Che sarà

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Che sarà
Ricchi e Poveri / José Feliciano
publication 1971
length 3:00 / 3:30
Genre (s) pop
Author (s) Franco Migliacci , Carlo Pes, Jimmy Fontana
Label RCA Victor
album Amici miei / Che sarà

Che sarà is an Italian song written by composer Jimmy Fontana together with lyricist Franco Migliacci with Carlo Pes for the 1971 Sanremo Festival . Up until this year it was customary at Sanremo for each song to be interpreted by two artists or groups, in this case Ricchi e Poveri and José Feliciano . The aim was to focus on the song itself and not the artist's performance.

background

Originally, Jimmy Fontana wanted to present the song himself at the festival. At the same time, José Feliciano was supposed to present the song for the international market. Fontana had already produced an Italian, a Spanish and an Italian version of the song with the Puerto Rican in Los Angeles. After Fontana returned to Italy, he found that Feliciano had already been seeded with his title in Sanremo. The Italian producers of RCA saw the song and the festival as a good opportunity to make the already international star José Feliciano known in Italy. Furthermore, Enio Melis, then artistic director at RCA, decided to dedicate the song to the success of the young group Ricchi e Poveri, who had drawn attention to themselves the year before with their song La prima cosa bella . Fontana, who had the last word on the matter, refused to consent as a composer. However, when Melis threatened that in this case the song would not appear at any festival, he gave in. Despite this, Fontana retired from the music business for many years due to this incident.

The song finally won second place at the Sanremo Festival behind the winning song Il cuore è uno zingaro .

publication

The Italian version of the song recorded by Feliciano was particularly successful in Italy, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Japan. However, the Spanish version of the song as Que será had the greater success . This reached sales records in Spain and Latin America. An English version titled Shake a Hand made it into the charts in Scandinavia but did not reach the top ten in the UK and US.

content

Che sarà is about the sadness of the singer who leaves his home village to escape boredom (Paese mio che stai sulla collina disteso come un vecchio addormentato , "My village up there on the hill, stretched out like a fallen old man"). He doesn't know what the future will bring, but somehow life will go on. The song is inspired by the small Tuscan town of Cortona , where songwriter Franco Migliacci lived for a long time. Jimmy Fontana dedicated the song to Bernalda , his wife's home village.

Coincidentally, the content of the song reflects the personal story of José Feliciano. He was born in the mountain village of Lares , Puerto Rico , and left for New York . He followed many other migrants from Puerto Rico. In fact, the song is considered a secret emigrant anthem for many Latin American migrants.

successes

Version by José Feliciano
Charts Top ranking Weeks
Chart placements
Italy (M&D) Italy (M&D) 3 (16 weeks) 16
Germany (GfK) Germany (GfK) 7th (22 weeks) 22nd
Netherlands (Media Markt) Netherlands (Media Markt) 2 (12 weeks) 12
Flanders (Ultratop) Flanders (Ultratop) 3 (15 weeks) 15th
Version by Ricchi e Poveri
Charts Top ranking Weeks
Chart placements
Italy (M&D) Italy (M&D) 8th (11 weeks) 11

Cover versions in other languages

country title Interpreter
Bulgaria Spri do men Lea Ivanova
Germany Che Sara Karel Gott
France Qui saura Mike Brant
Iceland Góða ferð BG and Ingibjörg
Sweden Aldrig mer Hootenanny Singers
Czech Republic Nádherná Pavel Novák
Hungary With remélsz? Kati Kovács
Vietnam Đôi bờ Anh Tú , Lê Cát Trọng Lý

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b M&D chart archive. Musica e dischi , accessed on April 1, 2018 (Italian, paid subscription access).
  2. ↑ José Feliciano - Che sarà. In: Official German Charts. GfK Entertainment , accessed April 1, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Jose Feliciano - Che SARA. In: Top40.nl. Stichting Nederlandse Top 40 , accessed April 1, 2018 (Dutch).
  4. ↑ José Feliciano - Che sarà. In: Ultratop.be. Retrieved April 1, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Karel Gott - Come to Me. In: Discogs . Retrieved August 27, 2020 (album).