| Cuccurucucù | |
| Cover: | Cuccurucucù Battiato.jpg |
| Caption: | cover of the French single |
| Type: | song |
| Artist: | Franco Battiato |
| Album: | La voce del padrone |
| Released: | 1981 |
| Genre: | Pop, New wave |
| Length: | 5:19 |
| Label: | EMI Italiana |
"Cuccurucucù" is a 1981 song by Italian singer-songwriter Franco Battiato, from his best-selling album La voce del padrone.
The song's lyrics consists of fragments of memories of Battiato's youth,[1] [2] even if some biographical verses were eventually modified and adjusted for metric and sound purposes, eg. 'Istituto Magistrale' replacing 'Liceo Classico'.
The title as well as the refrain and part of the melody are citations of Tomás Méndez' "Cucurrucucú paloma". The song also includes citations and references to other songs which marked Battiato's adolescence, including Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" and "Like a Rolling Stone", The Beatles' "Lady Madonna" and "With a Little Help from My Friends", The Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" (which Battiato will eventually cover in his album Fleurs), Mina's "Le mille bolle blu", Nicola Di Bari's "Il mondo è grigio, il mondo è blu", and Milva's "Il mare nel cassetto". Lyrics also contain citations from Homer's poem Iliad. American soprano Marilyn Turner and, uncredited, Giuni Russo, serve as backing vocalists. The song was released as a single in some foreign territories, notably in Switzerland, where it charted.[3] The song was described by Italian writer Michele Serra as 'a dadaist scherzo'.[4]