1. Scrivi (Lady love) Charlie Rich; v.: Carlo Rossi – L. Enriquez; 4+4 Nora Orlandi
2. If you got a mind to (P.Barret-R.Mangeri) – Si quisieras - Charles Calello
3. Splish splash (Bobby Darin-Jean Murray) – Plif, Plaf – ar.: Teacho Wiltshire
4. San Francisco de Asis (Lake-Green-Marmion) – Luis Enriquez
5. Baby (When ya kiss me) Jackie DeShannon-Sheeley – ar. Sammy Lowe
6. Tango della scuola (Lina Wertmüller-Nino Rota) – ar.: Luis Enriquez
1. Viva la pappa col pomodoro (Lina Wertmüller-Nino Rota) – ar.: Luis Enriquez
2. Lipstick on your collar (E.Lewis-C.Goehring) – Rouge en tu cuello – C. Calello
3. Turn her down (B.Raleigh-M.Bargan) – Despídela – ar.: Teacho Wiltshire
4. Sei la mia mamma (Lina Wertmüller-Nino Rota) Eres mi madre – L. Enriquez
5. Rubber ball (A.Orlowski-A.Schroeder) – Pelota de goma – ar.: Charles Calello
6. Pido paz (Just once more) Al Western; v: Jorge Renner – Teacho Wiltshire
released in Argentina in April 1965.
note that the Spanish titles are only translations of the main title. Argentines like to translate all titles which may be confusing to the record buyer. Many times one thinks the song is sung in Spanish and it turns out it's in English or Italian.
In May-June 1964, Rita Pavone Inc. tried to break into the US market where her first US single and album were released. During this time Rita and her manager (accompanied by her Mother) found time - 3 weeks - to tour Argentina and Brazil where she was at the top of the charts. Her personal appearances in theatres and TV stations in Buenos Aires, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro were sensational with the local media and fans going into frenzy wherever she popped up.
In April-May 1965, Rita returned to South America for a repeat performance. Brazil and Argentina each released albums to celebrate the Return of Rita Pavone to their shores. Brazil’s album was called 'RITORNA' (Rita Pavone returns) and in Argentina they called it ‘VOLVIÓ LA PECOSITA’ (The Little Freckled-one returned).
Both albums are Frankenstein-like to the extent that they were patched up with left overs from unreleased albums and singles. In the case of Argentina’s ‘Volvió la Pecosita’, it was made up with half of ‘Small Wonder’, Pavone’s 2nd US album; 3 songs were taken from the Italian ‘Gian Burrasca’; 2 tracks sung in Spanish for the Hispanic market plus ‘Scrivi’, that had been a hit in Argentina the previous year.
‘SCRIVI’ (Write to me, please) is a tour-de-force of arranger-producer Luis Enriquez. He transformed ‘Lady love’, a rather simple C&W Charlie Rich ballad into an elaborate multi-layered-track masterpiece. It starts slowly and goes up in a crescendo of voices, instruments and rhythmic hand-clapping to explode in an orgy of intertwined harmonies and counter-point. An amazing back-vocal by the 4+4 of Nora Orlandi’s girls punctuates the song all along in a quasi call-and-response. The playback orchestration was done in Rome and sent to New York via air-mail for Rita to add up her voice on top. She had been working on her American album at the 24th Street RCA’s A Studio since early May. 'Scrivi" is the story of a girl who’s far away and begs her lover to write her to relieve her loneliness. Even though it was ‘rejected’ by the Italian record-buying public, ‘Scrivi’ was a big hit in both Argentina and Brazil in 1964, as a follow-up to her blockbuster ‘Datemi un martello’. One could hear Pavone’s hits playing on the radio all day long in those days.
‘IF YOU GOT A MIND TO’ (see ‘Small Wonder’) – I remember the first time I heard this song from the Argentine album. I met this girl called Silvia who had a friend who had visited Argentina and bought her ‘Volvió la Pecosita' album as a present. The first times I heard this track I felt like up and dance to its lively rhythm immediately. As I didn’t know a word of English then I didn’t pay much attention to the words and the tune sounded really hot to me. Charles Callelo arranges the rhythm section divinely. The instrumental interlude used to drive me dancing-crazy.
