2. MEUS 18 ANOS - BBL 159

MEUS  18  ANOS – BBL-159 – RCA Victor

recorded in September 1963; 

released in Brazil: March 1964.

1.  Datemi un martello (If I had a hammer) Lee Hays-Pete Seeger; Sergio Bardotti
2.  Non è facile avere 18 anni (Bernabini)
3.  Somigli ad un’ oca (Your baby’s gone surfin’) Duane Eddy-Lee Hazlewood; Migliacci
4.  Ti vorrei parlare (Carlo Alberto Rossi-Roby Ferrante)
5.  Si fossi un uomo (Wenn ich ein Junge wär’) H.Buchholz-G.Loose-Müller; v.: Rossi
6.  Quando sogno (On the sunny side of the street) Jimmy McHugh-Dorothy Fields; v.: Gagis

1.  Che m’importa del mondo (Franco Migliacci-Luis Enriquez)
2.  Son finite le vacanze (Carlo Rossi-Pelleschi)
3.  Bianco Natale (White Christmas) Irving Berlin; v.: Devilli
4.  Non c’è un pò di pentimento (Gianni Meccia)
5.  Sotto il francobollo (Carlo Rossi-Luis Enriquez)
6.  Auguri a te (Carlo Rossi-Luis Enriquez)

Pavone’s second album is something special. It is my personal favourite album even though it's one-third made up of covers. The Brazilian release turned out to be better than the Italian counterpart for it featured 'Datemi un martello', as 'Cuore' had been included in her 1st Brazilian album.  

‘DATEMI UN MARTELLO’ (If I had a hammer) – ‘Give me a hammer, please’ is a celebration of sorts. Sergio Bardotti was given the task to turn ‘If I had a hammer’ into something more ‘palatable’ to the Italian younger set. ‘The Hammer song’, a folk song written by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger in support of the progressive movement in the U.S.A., was first recorded in 1950, by The Weavers, a folk music quartet with Seeger, Hays, Ruth Alice 'Ronnie' Gilbert & Fred Hellerman. It was revived 12 years later as 'If I had a hammer', by Peter, Paul & Mary reaching # 10 on 8 September 1962 at the Billboard singles chart. 

Trini Lopez took 'If I had a hammer' even higher a year later, reaching # 3 on 1st July 1963, a few weeks before the legendary March on Washington when Dr. Martin Luther King made his ‘I have a dream’ historical speech. The song was often sung and chanted during the marches for the Civil Rights during that period. Its original lyrics say: ‘It’s a hammer of Justice, it’s a hammer of Freedom, it’s a song about the Love between my brothers and my sisters all over the land!’

On the other side of the Atlantic, RCA Italiana's Artist & Repertoire man was searching for a new hit-song for Rita. The album 'Non è facile avere 18 anni' had been released just in time to cash in on the 1963 Christmas sales. Now, they needed a powerful rocker to be the flip-side of 'Che m'importa del mondo', a beautiful ballad. They summoned song-writer Sergio Bardotti and gave him a copy of Trini Lopez's 'If I had a hammer' 45 rpm for him to 'adapt' it. Bardotti, who was a cultured man knew all about politics but since the start he thought he'd do something 'naughty' with the Hays & Seeger's tune. He would do a 'surf-hully-gully' version of that political statement. That's how 'Datemi un martello' came out to be such a 'scattered-brain' oeuvre.

From the Trini Lopez's disc recorded ‘live’ at the P.J.’s in L.A., the producer only kept the 'live' feel with people shouting and clapping hands. Bardotti actually wrote two different sets of words for 'If I had a hammer': 'Su viene a ballare' that ended up being released - probably by mistake - in 'Lo mejor de Rita Pavone', a 1973 Spanish compilation album and 'Datemi un martello' itself that tells the story of a girl who’s bored-to-tears at a party where they refuse to play up-tempo surf & hully-gully tunes. She wishes she had a hammer and cause mayhem to finish off the part. It’s pure non-sense but fun! That’s the song that took Rita to Number One in Brazil – the biggest selling record of 1964.

'NON È FACILE AVERE DICIOTTO ANNI' (It's not easy to be an eighteen-year-old) - The title may be witty but it was the wrong track to be the 1st single out of the album. The song itself is charming but too slow. Pavone's hits so far had been either rockers ('La partita di pallone') or strong ballads like 'Come te non c'è nessuno' and 'Alla mia età'. 

‘SOMIGLI AD UN’OCA’ (Your baby’s gone surfin’) – You look like a goose - A cover of Duane Eddy's 'Your baby's gone surfin' (#93 at Billboard's singles-chart on 14 September 1963). Studio musicians managed to replicate Duane Eddy's sound to Franco Migliacci's completely foolish lyrics. Rita shouts all kinds of abuse at her lover even calling him a banana-eating monkey. For those who don't understand Italian it's a great tune. Rita sang it at one of her appearances on ABC TV's ‘Shindig’ (it ran from September 1964 through to January 1966). Rita also lip-synched it in her first featured film ‘Rita, la figlia americana’ released in late 1965.

