Prisencolinensinainciusol
"Prisencolinensinainciusol" [prizenkolinensinainˈtʃuzol] is a song composed by Adriano Celentano, and performed by Celentano and his wife, singer/actress-turned-record producer Claudia Mori. A very popular performance of the song, broadcasted by RAI, shows Celentano with showgirl Raffaella Carrà, who is dancing and lip-synching to Mori's vocals. It was first released as a single on November 3, 1972, and later on his album Nostalrock.
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Language [edit]
The song is deliberately meant to sound to its intended Italian audience like English spoken with an American accent.[1]
The song was produced with the purpose of exposing Italian pop artists and musicians who were deceiving the public, pretending to speak/understand English lyrics and plagiarizing American and English songs, so this was a satirical parody to underscore the fact that those artists and musicians were not fluent in any form of English at all, and the Italian public would accept and popularize any song sounding like English, whether or not it was accurate.
Celentano's intention with the song was to explore communications barriers. "Ever since I started singing, I was very influenced by American music and everything Americans did. So at a certain point, because I like American slang — which, for a singer, is much easier to sing than Italian — I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate. And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn't mean anything."[2]
Releases [edit]
The song was recorded at least twice for television broadcast. The song has been included on the 2008 dance compilation album Poplife Presents: Poplife Sucks.[3]
In 1992, remixes of the song by Molella and Fargetta were released on CD Single, along with the original version, to promote the compilation Superbest.
It was a nascent Internet meme in the late 2000s,[4] having been posted on Boing Boing in December 2009[5] and subsequently picked up by the Italian press.[6]
Remake [edit]
Celentano made a remake with real, Italian lyrics on his disc Quel Punto. The song's name is Il Seme del Rap and it can be seen as a hip hop parody. French actor José Garcia interpreted a portion of the song in the movie Quelqu'un de bien (2002). The full version was released as a single in France as Prisencoli.[7]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Kroes, Rob (1993). Cultural Transmissions and Receptions: American Mass Culture in Europe. Austin Tex.: Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. p. 147. ISBN 978-90-5383-207-3.
- ^ http://www.npr.org/2012/11/04/164206468/its-gibberish-but-italian-pop-song-still-means-something
- ^ Anderson, Rick. "Review Poplife Presents: Poplife Sucks". Allmusic. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
- ^ Celentano conquista i blogger americani. Wired Italy. 2009-12-18.
- ^ Doctorow, Cory. "Review Gibberish rock song written by Italian composer to sound like English". BoingBoing. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
- ^ "Review Usa, scoppia la Celentano-mania tutti pazzi per un brano del '72". "LaStampa". Retrieved 22 December 2009.
- ^ José Garcia - Prisencoli (Extrait de « Quelqu'un de bien »). Youtube.com. 2011-10-01.
External links [edit]
- Sasha Frere-Jones blog at newyorker.com (April 28, 2008)
- Language Log post (October 25, 2009) with videos
