with modified lyrics, while appearing as the television spokesman for the Plymouth Volaré in the 1970s.
- Video Games: ”Volare!” is a title of a quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
