Mark's Tracks: Italy

Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts

East Side Beat - Ride Like The Wind (1991)

East Side Beat - Ride Like The Wind (1991)
UK#2#, NL#6, FR#12, CH#23, DE#24, AUS#29

Lady Gaga - Paparazzi - Moto Blanco Remix (2009)

Lady Gaga - Paparazzi - Moto Blanco Remix (2009)
DE#1, CZK#1, AUS#2, AT#3, CAN#3, EuroHot100#3, ISR#3, IT#3, CH#4, IRL#4, NL#4, UK#4, NZ#5, SVK#5, BE#6, FR#6, US#6, FIN#9, HUN#10, DK#12, BRZ#18, SWE#22, ES#46

Lyrics:

We are the crowd
We're coming out
Got my flash on it's true
Need that picture of you
It's so magical
We'd be so fantastic, oh

Leather and jeans
Garage glamorous
Not sure what it means
But this photo of us
It don't have a price
Ready for those flashing lights
'Cause you know that baby I-

I'm your biggest fan
I'll follow you until you love me
Papa-Paparazzi
Baby there's no other superstar
You know that I'll be your-
Papa-Paparazzi

Promise I'll be kind
But I won't stop until that boy is mine
Baby you'll be famous
Chase you down until you love me
Papa-Paparazzi

I'll be your girl backstage at your show
Velvet ropes and guitars
Yeah cause you know I'm starting between the sets
Eyeliner and cigarettes

Shadow is burnt, yellow dance and return
My lashes are dry - purple teardrops I cry
It don't have a price
Loving you is Cherry Pie
'Cause you know that baby I
I'm your biggest fan
I'll follow you until you love me
Papa-Paparazzi
Baby there's no other superstar
You know that I'll be your
Papa-Paparazzi

Promise I'll be kind
But I won't stop until that boy is mine
Baby you'll be famous
Chase you down until you love me
Papa-paparazzi

Real good, We're dancing in the studio
Snap-snap, to that shit on the radio
Don't stop, for anyone
We're plastic but we still have fun

I'm your biggest fan
I'll follow you until you love me
Papa-Paparazzi
Baby there's no other superstar
You know that I'll be your
Papa-Paparazzi

Promise I'll be kind
But I won't stop until that boy is mine
Baby you'll be famous
Chase you down until you love me
Papa-paparazzi

Glam - Hell's Party (1992)

Eros Ramazzotti - Musica è (1988)

Eros Ramazzotti - Musica e (1988)
NL#14

Lyrics:

musica è
guardare più lontano
e perdersi in se stessi
la luce che rinasce
e coglierne i reflessi
su pianure azzurre si aprono
su più su i miei pensieri spaziano
ed io mi accorgo che
che tutto intorno a me, a me

musica è
la danza regolare
di tutti i tuoi respiri su di me
la festa dei tuoi occhi
appena mi sorridi
tu e il suono delle labbra tue
tu sempre di più
quell’armonia raggiunta in due
ti ascolterò perché
sei musica per me, per me

io sento ancora le voci
della strada dove son nato
mia madre quante volte mi
avrà chiamato ma era più
forte il grido di libertà
e sotto il sole che fulmina
i cortili le corse polverose
dei bambini che di giocare
non la smettono più
io sento ancora cantare
in dialetto, le ninne nanne
di pioggia sul tetto
tutto questo per me
questo dolce arpreggiare
è musica da ricordare
è dentro di me...
fa parte di me...
cammina con me... è

musica è
l’amico che ti parla
quando ti senti solo
sai che una mano puoi trovarla
è... musica è
da conservare,
da salvare insieme a te

senti
più siamo in tanti e più in alto
sale un coro in lingua universale
dice che dice che
anche del cielo han bucato
la pelle - lo senti
è l’urlo delle stelle

forse cambierà nella testa
della gente la mentalità
di chi ascolta ma non sente
prima che il silenzio
scenda su ogni cosa
quel silenzio grande
dopo l’aria esplosa
perché un mondo senza musica
non si può neanche immaginare
perché ogni cuore
anche il più piccolo
è un battito di vita
e d’amore che
musica è