‘TI VORREI PARLARE’ –  I’d like to talk to you – Lovely ballad written by inspired Roby Ferrante aka Robifer who had penned ‘Alla mia età’ (1963) and ‘Ogni volta’ which Paul Anka sang at San Remo 1964, selling a million copies. Roby died tragically in a car crash on 19 August 1966. Unfortunately, ‘Ti vorrei parlare’ has been shortened by half in the album; it ends abruptly just as the instrumental break begins. The whole un-cut song appears as the flip-side of 'Scrivi', released in mid-1964.

‘SI FOSSI UN UOMO’ (Wenn ich ein Junge wär’) – If I were a man - Italian cover of Pavone’s German-language 45 rpm that went to #1 in Germany in November 1963. See album ‘Ein Sonny Boy und eine kleine Signorina’ for more information about it. The Italian lyrics are true to the original. Rita added her voice on top of the play-back produced by Werner Müller in Berlin. 

‘QUANDO SOGNO’ (On the sunny side of the street) – ‘Whenever I dream’. Luis Enriquez turned this 1930 Broadway hit into a surf-hully-gully in which Rita shouts at the top or her lungs. It changes key twice getting higher and higher. That’s why some in the Italian press called Rita an ‘urlatrice’ (a shouter).

‘CHE M’IMPORTA DEL MONDO’ – What do I care about the world – The prettiest ballad in the album. A masterpiece written and arranged by Luis Enriquez. Rita over-dubs the track  making it softer. It was the 2nd single off the album with ‘Datemi un martello’ as a B-side. It ultimately became a #1 doube-sided hit in Italy. Even great Mina covered it a few years later.

‘SON FINITE LE VACANZE’ – Vacation is over – Another rocker! This time Rita is stuck in a beach resort with her family, sort of a workers’ paradise while the sun burns like hell. She regrets not being able to get in touch with her beau who stayed back in the city. She shouts, pants, cries, jumps up and down... she twists and shouts and rocks and rolls.

‘BIANCO NATALE’ (‘White Christmas') – I’d hate to be portrayed as a biased writer but I think Pavone’s rendition of ‘Bianco Natale’, the Italian cover of Irving Berlin’s ‘White Christmas’, is the best that has ever been recorded. Have a listen to it and tell me if I am mistaken. Look what Rita Pavone herself wrote about recording ‘Bianco Natale’:

“I remember well my joy when I was told I was going to record that famous American evergreen made popular world-wide by Bing Crosby in 1942. A joy that turned into a childlike euphoria when my arranger at RCA, Luis Enriquez Bacalov showed me his orchestration for the first time. I was stunned with the beauty of the arrangement. I fell madly in love with the choir of voices that marks the rhythm as if it were a new, surreal instrument. And those magic violins that cascaded down in crystal-clear notes opening the way to my singing. I remember being so happy to sing this song that it took me only two takes to get the final cut which is in the album.”

I'd like to add that Rita’s recording is a true masterpiece because differently from the original, the ending is ‘well-resolved’. I always thought Bing Crosby version has an anti-climax at the end when he sings: ...’and may all your Christmases be white.’  Rita’s finale is much more dramatic with: ‘è natale, è natale, è natale, non soffrire più... uh uh uh uh’. That’s something thought out by Luis Enriquez that even Mr. Berlin would have applauded.

‘NON C’È UN PÒ DI PENTIMENTO’ – You’re never sorry! – Singer-songwriter Gianni Meccia wrote this melodious rocker where she complains about her boy-friend being a bloody no good mongrel who only thinks of himself. The guitar bit is probably played by Enrico Ciacci, singer Little Tony’s younger bother, who was one of the best session guitarrists at the RCA stable.

‘SOTTO IL FRANCOBOLLO’ – Under the postage stamp – Music by Luis Enriquez and words by inventive Carlo Rossi who had to work around a play-back conceived for another song. The play-back arrangement was originally done for ‘Ce petite jeu’ recorded by Pavone in France earlier in 1963 and only released in that country. Rossi created a situation in which a girl writes to her boy-friend who lives out of town. As their romance should remain a secret she writes him bland letters in case they'd fall into the wrong hands. She’ll only write how much she loves him ‘under the postage stamp’. What an original idea!  

‘AUGURI A TE’ – I wish you happiness  – the 3rd Luis Enriquez song in the album. Such a haunting melody, such a wistful finale for such a great album. Enriquez’s use of strings is masterful. The male-female choir gives the tune such a beautiful harmony. ‘Meus 18 anos’ was the first album I ever bought. I remember playing it non-stop and every time the stylus hit this last track I felt a strange feeling of nostalgia. 

