 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2016) |
| "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Adriano Celentano | |
| A-side | "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" |
| B-side | "Chi era lui" |
| Released | 17 January 1966 [1] |
| Genre | Pop, Country |
| Label | Clan Celentano |
| Songwriter(s) | Miki Del Prete Adriano Celentano Luciano Beretta |
"Il ragazzo della via Gluck" ("The boy from Gluck Street") is an Italian pop song by Adriano Celentano, covered by artists from many other countries.
The music of the song is by Adriano Celentano and the lyrics by Luciano Beretta and Miki Del Prete. It was released in 1966 as a double A-side single by Celentano, with "Chi era lui" on the flipside, composed by Paolo Conte with lyrics by Mogol and Miki Del Prete. Both tracks were arranged by Detto Mariano. The tracks' duration was 4:17 for "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" and 2:49 for "Chi era lui".
The song originally appeared in March 1966 in Celentano's album La festa and in his follow-up album, Il ragazzo della via Gluck, released in November 1966.
The song debuted at the Sanremo Festival in 1966 where it achieved little success. It was eliminated from competition after the first night. But eventually it gained great favour with fans, making it the best-known and most representative of Celentano's songs, and contained many autobiographical references. Via Gluck was the street in Milan where Celentano lived as a boy with his family, and "eight years" ("...passano gli anni, ma 8 son lunghi...." meaning "...the years go by, but 8 they are long....") is a reference to the peak of Celentano's recording career, from 1958 to 1966.
Although the song tells a personal story about the loss of a childhood home, it is on a more general level also a wistful lament about the rapid urbanisation during the Post–World War II economic expansion in Europe and the loss of known environment and arable land ("...là dove c'era l'erba, ora c'è una città..." / "...perchè continuano a costruire le case, e non lasciano l'erba..."). Being a prominently discussed phenomenon at the time and a widely felt sentiment, this may have contributed to the song's large success and to its many cover versions and translations into other languages.
| Chart (1966–67) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Italy ( Musica e dischi ) [2] | 2 |
| Chart (1966) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Italy (Musica e dischi) [2] | 10 |
In the same year of its original release, Giorgio Gaber recorded a cover version, that was published twice as an attachment to the Italian music magazine Pop. The first time, in March 1966, as a single containing "Il ragazzo della via Gluck"/"Dio, come ti amo" ("God, I love you so"), and the second, in June 1966, containing "Il ragazzo della via Gluck"/"Una casa in cima al mondo" ("A house on top of the world"). Giorgio Gaber also released a response to the song named "La risposta al ragazzo della Via Gluck" ("The response to the boy from Gluck Street").
In 2004, Adriano Celentano recorded the track with new lyrics and released it as "Quel Casinha" ("That Little House") in his album C'è sempre un motivo (There's always a reason). The new text was sung in Creole with Cesária Évora.
In February 2013, the Italian group Almamegretta, together with James Senese, Marcello Coleman and Clementino, performed the song on the fourth evening of the 2013 Sanremo Music Festival. [3]
"Tar and Cement"
In 1966, the American singer Verdelle Smith sang an English version titled "Tar and Cement", with songwriting credit to Paul Vance, Lee Pockriss, Luciano Beretta, Michele Del Prete, and Adriano Celentano. It was her only hit. "Tar and Cement" made it to #1 in Australia, and in Canada, it reached #32. [4] In the US, it peaked at #38. [5] It was also #6 on "Keener 13" from Detroit radio station WKNR for the week ending Monday June 27, 1966. Smith's "Tar and Cement" was included in the 2004 compilation CD, Girls Go Zonk: US Dream Babes.
The song "Tar and Cement" was also recorded by Caroline Munro. It was a big hit for Joe Dolan in Ireland.
"La maison où j'ai grandi"
It became a favourite song in France when covered by Françoise Hardy, with French lyrics by Eddy Marnay, under the title "La maison où j'ai grandi". It appeared on her album known as La maison où j'ai grandi . The album was released without a title and is identified chiefly by the song it carries, its major hit. Hardy had admired Celentano's autobiographical song "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" having seen him perform it at the Sanremo in January 1966. The lyrics are not related to the original song.
Looking back at the song in 2004, she said she felt an emotion of sadness at the time she heard the song for her mother, an assistant accountant, who had raised Françoise and her younger sister alone. [7]
"The Story of a Country Boy"
Belgian band The Cousins covered the song in English as "Story of a Country Boy" on the B-side of their 1966 single "You Will Find Another Baby". The song was the lead track on the 1966 French EP "The new sound of The Cousins", a compilation of both their 1966 singles. It was the final release by the original band, which parted ways a few months after its release.
"Lyckliga gatan"
The song enjoyed very similar popularity in Sweden, when the singer Anna-Lena Löfgren sang it with Swedish language lyrics as "Lyckliga gatan". It was released in 1967 and was certified gold in Sweden and platinum and diamond in Norway. It used the melody of the Italian song, with completely different lyrics that nonetheless convey the message and moral of the song.