English translation:

music is
to look further and
to get lost in yourself
the light that revives
and that gathers the reflections
high azure plain open up
higher my thoughts range over
and I notice that everything
around me is music

music is
the regular dance
of all your breaths on me
the party of your eyes
you almost smile at me
you and the sound of your lips
you, always more
the harmony attained together
I'll listen to you because
you are music for me

I still hear the voices of
the street where I was born
my mother who called me
so many times but the scream
of liberty was louder
and under the sun that
lights the courtyards
I see the children's dusty runs
that by playing don't make it stop
I still hear singing in dialect
the lullabies of rain on the roof
for me this everything
this sweet appreciation
is music to remember
it's inside me...
it's part of me...
it runs with me...
it's music

music is
your friend who talks to you
when you feel lonely
you can always find a hand
it's music...
to conserve
to save together with you

listen
the more we are, the more a choir
in universal language advances
it says they also made a hole
in the skin of the sky
you can hear it
it's the howl of the stars

mentality might change
in people's heads
that listen but don't hear
before the silence
falls down on everything
the big silence
after exploded air
because one cannot imagine
a world without music
because every single heart,
even the smallest one,
is a beating of life
and love that is
music

Black Box

One of the leading exponents of a wave of Italian house music that flourished on the dancefloors of the late 80s and early 90s, Black Box comprised of three Italian studio musicians: Daniele Davoli, known as DJ Lelewel in Italy, largely at the Marabu Starlight Club and responsible for the hit single 'Grand Piano', another prime example of sampled Italo-house, Mirko Limoni, the computer and keyboard whizz kid of the trio, and Valerio Semplici, a clarinet teacher playing in the Music Orchestra in Bologna. Collectively they are known as Groove Groove Melody. Based in the Reggio Emilia area in Northern Italy, the team made use of Catherine Quinol as a front woman for Black Box. Born in Pointe a Pitre, on French-Caribbean island Guadeloupe, Catherine was raised in Paris, where she completed her studies. She made her debut in the haute couture world at an early age, working as a model for famous fashion designers.

Daniele, Mirko and Valerio noticed her in a disco and launched her music career of lip-synching to pre-recorded Black Box music tracks in both music videos and live performances. Catherine never actually contributed musically to any of Black Box's hits.
The British music industry soon spotted Ride On Time, as the first one of a dozen singles a year the trio was churning out. After securing international copyright, of their re-production of Loletta Holloway's 'Love Sensation', it became the first of a series of Italian house records to crossover to the UK charts, staying at UK#1 for six weeks in 1989, becoming the best dance selling record of all times. It was remixed and re-released several times thereafter.
Although this was by far Black Box's biggest hit, they didn't make much money from it as Loleatta Holloway sued them. There is still no love lost between them. Loleatta got an expensive fur coat out of the compensation money they had to pay her. Other producers later also covered (such as the Freemasons) and sampled Loleatta's vocals from 'Love Sensation', including Cevin Fisher on '(You Got Me) Burning Up' and Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch on 'Good Vibrations', although unlike Black Box, both credited Loleatta Holloway.
After the success of the debut single, Black Box followed up with a string of follow-ups, all included in their 1990 album Dreamland.
The Groove Groove Melody team were also behind the production of several other synonyms, one of them being Starlight's 'Numero Uno'.

Black Box - Ride On Time (1989)
UK#1, IRL#1, SWE#2, AUS#2, FR#3, DE#5, CH#5, NOR#5, AT#8, US#39

Black Box - Everybody Everybody

Black Box - I Don't Know Anybody Else

Black Box - Strike It Up

Black Box - Fantasy

Antonio Vivaldi - Winter: The Four Seasons (1723)

Antonio Vivaldi - Winter (The Four Seasons - 1723)

Antonio Vivaldi - Autumn (1723)

Glam - Hell's Party (1992)

Jalisse - Fiumi di Parole (1997)

Jalisse - Fiumi di Parole (1997)

Lyrics:

Ah... ah... ah...