Carlo Rossi’s words are really poignant: “Tutte le cose che il mondo può darti, tutte le gioie che al mondo hai sognato;  io le voglio per te, io le sogno per te, mio caro, mio caro, mio amor!” ‘All the things the world may give you, all the things you have dreamed about;  I wish they will come true to you, my dear, my dear, my love!’.

'Meus 18 anos' is the Brazilian version of Italy's 'Non è facile avere 18 anni'. The Italian album was released in November 1963 just in time for the Christmas sales. It had a double-sleeve that opened as a book, having a few pages telling Rita's daily routine. This de-luxe version was expensive and was discontinued after the holidays were over. Here are the inside photos of that original release:

original Italian glossy cover 

original Italian back-cover

ROME ADVENTURE or How Italian pop music opened up a breach in the Brazilian recording market circa 1963-1967

Americans movies shot in sunny Italy, especially in Rome, the Eternal City, ever since the end of WWII were sure to be big at the box-offices. 'Three coins in the fountain' was really popular in 1954 and so was its opening musical theme.

In 1961 it was time for ‘Come September’ starring teen-idols Sandra Dee & Bobby Darin along with adult actors Gina Lollobrigida & Rock Hudson; it spawned at least two hits: its instrumental opening theme written by Bobby Darin and 'Multiplication', a rock tune he sings in the film. 

In 1962 it was bit time for 'Rome Adventure' with Suzanne Pleshette and Troy Donahue  along with Angie Dickinson and Rossano Brazzi, who started his American movie career 7 years earlier in none other than the already mentioned 'Three coins in the fountain'. 

'Rome adventure' was a romantic comedy which appealed to teens who flocked to the movie theatres in droves. It featured a scene in a tavern with Emilio Perícoli singing ‘Al di là’ which had won San Remo in early 1961 sung by Luciano Tajoli. When the flick was released in the USA on 5 March 1962, 'Al di là' was more than 1 year old but nonetheless when released by Warner Brothers as a single it climbed as high as # 6 at the Billboard charts on 9 June 1962. 

In Brazil everyone says ‘life starts only after Carnaval is over’. Summer in the Southern Hemisphere coincides with Carnaval, originally an European Catholic feast to mark the last days of free-meat-consumption before the onset of Lent. Brazilians have always taken Carnaval seriously, and stuff themselves with as much food, sex and revelry as they possibly can. As life only starts after the fun, that’s the time when children go back to school and big record companies release their new catalogues.

When ‘Rome adventure’ was finally released in Brazil as 'O candelabro italiano' it started playing at Cine Astor on 24 February 1963, on Ash Wednesday so it took a while for the public to catch up with it. When the dust finally settled 'O candelabro italiano' was the talk of town and 'Al di là' from its sound-track played on the radio non-stop with the single reaching # 1 on 21st July 1963, opening the flood-gates for the Italian music invasion of Brazil which had started 3 months earlier on 21st April 1963, with Nico Fidenco's 'Legata a un granello di sabbia' reaching # 1 at the charts. 

After watching 'O candelabro Italiano', Brazilians were hooked on everything Italian, even if it was seen through American lenses. Brazilians loved Pleshette & Donahue on their Lambretta but mostly of all they fell in love with the Italian modern music heavily influenced by US made rock ballads. 

In September 1963, RCA released Rita Pavone's first record ever in Brazil; an E.P. featuring 3 songs she had taken to the top of the Italian charts in late 1962 and early 1963: 'La partita de palone', 'Come te non cè nessuno' and 'Alla mia età' plus 'Clementine Cherie'. Soon enough radio started playing ‘La partita di pallone’ and before 1963 was done ‘Cuore’ was released as a single and played pretty well on the radio too. 

In early 1964, Brazilian airwaves were flooded with the likes of Peppino di Capri’s ‘Roberta’, Sergio Endrigo’s ‘Io che amo solo te’, Gino Paoli’s ‘Sapore di sale’; Edoardo Vianello's 'Abbronzadissima', Michele’s ‘Se mi vuoi lasciare’ etc. 

After Carnaval RCA released Pavone’s 2nd album and the single ‘Datemi un martello’ started playing by the minute on the radio. When Pavone finally reached our shores for personal appearances and her video-taped recital was beamed by Channel 7 on 25 June 1964, 'Datemi un martello' reached #1 in the singles' chart, 'Adorabile' went to #1 in the EP charts and 'Meus 18 anos' was the best selling album in the land. Italians ruled and Rita Pavone was their Queen.

 

'Your baby's gone surfin'' became 'Somigli ad un oca' in Italian.

'Datemi un martello' started out as 'The hammer song' and graduated as 'If I had a hammer'.

'Se fossi un uomo' is the Italian cover of 'Wenn ich ein Junge wär'.

'On the sunny side of the street' was already 33 years old when it became 'Quando sogno'.

'Sotto il francobollo' was written by Carlo Rossi having as a base the play-back Luis Enriquez had produced for Rita's rendition of 'Ce petit jeu', Chris Montez's 'Some kind 'a fun' translated into French. 

sleeve with poster included.