7. RITORNA - BBL-178

R I T O R N A  - BBL-178     release date:  April 1965 [Brazil]

1.  Viva la pappa col pomodoro (Lina Wertmüller-Nino Rota)  ar. Luis Enriquez
2.  San Francesco (San Francisco de Asis) [Lake-Green-Marmion; Migliacci] w the Rokes
3.  Lui (Franco Migliacci-Luis Enriquez-Franco Zambrini)
4.  Lipstick on your collar (Edna Lewis-George Goehring) – ar.: Charles Calello
5.  L’amore mio (Remember me) [Shelly Coburn; v.: Migliacci]  ar. Luis Enriquez
6.  Wait for me (Sylvia Dee-Arthur Kent) – arrangement:  Martin Manning

1.  La forza di lasciarti (A.Bernabini)
2.  Splish splash (Bobby Darin-Jean Murray) – ar..:  Teacho Wiltshire
3.  Baby (When ya kiss me) (Jackie DeShannon-S.Sheeley) ar.: Sammy Lowe
4.  Pel di carota (Franco Migliacci-Ennio Morricone)
5.  Sei la mia mamma (Lina Wertmüller-Nino Rota)  ar.: Luis Enriquez
6.  Scrivi! (Lady Love) (Charlie Rich; Rossi) a.: Luis Enriquez; 4+4 di Nora Orlandi

A few weeks before it was announced Rita Pavone would be touring Brazil again in April 1965, RCA Victor rushed to assemble an album in time to coincide with her 'second coming'. They had a lot of unreleased material in their vaults to choose from. The Argentine RCA subsidiary was in the same conundrum and I particularly think the Argentine made a better album - 'Volvió la Pecosita' than the Brazilians' 'Ritorna Rita Pavone'. 

‘VIVA LA PAPPA COL POMODORO’ (see ‘Gian Burrasca’) – Rita returns to São Paulo, Brazil. She appears before a packed Teatro Record twice nightly from Tuesday, 27 April to Saturday, 1st of May 1965, flying to Rio de Janeiro on the Sunday. 1964 had been Pavone’s big year in South America. This time though she lacked a hit-single to prop up her personal appearances. She tried hard to make ‘Viva la pappa’ a substitute for 1964’s ‘Datemi un martello’ but to no avail. ‘W la pappa’ is a tarantella-like song with a child-like refrain that was a big let-down to Rita’s teenage fans who expected a rock tune instead. Besides being too repetitious it did not make any sense for Brazilian audiences who had not watched the Italian TV mini-series ‘Adventures of Gian Burrasca’ from which it had been the opening theme. 'Viva la papa' didn’t stand on its own. The audience at Teatro Record was friendly enough at Rita’s efforts to convince everyone to sing along with her. Most of them had come to listen to rock’n’roll not a tarantella. Teddy Reno, Rita’s manager made things even worse forcing himself as an MC meddling with Pavone's rendition of songs and trying to translate them to the audience when he himself lacked enough Portuguese, making an ass of himself. In other words, Rita’s return was a big letdown on all aspects.

‘SAN FRACESCO’ (San Francisco de Asis) – This had already been released as a single in January 1965, being a moderate hit at a time when everything Pavone touched turned to gold. Originally recorded in Spanish by Trini Lopez. Rita sings it in Italian accompanied by English expat band The Rokes with their twangy guitars. It is a heart-felt prayer to the saint who lived in Italy in the Middle Ages but hardly something to cheer about. What Pavone fans wanted was a good rock’n’roll tune instead they were given mush. 

‘LUI’ – ‘He’ –  this could have been Pavone’s next big hit but it never left off the ground. It was never released as a single in Brazil so radios didn’t play it. RCA, unfortunately, released ‘Viva la pappa’ instead. ‘Lui’ turned out to be a big hit in Italy in the summer of 1965, winning ‘Cantagiro’ a musical touring competion inspired by ‘Tour de France’ where singers and bands would drive from town to town singing at nightly shows on squares and piazzas. Fans voted for their favourite tunes until a big finale some time in August. Cantagiro started out in 1961 and reached its pinacle in 1965 when it went international having had concerts in Moscow, Belgium and Frankfurt. Italians were upbeat about their culture & their economic miracle. Maybe 1965 was Italy’s best year in music. Mina had been the Queen at Studio Uno in the winter & spring of 1965 and Pavone the Princess winning summer’s main musical competition. On the other hand, here in South America one could clearly see the so-called Italian Invasion being gradually reversed. Competion was fierce from British bands like the Beatles, Dave Clark Five, The Animals etc. Brazilian pop music was asserting itself in the shape of myriads song festivals and finally Brazilian indigenous rock aka Jovem Guarda was ascerting itself strongly by the end of 1965.

‘LIPSTICK ON YOUR COLLAR’ – see ‘Small Wonder’ for comments.

‘L’AMORE MIO’ (Remember me) – It was ‘San Francesco’ B-side. I particularly preferred Rita’s rendition of the original ‘Remember me’. I was so used to the ‘tightness’ of the original that I was displeased with the orchestral schmaltz Luis Enriquez concocted for the Italian cover. Besides the Italian lyrics is a sort of ‘revenge song’, a bit too negative. Rita vaunts that her lover will never find someone like her.  He may have all he wants from life except ‘her love’... hum... it sounds a bit over-confident and too bitter at the same time.