Mi aspetto mille scuse, come sempre da te
Sei un fiume di parole dove anneghi anche me
Che bravo che sei, ma questo linguaggio da talk-show
Cosa c'entra con noi?

Provo l'unico rimedio che adotto da un po'
La mia testa chiude l'audio, la storia la so
Sei fatto così, dovrei limitarmi oramai
A dirti di sì

Fiumi di parole
Fiumi di parole tra noi
Prima o poi ci portano via
Ti darò il mio cuore
Ti darò il mio cuore, se vuoi
Se puoi, ora parla con lui
Ora parla con lui
Ah...

Tu, che gridi in un dialetto, che non è più il mio
Io, che perdo il tuo rispetto, sarebbe meglio un addio
È come in un film, il classico film
Dove lei farà la pazzia

Fiumi di parole
Fiumi di parole tra noi
Prima o poi ci portano via
Ti darò il mio cuore
Ti darò il mio cuore, se vuoi
Se puoi, ora parla con lui

Vorrei fermare un'immagine
Sentirla entrare dentro di me
Un tuo silenzio più complice
Vorrei...

Fiumi di parole
Fiumi di parole tra noi
Prima o poi ci portano via
Ti darò il mio cuore
Ti darò il mio cuore, se vuoi
Se puoi, ora parla con lui

Fiumi di parole
Fiumi di parole tra noi
Prima o poi ci portano via
Ti darò il mio cuore
Ti darò il mio cuore, se vuoi
Se puoi, ora parla con lui
Ora parla con lui

(Fiumi di parole)
(Fiumi di parole tra noi) Oh...
Ti darò il mio cuore
Ti darò il mio cuore, se vuoi
Se puoi, ora parla con lui

Fiumi di parole

English translation:

Rivers of words

Ah... ah... ah...

I'm waiting for a thousand excuses from you, as always
You're a river of words, where I drown too
How great you are, but this talking from a talk show
What does it have to do with us?

I'm trying the only remedy that I've been using for a while
I close my ears to the story that I've heard before
It's the way you are, by now I should limit myself
Saying yes to you

Rivers of words
Rivers of words between us
Sometime they will take us away
I'll give you my heart
I'll give you my heart, if you want
If you can, speak to it now
Speak to it now
Ah...

You're shouting in a way that I don't understand anymore
I'm losing your respect, saying goodbye would be better
Like in a movie, the classic movie
Where she will do something foolish

Rivers of words
Rivers of words between us
Sometime they will take us away
I'll give you my heart
I'll give you my heart, if you want
If you can, speak to it now

I'd like to hold a picture
Feeling how it's going inside me
A silence from you with more complicity
I'd like...

Rivers of words
Rivers of words between us
Sometime they will take us away
I'll give you my heart
I'll give you my heart, if you want
If you can, speak to it now

Rivers of words
Rivers of words between us
Sometime they will take us away
I'll give you my heart
I'll give you my heart, if you want
If you can, speak to it now
Speak to it now

(Rivers of words)
(Rivers of words between us) Oh...
I'll give you my heart
I'll give you my heart, if you want
If you can, speak to it now

Rivers of words

Guiseppe Verdi-Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (1842)

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was born 10 Oct 1813 in Le Roncole, a village near Busseto, in the then Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, Italy. The 'Verdi' in his surname he supposedly adapted in honour of Victor Emmanuel II, the first Italian King of a united Italy (V.E.R.D.I. - Victor Emmanuel, Re d'Italia), whom he was an admirer of, perhaps due to his birth place being annexed by French troops for most of his life and him witnessing the occupants kicked out and his Fatherland finally united under his reign.
Guiseppe was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera, and the most influential of the 19th century. Being an atheist, his work has at the time, sometimes been criticized for using a generally diatonic rather than a chromatic musical idiom and for being essentially melodrama during his early years.
Nabucco, which he wrote in 1842, is an opera in four acts, based on the Biblical story and the play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois & Francis Cornue, six years earlier. It was Guiseppe’s third opera and the one which is considered to have permanently established his reputation as a composer. The opera follows the plight of the Jews as they are assaulted, conquered, and subsequently exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian King Nabucco.