‘SPLISH SPLASH’ (see ‘Small Wonder’) – As already said this is an anachronous recording. Bobby Darin took it to # 3 at Billboard on 30 June 1958. Even though it’s a ‘male’s song’, Rita tries to do the best she can. One realizes she is trying her best to pronounce those very difficult words like ‘living-room rug’ which is a mouthful for a poor teenager from Italy. An onomatopoetic song which imitates the sounds of water (splish-splash) and other sounds combinations like ‘big-bang’ rhyming with ‘the whole gang’ and ‘flip-flap they was doing the bop’. It is a helluva difficult song for a foreign kid to do. Who was the A&R (artist & repertoire) person at RCA? Poor little Rita walks a tigh-rope with no safety net. One can’t help but feel sorry for the Italian teenager who could slurr the English words in her native Italy but was now doing the ‘real thing’ in the ‘real world’! Rita knew she was in dire straits when she took the mamoth task of recording a whole album in English for the US market. She must have lost a few night’s sleep dreading the day she would step into the studio to record 3 or 4 different songs a day. Pavone should be rewarded with some bravery medal for the way she tackled all these tong-twister up-tempo rockers. She mispronounced whole sentences. She stumbled badly but managed not to fall flat on her face! She deserved the equivalent of an Academy Award for ‘the most corageous foreign kid in a strange threatening land trying to command its language in uptempo numbers’.
‘SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS’ – Rita sings this soft ballad in the original Spanish that it was written. It's got a different play-back from the ‘San Francesco’ recording we used to know. The latter was accompanied by The Rokes' twangy guitars whereas the Spanish version was orchestrated lusciously by Luis Enriquez. Lyrically, the Spanish version makes more sense for Rita stolls the spiritual qualities of Saint Francis, whereas in the Italian version she is a girl praying to the Saint to help her get her boy friend back. Lirically I prefer the Spanish version, but musically I’d rather listen to the Rokes’ version.
‘BABY’ (When ya kiss me) (see ‘Small Wonder') – Jackie DeShannon of rockabilly fame is the author of this quaint beauty. I always thought it was powerful in its nonsense. It took me years to finally listen to DeShannon original recording of ‘Baby’ and I think Rita’s done a spetacular job with her ma-ma-ma-ma-yeh! Rita could be really inventive in her approach to the many different songs she kept on recording here and there. She was like a ‘bag of surprises’! No one knew what she would come up with next! ‘Baby’ is a good example of originality.
‘TANGO DELLA SCUOLA’ - School's Tango - (see ‘Gian Burrasca’) – I remember the first time I heard ‘Tango de la escuela’. My friend Silvia, who was a big Pavone fan was also a big tango fan from earlier times. Even before I ever heard this track Silvia raved about it saying she thought it was the best tune Rita had ever recorded. After eagerly listening to the very first time I tended to agree with her. As I didn’t have the album myself I could only listen to it at her house once a week when I visited her on Saturday afternoons. We didn’t know then it was part of a ‘concept album’ (Gian Burrasca). We thought it was just another tango, even though the subject matter was something related to a school where children had a ‘hard time’. Little did we know Rita was portraying a boy, a brat for that matter, who was in a draconinan boarding-school where he was subjected to harsh treatment and this was a list of the annoyances he had to go through daily.
‘LIPSTICK ON YOUR COLLAR’ (see ‘Small Wonder) – Another anachronous song. Recorded earlier by Connie Francis who took it to # 5 in the Billboard charts on 1st June 1959. The band backing Ms. Francis is first rate and a most entrancing guitar solo interlude played exquisitely by George Barnes has become part of rock legend. Songwriter George Goehring would in 1982 recall that he'd personally pitched "Lipstick on Your Collar" to Connie Francis, making an unannounced visit to the singer's Newark, N.J. home and playing her the song on her piano. Francis would record the song on 15 April 1959 in a session at Metropolitan Studio (NYC) produced and conducted by Ray Ellis, with veteran guitarist George Barnes contributing a solo to the track. The same session produced the romantic ballad "Frankie", a Howard Greenfield-Neil Sedaka composition meant to appeal to Frankie Avalon fans.
Rita actually does a good job too. Even though she mispronounces ‘then I noticed yours was red, mine was baby pink’... well, apparently she thinks she’s done it well and everyone else pretends they haven’t noticed her ‘blooper’. She actually finishes the song still standing and proud of her performance. Rita must have had a few angels guarding her during those sessions for she rarely ‘lost’ it! She might have stumbled here and there but she never actually crumbled! Charles Callelo’s arrangement is really ‘modern’ for 1964 when tambourine was introduced to pop and became a fixture. The brass section is also pretty hot.
‘TURN HER DOWN’ (see ‘Small Wonder') – This Teacho Wiltshire track is my favourite English-language song in the album. I always had a penchant to liking brass sections in a popular tune. I still think one of the best ever pop songs with a good brass section is Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Keep the customer satisfied’ from 1970’s ‘Bridge over troubled water’ even though I think Stevie Wonder’s ‘Sir Duke' tops them all. But before I heard the latter I think ‘Turn her down’ was at the top of my list of ‘best brass section’. The words get in the way of Rita’s performance but I wouldn’t have known it in 1966 so I was in seventh heaven when I heard it.