‘WAIT FOR ME’ – see  ‘Small Wonder’ – For the Brazilian Rita Pavone Fan-Club it was heaven on earth to be able to listen to Rita's second US single. It’s such a good ballad if one is still living in pre-feminist times. There’s a story about 'Wait for me' that surfaced in the Internet that is very interesting. A certain  American lady – that shall remains nameless - told someone in Italy she was the real writer of ‘Wait for me’. She went on to say she'd written 'Wait for me’ in 1964, at 15 years old when she was in love with Paul McCartney. She wanted Paul to ‘wait for her’ until she ‘became a woman overnight’ and then they would get married. She liked her song so much she sent it to RCA office in New York. RCA wrote a letter back to her saying that she had to copyright her song first. As she did not have money to do the ‘publishing’ she just gave it up. She forgot all about it until a certain Sunday in 1965, when she tuned her TV on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and had the shock of her life watching with baited breath an Italian teenager singing HER song.

Now, I'll leave it to you to believe the story or not. I particularly don't believe it for there was not enough time to fall in love with Paul McCartney, write a song about him, send it over to RCA, wait for an answer while the record company 'steals' her song and gives it to an Italian singer who happens to be waiting in the wings for new material; she records it in no time and sings it on national TV. All in less than 6 months. I researched Rita Pavone's appearances at 'The Ed Sullivan Show'; Rita has never sung 'Wait for me' at that Sunday programme. Check mate!

‘LA FORZA DI LASCIARTI’ – The strength to leave you – This is perhaps the best song in the album. It was released in Italy in April 1965 as B-side to 'Lui'. Some fans think it should have been the A-side though. It’s such a powerful ballad interwoven with a haunting saxphone lament. Rita really gives her all in mustering the strength to leave her lover.

‘SPLISH SPLASH’ – see ‘Small Wonder’ for comments. For Brazilians it is a curious choice of repertoire for Roberto Carlos, Brazil’s King of Rock, had recorded his cover of Bobby Darin's ‘Splish splash’ in late 1963, which was a hit. Rita stumbles all the way through the song... the lyrics getting in her way. It was too difficult for her to pronounce them correctly.  Wrong song, wrong place, wrong timing. The orchestration is excellent though. Teacho Wiltshire was perhaps the best arranger at the RCA studios in New York. His arrangement for the brass section is brilliant.

‘BABY’ (WHEN YA KISS ME) – see ‘Small Wonder’. I particularly like this recording. Especially its ‘Latin flavour’. For some reason it reminds me of Carmen Miranda. It was written and recorded originally by Jackie DeShannon. 

‘PEL DI CAROTA’ – Carrot-coloured hair – An anachronism! ‘Pel di carota' had been left out of Pavone's 1st Brazilian album in 1963 to make way for 'Cuore'. Two years later when RCA needed a ‘filler’ they reached for it. It is not a bad song. It was especially written for her by Franco Migiliacci and Ennio Morricone in answer to people’s prejudices against Rita’s freckled face and red hair. It was a hit in her early TV shows in Italy but the Brazilian audience wouldn’t have a clue what the tune was about. Besides, Brazilians are mostly dark and brown. We don’t see how having freckles and being red-headed can be a ‘problem’, a handicap! The arrangement done by Ennio Morricone smacks of the Brazilian samba with its notorious whistling. Nobody here could relate to any of that. Maybe that’s why Brazilian RCA executives had expunged ‘Pel di carota’ from the 1st album in the first place.

‘SEI LA MIA MAMMA’ – You are my mother - ‘Viva la pappa’ B side. It’s a poignant ballad about Giannino’s love for his mother. Lovely, but it didn’t mean much for South Americans who did not watch the mini-series. Rita tried to make the best of it when she offered it as a homage to all Brazilian mothers as Mother’s Day was just around the corner. Rita meant well but what teens wanted was Rock and livelier tunes, and Rita’s second Brazilian tour offered very little of that commodity. In her 1st Brazilian Tour, Rita had been famously supported by The Clevers, a brilliant local rock band that enhanced her rock’n’roll side. In her second tour she had a regular orchestra to back her up. That made a huge difference. In 1964, Rita rocked... in 1965, Rita bored. She must have been exhausted of touring by then.

‘SCRIVI’ – Write to me, please! – see ‘Volvió la Pecosita’ for comments. That’s one of my favourite Pavone recording. But ‘Scrivi’ had already been a hit here in 1964. It had been released as a single and in a compilation album called ‘Via Tiburtina km. 12’. It was like yesterday’s paper.

‘RITORNA’, as one can see, is a Frankestein-album made up with bits and pieces left over from all kinds of formats. It could have been better though. I much prefer the Argentine counter-part ‘Volvió la Pecosita’ mainly because it features ‘Tango della scuola’ (School’s tango) and two tracks sung in Spanish (‘Pido paz’ and ‘San Francisco de Asis’) which gives character to the album. Besides, the ‘Small Wonder’ tracks in the Argentine album are better tunes. There’s one thing I like about ‘Ritorna’ though... its cover sleeve is fantastic.



'Scrivi' (Lady love) written by Charlie Rich was adapted into Italian by Carlo Alberto Rossi; superbly arranged by Luis Enriquez with back-vocals by Nora Orlandi and her 4+4. The play-back was recorded in Rome while Rita was touring the USA in May-June 1964. They sent the play-back via air-mail and Rita sang her part which was doubled. Its final product is a tour-de-force. It's hard to believe it was recorded in two different continents.