The historical events are used as background for a romantic and political plot. It was first performed on 9 Mar 1842 at La Scala in Milan under the original name of Nabucodonosor. It became Nabucco at a performance at the San Giacomo Theatre of Corfu, Greece, in Sep 1844. Guiseppe composed Nabucco at a difficult moment in his life: his wife and children had all just died, and contracted with La Scala. He felt that 'this is the opera with which my artistic career really begins'.
The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves is a chorus from the third act, with words by Temistocle Solera, inspired by the bible Psalm 137.
Much like Germany's Richard Wagner, Guiseppe has often been seen as fuelling nationalism, a claim which was later refuted. True, both Mussolini and Hitler idolised the respective composers, but that occurred a long time after, and under much different circumstances - let alone one of the fellow dictators should have been more than dis-impressed by Guiseppe's works...

Guiseppe Verdi - Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (1842)

Lyrics:

Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate;
va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli,
ove olezzano tepide e molli
l'aure dolci del suolo natal!

Del Giordano le rive saluta,
di Sionne le torri atterrate...
Oh mia patria sì bella e perduta!
Oh membranza sì cara e fatal!

Arpa d'or dei fatidici vati,
perché muta dal salice pendi?
Le memorie nel petto raccendi,
ci favella del tempo che fu!

O simile di Sòlima ai fati
traggi un suono di crudo lamento,
o t'ispiri il Signore un concento
che ne infonda al patire virtù

English Translation:

Fly, thought, on wings of gold;
go settle upon the slopes and the hills,
where, soft and mild, the sweet airs
of our native land smell fragrant!

Greet the banks of the Jordan
and Zion's toppled towers...
Oh, my country so beautiful and lost!
Oh, remembrance so dear and so fatal!

Golden harp of the prophetic seers,
why dost thou hang mute upon the willow?
Rekindle our bosom's memories,
and speak to us of times gone by!

Mindful of the fate of Jerusalem,
give forth a sound of crude lamentation,
or may the Lord inspire you a harmony of voices
which may instill virtue to suffering

Black Box

Daniele, Mirko and Valerio noticed her in a disco and launched her music career of lip-synching to pre-recorded Black Box music tracks in both music videos and live performances. Catherine never actually contributed musically to any of Black Box's hits.
The British music industry soon spotted Ride On Time, as the first one of a dozen singles a year the trio was churning out. After securing international copyright, of their re-production of Loletta Holloway's 'Love Sensation', it became the first of a series of Italian house records to crossover to the UK charts, staying at UK#1 for six weeks in 1989, becoming the best dance selling record of all times. It was remixed and re-released several times thereafter.
Although this was by far Black Box's biggest hit, they didn't make much money from it as Loleatta Holloway sued them. There is still no love lost between them. Loleatta got an expensive fur coat out of the compensation money they had to pay her. Other producers later also covered (such as the Freemasons) and sampled Loleatta's vocals from 'Love Sensation', including Cevin Fisher on '(You Got Me) Burning Up' and Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch on 'Good Vibrations', although unlike Black Box, both credited Loleatta Holloway.
After the success of the debut single, Black Box followed up with a string of follow-ups, all included in their 1990 album Dreamland.
The Groove Groove Melody team were also behind the production of several other synonyms, one of them being Starlight's 'Numero Uno'.