‘SEI LA MIA MAMMA’ - 'You're my mother - (see ‘Gian Burrasca') – I never liked this song. I always thought it boring. I know it played an important role in the series for it is a chance for Giannino to show how much he cares for his beloved mother. But being young and didn’t have patience for saccharine slow numbers. Especially one that extols maternal love. This was a good number for Rita to curry favour with grown-ups who took their youngsters to see her personal appearances around the world.
‘RUBBER BALL’ (see ‘Small Wonder') – This was one my my favourite tracks. I liked the drum sound in the very beginning that reminds one of something ‘boucing’. Actually the female chorus repeats ‘bouncy-bouncy’ all the time. I think Rita’s version is much better than Bobby Vee’s original. It is a ‘jumpy’ song... just like a rubber ball bouncing off the wall. I used to dance to it until I dropped.Those were the good old days. I was only 17 and rearing to go on living.
‘PIDO PAZ’ (I throw in the towel) (Just once more) – The same ‘Just once more’ play-back with Spanish words went all the way to number one in the Argentine charts. I thought it was amusing to listen to Pavone singing in Spanish a song that I already knew in English. The Spanish version keeps the intensity of the original with a lot of sexual innuendo.
RITA PAVONE SINGLES IN ARGENTINA
1. La partita di pallone / Come te non c’è nessuno
2. Il ballo del mattone / Abbiamo 16 anni
3. Cuore / Alla mia età
4. Non è facile avere 18 anni / Son finite le vacanze
5. Wenn ich ein Junge wär’ / Sul cucuzzolo
6. Datemi un martello / Che m’importa del mondo
7. Somigli ad un’oca / Quando sogno
8. Remember me / Just once more
9. Pido Paz [Just once more] / Te imploro amor [Remember me]
10. Scrivi / Ti vorrei parlare
11. L’amore mio / San Francesco
12. Lipstick on your collar / Splish splash
13. Viva la pappa col pomodoro / Sei la mia mamma
14. Viva las papas con tomate / No lo puedo olvidar [Lui]
15. Lui / La forza di lasciarti
16. Supercalifragilistic espiralidoso / Plip
17. Stasera con te / Solo tu
18. Qui ritornerà / Il geghegè
19. Fortissimo / La sai troppo lunga
20. Gira gira / Mamma dammi la panna
21. Questo nostro amore / La zanzara
After a little research I came to the stunning conclusion that Argentina is the country where Rita Pavone had the most number of singles released in the period from 1963 to 1967, when Pavone left RCA Italiana for Ricordi.
Note that I have not included ‘promotional singles’ or the 3 singles RCA Italiana released after she had left the company. I have not included E.P.s either; extended plays had two songs on each side; they did not exist on the Italian market but were common place in Latin America and some European countries like France, Portugal and Spain..
Argentine releases Italian releases
1. La partita di pallone / Come te... La partita / Amore twist
2. Il ballo del mattone / Abbiamo 16 anni Come te / Clementine
3. Cuore / Alla mia età Alla mia età / Pel di carota
4. Non è facile...18 anni / Son finite.... Cuore / Il ballo del mattone
5. Wenn ich ein Junge wär’ / Sul cucuzzolo Non è facile 18 anni / Son finite
6. Datemi un martello / Che m’importa... Datemi martello / Che m’importa...
7. Somigli ad un’oca / Quando sogno Scrivi / Ti vorrei parlare
8. Remember me / Just once more L’amore mio / San Francesco
9. Pido Paz / Te imploro amor Viva la pappa / Sei la mia mamma
10. Scrivi / Ti vorrei parlare Lui / La forza di lasciarti
11. L’amore mio / San Francesco Plip / Supercalifragilistic
12. Lipstick on your collar / Splish splash Solo tu / Stasera con te
13. Viva la pappa... / Sei la mia mamma Il geghegè / Qui ritornerà
14. Viva las papas.... / No lo puedo olvidar Fortissimo / La sai troppo lunga
15. Lui / La forza di lasciarti La zanzara / Perchè 2 non fa 3
16. Supercalifragilistic... / Plip Mamma panna / Col chicco
17. Stasera con te / Solo tu Gira gira / Dove non so
18. Qui ritornerà / Il geghegè Questo nostro.../ Una notte intera
19. Fortissimo / La sai troppo lunga Non dimenticar le mie parole / Da..
20. Gira gira / Mamma dammi la panna
21. Questo nostro amore / La zanzara
Rita & Palito Ortega, Argentina's King of Rock'n'roll - 1965.
No comments:
Post a Comment