Volare oh, oh
Cantare, oh oh
Nel blu dipinto di blu
Our blog is published in three languages (Italian, German and English) because we want to kindly welcome our readers, just as we do our passengers. But there are some things, words, phrases and verses which need no translation.
If you say ‘Italy’, you’re saying Domenico Modugno. Spaghetti, pizza, amore, ciao, but mainly VOLARE. After all, according to the SIAE (Italian copyright collecting agency), Nel blu dipinto di blu has been the most played Italian song in the world since 1958, when it was first released. In its original version.
He wrote over 200 songs, some of which had been recorded before his first major success, but they became known to audiences only later. The songwriter from Polignano a Mare (Bari) was an all-round artist with a career studded with awards, roles in films, theatre shows and TV presenting roles. Domenico Modugno could definitely be described as the father of Italian musica leggera (light music).
There is, however, some doubt as to the story behind the lyric Nel blu dipinto di blu. The true story of the song written by Modugno and the famous songwriter Franco Migliacci is enshrined in mystery.
Initially, Modugno said that he got the idea of that refrain while he was looking at the blue sky in Rome with his wife Franca Gandolfi, but Migliacci claimed ownership of the lyric, saying that he was inspired by one of Marc Chagall’s masterpieces. Later, Modugno tried to retract what he had said previously, saying that the idea came to both of them while walking on Ponte Milvio.
In the end, several years after Modugno’s death, Migliacci told TG1 that the song was the result of a bad nightmare.
Who knows?