Black Box - Ride On Time (1989)
UK#1, IRL#1, SWE#2, AUS#2, FR#3, DE#5, CH#5, NOR#5, AT#8, US#39

Black Box/Loletta Holloway - Ride On Time/Love Sensation (Remix 2006)

Black Box - Ride On Time (Paul Morrell Remix 2009)

Black Box - Everybody Everybody

Black Box - I Don't Know Anybody Else

Black Box - Strike It Up

Black Box - Fantasy

Alex Gaudino & Crystal Waters - Destination Calabria (2007)

Alessandro Alfonso Fortunato 'Alex' Gaudino, born in Salerno, Italy, began his music career in 1993 at Flying Records and UMM. In 1998, and with the support of the well-known Italian record company TIME, Alex founded his own label, RISE Records, which quickly produced a string of hit records with artists such as The Tamperer, Black Legend and Robbie Rivera, earning him a nomination for Best European A&R at the 2000 European Music Awards in London. But his international breakthrough came with a track released in Italy in December 2006 and worldwide four months later, in March 2007. It dominated the European charts that summer. Initially recorded in 2003 and entitled 'Destination Unknown', he worked with Crystal Waters, took her vocals and created an artful splicing, matching the vocals with the saxophone riff of Rune's 'Calabria', which was recorded the same year.
Coincidently and totally apt, the track popped up on the shuffle function of my iPod two years later, at a week's getaway to the stunningly beautiful shores of Southern Italy. It made the holiday.

Crystal Waters hails from Philadelphia, US. At 11 she began writing poetry and took her writing seriously enough to be inducted into the American Poetry Society when she was 14, the youngest person ever to receive that honour. She studied business and computer science at Howard University and her creative work dropped off as she found less time for it. After earning her college degree in 1985, Crystal worked as a computer technician, making a living that would support her two children. Waters first approached the music world in 1987 as a behind-the-scenes worker, writing demos for a production team known as the Basement Boys, securing a writing contract with Mercury Records in 1989 and began penning songs for recording artists. She wrote 'Gypsy Woman' for Ultra Nate and recorded a demo cut herself. The producers were so taken by her rendition that they drew up a recording contract with her for that one song, never passing it on to Ultra Nate. Crystal's next releases were promoted only in the dance music markets, but she made an unexpected mainstream comeback in 1994 when the song '100% Pure Love'. Also, as a side project, Crystal Waters wrote and voiced a single called 'Right and Exact' under the alias Chrissy Ward in 1998. In 2007 she agreed for Alex to marry up her 'Destination Unknown' with Rune's 'Calabria' to produce one of the more memorable dance tracks.

The music video for Destination Calabria was directed by Eran "Rani" Creevy and produced by Ben Pugh for Ministry of Sound. It features female dancers in green marching band costumes, pretending to play various instruments in a seductive manner, with choreography by David Leighton. In some scenes, seemingly hundreds of the dancers are seen at once, but these are simply the original eight replicated many times using digital imagery.
Chrystal herself does not appear in the video, with some of the marching band members miming her lyrics.

Alex Gaudino feat. Crystal Waters - Destination Calabria (2007)
IRL#2, HUN#2, BE#2, AUS#3, UK#4, FR#6, ES#6, FIN#8, SWE#10, IT#12, NL#14, DE#30, NZ#35, CH#50, AT#55

Lyrics:

I left my job my car and my home
I'm leavin for a destination
I still don't know,
Somewhere nobody must have beauties at all
And if u like us
You can follow me - so lets go:

Follow me and lets go
To the place where we belong and leave our troubles at home
Come with me
We can go to a paradise of love and joy
A destination unknown

Now I won't feel thoses heavy shoulders no more
My life got better now I finally enjoy
Yes all the people wanna come here and so
Come on and join us you can do that now lets go:

Follow me and let's go
To the place where we belong and leave our troubles at home
Come with me
We can go to a paradise of love and joy
A destination unknown

We left the city - the pollution - the crowd
The air is clear here oceans blue I love that sound
Where happy on this destinatin we found
And if you want us you can follow me. Lets go:

Follow me and lets go
To the place where we belong and leave our troubles at home
Come with me we can go to a paradise of love and joy
A destination unknown

Baltimora - Tarzan Boy (1985)

Who doesn't remember this from school disco days..?

