Original_To:  ALLM
Original_cc:  OLIVOTTO
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Fri, 6 Nov 1992 10:22:00 N
From:         "OUT,
              OUT - YOU'LL NOT FEEL THE FALL-OUT..." <OLIVOTTO@ITNCISCA.BITNET>
Subject:      More Italian rhymes and a multi-ethnic beer session :)

>From: "Michael H. Bloom" <MHB@MITVMA.BITNET>
>Subject: Nits, old socks.

>The currently operative concept in America is that if a tune is less than 17%
>different from another tune, it's considered to be a copy.

        I'm in trouble, here. Scientifically (?!?) what does it mean 17%? No-
tes of the melody, I suppose?

>Jonathan King (who recorded "Everyone's Gone to the Moon," produced the debut
>Genesis album, and has generally been hovering around the fringes of the music
>industry for many years now) recorded a version of "He's So Fine" intentionally
>as close as possible to George Harrison's rendition of "My Sweet Lord." The
>backup singers do some of the "Hare Krishna" routines, and at the climax
>of the bridge, they chant, "See you in court!"

        I didn't know about this... nice guy! Yep, Johnatan King is famous for
another reason. He's not exactly a very good-looking guy, and the legend says
that he used to look in the mirror and say: "HOW handsome I am!!!". This was,
says the grapevine, the inspiration which brought Peter Gabriel to create the
Narcisus character in "Supper's Ready".

>Well, there's a song Amy Denio wrote on the second Tone Dogs album, _The Early
>Middle Years_, which is kind of a parody of the fluid sound we Americans like
>to assume Italian has. The song's called "Salvatore," and it basically consists
>of whatever Italian words she could think of-- "Tarantella, fettucini, buon
>giorno," etc. all strung together haphazardly, and sung with seriously rolled
>R's and similarly pretentious diction. I hate to admit it, but it sounds real
>romantic to me. (I'll easily admit to being pretty dotty about Amy Denio.)

        I bet it does. I am not at all surprised that you mention "tarantella"
and "fettuccine", two definitely southern words out of three. The long-tradi-
tion of Italian melodic music has its roots in Naples. But, again, we're very
close to he operatic argument -- that is, it's NOT real Italian.
        Since we mentioned Gabriel, it's funny how he managed to rhyme "umbrel-
la" and "prima bella" (actually, not something I would say, but a stretched way
to define a "first love") in his first album. Possibly, he did because there
was no other word available except for "cinderella"... :)
        Anyway, just yesterday evening, I had a drinking round with two English
friends and a Canadian. After two Irish coffees and four beers we were pretty
talkative (ouch... my headache!) and, who knows why, the discussion fell on
this very same subject. The Canadian, who speaks Italian VERY well, said that
the problem is our language is based on syllables and metrics, whereas English
is more stress-oriented. "Also", he said, "there is a problem of rhymes: in
Italian the only thing you can make rhyme with 'cuore' [heart] is 'amore'
[love]; and so the romantic-sloppy-melodic music has a fertile ground to grow.
In England you can try heart-fart, and bang!, you have invented punk!".
        Cue half-an hour of laughter...

         Ciao, Marco

P.S.: about rhymes... can anyone of you suggest a rather intelligent and
      sensible rhyme to "orange"? It's driving me mad... :)
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