"Immer am Sonntag"
Anna-Lena Löfgren built on her success in Sweden and Norway by recording a German-language version of the song, as "Immer am Sonntag" becoming very successful in Germany, releasing tens of other German language songs.
"Lykkelige gate"
A Norwegian version released in 1968 on a single (Triola records) sung by Margrethe Toresen. The Swedish version is still vastly more popular in Norway.
"Der Junge aus der Via Gluck"
Another German-language version was recorded in March 1966 by the Luxembourgish television-star and radio-presenter (for Radio Luxembourg) Camillo Felgen.
"Závidím"
Czech version of this song, which lyrics was written by Jiří Grossmann, was performed by Naďa Urbánková.
"Asfalttia ja sementtiä"
A Finnish version of the song was sung by Kari Kuuva in 1968
"Het huis dat tussen rozen stond"
Belgian singer Sanne recorded in 1993 a version in Dutch, with lyrics by Erik Van Neygen and Marc Van Caelenberg.
"La casa donde yo crecí"
In 1999, the Argentinian girlband Seducidas y abandonadas covered the track in Spanish as "La casa donde yo crecí". It appears on their second album, Las 4 en punto.
The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival, is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by Italian public broadcaster RAI. It is the longest-running annual TV music competition in the world on a national level and it is also the basis and inspiration for the annual Eurovision Song Contest.
Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno was an Italian pop singer-songwriter, musician, and television presenter. He was best known for his worldwide hit song, "L'Italiano", released on his 1983 album of the same title. Cutugno also won the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 held in Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia, with the song "Insieme: 1992", for which he wrote both the lyrics and music. He has been described as "one of the most popular singers in Italy and a symbol of Italian melody abroad", as well as "one of the most popular Italian performers on a global scale" and "one of the most successful Italian songwriters of all time", selling over 100 million records worldwide.
Adriano Celentano is an Italian singer-songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. He is dubbed Il Molleggiato because of his energetic dancing.
Giulio Rapetti, best known as Mogol, is an Italian music lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with Lucio Battisti, Gianni Bella, Marcella Bella, Adriano Celentano and Mango.
Verdelle Smith is an American pop singer who was a one-hit wonder with the song "Tar and Cement" in 1966, an adaptation of the Italian massive hit "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" from Adriano Celentano. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Fiorella Mannoia is an Italian singer, songwriter and actress.
La maison où j'ai grandi is a studio album of French pop singer Françoise Hardy. It was released in France in November 1966, on LP, Disques Vogue/Vogue international industries. Published without title, except for the word Françoise on the cover, but has become known by the title of the most successful song on the album, "La maison où j'ai grandi".
"Prisencolinensinainciusol" is a song composed by the Italian singer Adriano Celentano, and performed by Celentano and his wife Claudia Mori. It was released as a single in 1972. Both the name of the song and its lyrics are gibberish but are intended to sound like English in an American accent. The song charted in several European countries.
Claudia Moroni, known as Claudia Mori, is an Italian producer, former actress and former singer.
Anna-Lena Löfgren was a Swedish singer from Stockholm. During the years 1962 and 1995, more than 40 of her songs made it onto Svensktoppen, the record chart of Sveriges Radio. Löfgren became one of the most best known schlager singers in Sweden during the 1960s.
Gino Santercole was an Italian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He was well known for his breakthrough hit "Questo vecchio pazzo mondo", a cover of P. F. Sloan's "Eve of Destruction", and for the song "Ma che freddo stasera " that he sang in the movie Yuppi du (1975).
Little Tony was a Sammarinese singer and actor, who achieved success in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s, as the lead singer of Little Tony & His Brothers, before returning to Italy where he continued a successful career as a singer and film actor.
Enzo Gragnaniello is an Italian singer-songwriter and composer.
Michele "Miki" Del Prete is an Italian lyricist and record producer.
Förälskade is a studio album by Thorleifs, released 1 October 2008. On the album charts, it topped in Sweden, reached 17th position in Denmark and 34th position in Norway. A Danish language-version of the album, Forelskede, was also recorded.
"Nessuno mi può giudicare" is an Italian pop song written by Luciano Beretta, Miki Del Prete, Daniele Pace and Mario Panzeri. The song premiered at the sixteenth edition of the Sanremo Music Festival, and was performed by Caterina Caselli and Gene Pitney, finishing second.
"24.000 baci", also appearing as "24 mila baci", is a 1961 song composed by Ezio Leoni, Piero Vivarelli, Lucio Fulci, and Adriano Celentano. The song premiered at the 11th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival with a double performance of Adriano Celentano and Little Tony, and placed at the second place. It is regarded as the first rock and roll song to enter the competition at the Sanremo Festival. During his performance, Celentano created a large controversy for performing part of the song with his back to the public.
Britt Lindeborg was a Swedish lyricist.
Paolo Romano Carta is an Italian musician, singer, guitarist, musical director and record producer.
Lorenzo Pilat, also known as Pilade, is an Italian singer-songwriter and composer, mainly active between the second half of the 1960s and the 1970s.
| Studio albums |
|
|---|---|
| Compilation albums |
|
| Songs | |
| Related articles | |