'Tarzan Boy' was a major Italo Disco hit on both sides of the Atlantic in the summer of 1985, being certified Gold in France and Silver in the UK. Maurizio Bassi, Italian producer, who himself already managed several other artists, was on the lookout of another project and bumped into Jimmy McShane, a Red Cross worker from Derry, Northern Ireland. Jimmy's flamboyant and bubbly personality - he sported multiple hairstyles and wore red big-rimmed glasses, which got him the nickname 'Ruby' in the gay community - made him just the man for Maurizio.
He made him frontman of the project, although the lead vocals were actually performed by Maurizio Bassi (with Jimmy providing the backing vocals), despite the fact that McShane lip-synched while appearing in the music video. The single bounced back into the US Billboard Hot100 chart in March 1993 as a remix, climbing to US#51, at the time of its appearance in a Listerine commercial. The song was also featured in the films Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) and Beverly Hills Ninja (1997).
Sadly, Jimmy McShane died on 28 March 1995, of complications from HIV/AIDS.

Baltimora - Tarzan Boy (1985)
FR#1, NL#1, CAN#1, AT#2, IRL#2, SWE#2, UK#3, DE#3, CH#4, NOR#4, IT#5, US#6, AUS#16, NZ#34

Lyrics:

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Jungle life
I'm far away from nowhere
On my own like Tarzan Boy

Hide and seek
I play along while rushing cross the forest
Monkey business on a sunny afternoon

Jungle life
I'm living in the open
Native beat that carries on

Burning bright
A fire the blows the signal to the sky
I sit and wonder does the message get to you

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Night to night
Gimme the other, gimme the other chance
tonight
Gimme the other, gimme the other
Night to night
Gimme the other, gimme the other world

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Jungle life
You're far away from nothing
It's all right
You won't miss home

Take a chance
Leave everything behind you
Come and join me
Won't be sorry
It's easy to survive

Jungle life
We're living in the open
All alone like Tarzan Boy

Hide and seek
We play along while rushing cross the
forest
Monkey business on a sunny afternoon

Night to night
Gimme the other, gimme the other
Chance tonight
Oh Yeah
Night to night
Gimme the other, gimme the other
Night to night
You won't play
Night to night
Gimme the other, gimme the other
Chance tonight
Oh Yeah
Night to night
Night to night
Gimme the other, gimme the other

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh...

Gazebo

Paul Mazzolini, a.k.a. Gazebo, was born 1960 in Beirut, Lebanon, son of an Italian diplomat and an American singer, learned to play the guitar aged 10 to impress a German girl in his class. As a rather cosmopolitan teenager Gazebo began a career in a variety of jazz, rock and punk bands before meeting Rome-based producer Paul Micioni. The first release, Masterpiece, was a minor hit in 1982.
A year later, he branded his name in chart history with his track 'I Like Chopin'. The release sold 8 millions copies worldwide. 'I Like Chopin' was produced by Pierluigi Giombini and is generally regarded as one of the most significant Italo-Disco tracks of the mid-80s. The piano motif is not a Chopin composition - the entire song was composed by Pierluigi. The video was shot in a house somewhere in Essex. Can you spot which one it is?
The follow-up song 'Lunatic' and the eponymous album also entered the Top 20 across continental Europe.
Since then he has released more albums, but apart from 'Tears for Galileo' in 2006, which achieved constant radio airplay on Italian RAI Radio2 and peaked at #1 in the Euro dance charts, he lives mostly off his 80s success.
Good God, did I have a crush on him back then...

Gazebo - I Like Chopin (1983)
IT#1, DE#1, AT#1, CH#1, NL#7

Gazebo - Lunatic (1983)
IT#3, DE#4, CH#6, AT#13

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