Prisencolinensinainciusol Explained

Prisencolinensinainciusol
Cover:Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol (cover).jpg
Type:Single
Artist:Adriano Celentano
Album:Nostalrock
B-Side:Disc Jockey
Language:Gibberish (inspired by American English)
Genre:Experimental pop, funk, novelty song, avant-garde
Label:Clan (Italy)
Epic (US)
Prev Title:La ballata di Pinocchio
Prev Year:1972
Next Title:L'unica chance
Next Year:1973

"Prisencolinensinainciusol", or "Prisencólinensináincıúsolı" is a song composed by the Italian singer Adriano Celentano, and performed by Celentano and his wife Claudia Mori. It was released as a single in 1972. Both the name of the song and its lyrics are gibberish but are intended to sound like English in an American accent. The song charted in several European countries.

Background

By the 1960s, Celentano was already one of the most popular rock musicians in Italy, in large part due to his appearance at the Sanremo Music Festival in 1960 and the subsequent success of his song "24.000 baci".[1] Martina Tanga writes that his artistic persona was characterised by "loud lyrics and inelegant body movements", which differentiated him from other singers of the time.[2] Paolo Prato describes his style as "a bit of Elvis, a bit of Jerry Lewis, a bit of folk singer".[3] "Prisencolinensinainciusol" was released in 1972 and remained popular throughout the 1970s.

Song

Style

"Prisencolinensinainciusol" has been described as varying music genres including Europop, house music, disco, hip hop and funk.[4] [5] Celentano, however, did not have these styles in mind when writing the song. He composed "Prisencolinensinainciusol" by creating a loop of four drumbeats and improvising lyrics over the top of the loop in his recording studio. The song is characterised by an E flat groove in the drum and bass guitar and riff in the horn section.[6] Between the drum loop, the looped horns, and the conversational improvisational "freestyle" flow of the lyrics and the chanting chorus, the song has many elements later found in hip hop in the mid 1980s and 1990s.

Lyrics and language

The song is intended to sound to its Italian audience as if it is sung in English spoken with an American accent; however, the lyrics are deliberately unintelligible gibberish with the exception of the word "alright".[7] [8] Andrew Khan, writing in The Guardian, later described the sound as reminiscent of Bob Dylan's output from the 1980s.

Celentano's intention with the song was not to create a humorous novelty song but to explore communication barriers. The intent was to demonstrate how English sounds to people who do not understand the language proficiently. "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". He also took inspiration from the myth of the Tower of Babel.[9]

Releases and versions

The original version of the track was released as a single on 3 November 1972, and appeared on Celentano's album Nostalrock the following year. For its UK release, the single was given the simpler title of "The Language of Love (Prisencol…)". The song appeared on the 2008 dance compilation album .[10] Celentano later recorded a version with real Italian lyrics; this version, released on his 1994 album Quel Punto, was named "Il Seme del Rap" and served as a hip hop parody. In 2016, Celentano released a new recording of the song (with the original lyrics); this version featured the music of Benny Benassi and vocals from Mina.[11]

Celentano performed the song at least twice on Italian television. In the fourth episode of the 1974 variety series Milleluci, he dances with Raffaella Carrà, who lip-syncs to Mori's vocals. In an episode of Formula Due, a TV show hosted by Loretta Goggi, the song appears in a comedy sketch in which he portrays a teacher. Video clips of both performances, both separate and edited together, began to appear on YouTube in the late 2000s. It became something of an Internet meme,[12] and in 2009 it was posted to Boing Boing,[13] and subsequently saw renewed interest in the Italian media.[14] It was the subject of a 2012 All Things Considered (NPR) segment, for which Celentano was interviewed.[15]

In 2017, a version by Tub Ring appeared in Season 3, Episode 1 of the FX television series Fargo.[16] [17]

In 2018, the song was included in the soundtrack of "Lone Star", the second episode of the FX television series Trust. The song was incorporated into Rush Limbaugh's radio show as one of the revolving bumper music intros, where Limbaugh asserts learning about it from his memory of details that match the TV show.[18] [19]

In 2023, the song appeared in Season 3, Episode 3 of the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso over a montage of football games involving the character Zava, AFC Richmond's newest player acquisition.[20]

Track listing

  1. "Prisencolinensinainciusol" (Adriano Celentano) – 3:54
  2. "Disc Jockey" (Luciano Beretta, Adriano Celentano, Miki Del Prete) – 4:54

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Tzvetkova, Juliana . Pop Culture in Europe . . 2017 . 9781440844669 . United States . 19–20.
  2. Book: Tanga, Martina . Arte Ambientale, Urban Space, and Participatory Art . . 2019 . 9781351187930 . United States . 21 March 2023 . 19 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231119185627/https://books.google.com/books?id=fbyZDwAAQBAJ . live .
  3. Book: Prato, Paolo . Made in Italy: Studies in Popular Music . . 2013 . 9781136585548 . Fabbri . Franco . United States . 169 . Virtuosity and Populism: The Everlasting Appeal of Mina and Celentano . Plastino . Goffredo . 21 March 2023 . 19 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231119185628/https://books.google.com/books?id=cUrfAQAAQBAJ . live .
  4. Web site: November 4, 2012 . It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something . 25 June 2022 . . 18 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170318092600/http://www.npr.org/2012/11/04/164206468/its-gibberish-but-italian-pop-song-still-means-something/ . live .
  5. Frere-Jones . Sasha . August 12, 2008 . Stop Making Sense . . 25 June 2022 . 25 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220625153622/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/sasha-frere-jones/stop-making-sense . live .
  6. Casadei . Delia . Crowded Voice: Speech, Music and Community in Milan, 1955-1974 . 2015 . . 25 June 2022 . 27 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220527062355/https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3422&context=edissertations . live .
  7. Book: Kroes, Rob . Cultural Transmissions and Receptions: American Mass Culture in Europe . Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center . Austin Tex. . 1993 . 978-90-5383-207-3 . 147 .
  8. Web site: 9 July 2012 . Sounds of Italy – day one: a history of Italian pop in 10 songs . The Guardian . 11 December 2020 . 17 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190417164023/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jul/09/history-italian-pop-10-songs . live .
  9. News: Raz. Guy. It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something. 29 September 2014. All Things Considered. NPR. 4 November 2012. 6 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141006151120/http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=164206468. live.
  10. Web site: Review Poplife Presents: Poplife Sucks. Anderson. Rick. AllMusic. 8 January 2010. 20 July 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230720001044/https://www.allmusic.com/album/poplife-presents-poplife-sucks-mw0000800638. live.
  11. Web site: Prisencolinensinainciusol — Adriano Celentano’s gibberish song lives on. Financial Times. 7 November 2022.
  12. http://daily.wired.it/news/internet/celentano-conquista-i-blogger-americani.html Celentano conquista i blogger americani
  13. Web site: Review Gibberish rock song written by Italian composer to sound like English. Doctorow. Cory. 17 December 2009. BoingBoing. 17 December 2009. 19 December 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20091219044400/http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/17/gibberish-rock-song.html. live.
  14. Web site: Review Usa, scoppia la Celentano-mania tutti pazzi per un brano del '72. LaStampa. 22 December 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100522131034/http://www3.lastampa.it/musica/sezioni/indieweb/articolo/lstp/173112/. 22 May 2010. dmy-all.
  15. National Public Radio, 'All things Considered,' November 4, 2012 "It's Gibberish, But Italian Pop Song Still Means Something" https://www.npr.org/2012/11/04/164206468/its-gibberish-but-italian-pop-song-still-means-something
  16. Davies . Dave . Hawley . Noah . 'Fargo' Is A Series About The 'Things People Do For Money' . 2017-05-15 . Fresh Air . NPR . 28 January 2024.
  17. Web site: Songfacts . Prisencolinensinainciusol by Adriano Celentano . nd . Songfacts . 28 January 2024.
  18. News: OITNB, Prisencolinensinainciusol and the Host's Phone Rings. The Rush Limbaugh Show. 29 January 2020. 15 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190815005211/https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/08/14/a-fan-of-orange-is-the-new-black-and-prisencolinensinainciusol/. live.
  19. News: Who Made Prisencolinensinainciusol Popular?. The Rush Limbaugh Show. I first became aware of the song, it was a TV show, I forget the network, on the kidnapping of J. Paul Getty’s grandson. And Hilary Swank is playing the mother of the kidnapped kid.... 7 February 2019. Limbaugh. Rush. 21 September 2020. 22 October 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201022191337/https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/02/07/who-made-prisencolinensinainciusol-popular/. live.
  20. News: Orr . Christopher . 2023-03-29 . 'Ted Lasso,' Season 3, Episode 3 Recap: Zava Superstar . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-03-30 . 0362-4331 . 30 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230330045255/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/arts/television/ted-lasso-season-3-episode-3-recap.html . live .
  21. Web site: Prisencolinensinainciusol/Disc Jockey. Italian. 25 August 2013. Discografia Nazionale della Canzone Italiana. Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities. 2 May 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140502004135/http://discografia.dds.it/scheda_titolo.php?idt=7233. live.
  22. Book: Racca, Guido. M&D Borsa Singoli 1960–2019. it. 2019. 9781093264906.
  23. Book: 1000 canzoni che ci hanno cambiato la vita. Rizzoli. Ezio Guaitamacchi. 4 February 2024 . 978-88-17-03392-3 . 3 January 2024.

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