La compagnia
| La compagnia | |
|---|---|
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|
| Marisa Sannia | |
| publication | April 1969 |
| length | 2:50 |
| Genre (s) | pop |
| text | Mogol |
| music | Carlo Donida |
| Publisher (s) | Ed. Radio Record-Arion |
| Label | CGD |
| album | Marisa Sannia canta Sergio Endrigo… e le sue canzoni |
| Cover versions | |
| 1976 | Lucio Battisti |
| 1982 | Coro degli Angeli |
| 1988 | Mina |
| 1994 | Tazenda |
| 2007 | Vasco Rossi |
La compagnia ( Italian for "Society / Community") is a song by the author duo Mogol and Carlo Donida , which was first recorded and published in 1969 by Marisa Sannia . It has been covered several times , the most successful version being by Vasco Rossi in 2007.
Background and publication
The Sardinian singer Marisa Sannia had taken second place at the Sanremo Festival in 1968 together with Ornella Vanoni with Casa Bianca , which was the first time she achieved great fame. After the release of her debut album and the end of her four-year recording contract with Fonit-Cetra, she moved to CGD in 1969. As the first release under the new label, Sannia recorded La compagnia , written by the experienced songwriting team of Carlo Donida and Mogol . The B-side of the single released in April 1969 was Guarda by Daniele Pace and Mario Panzeri. In 1970 the song found its way into Sannia's first CGD album Marisa Sannia canta Sergio Endrigo… e le sue canzoni , but in 1971 the single was also released in France, there under the title Tu reviendras (with the B-side: Mais moi ) and with French Texts by Boris Bergman.
music
The song consists of three stanzas and a refrain. The first two stanzas follow one another and lead to the first refrain; after the third stanza the song ends with the refrain repeated twice. It is in the key of G major throughout . The stanza initially remains on the tonic , then expands it to the seventh chord and continues over the subdominant (C) and a non-key F major seventh chord until it ends on the tonic again, concluded by an appended full ending (over D). This is immediately followed by the chorus, the melody of which is characterized by the double descending melisma on the last syllable of felicità or on the word va , which, with its three diatonic descending tones, goes from the tonic via a B major seventh chord to the sixth degree ( Em) or in the second round it leads to the subdominant. The refrain closes again with a full ending, transitioned by a seventh chord on the second degree (Am7).
(Transcript of the beginning of the refrain; Marisa Sannia - La compagnia , CGD N 9714)
Franco Monaldi's arrangement is mainly based on guitar accompaniment and string chords . The guitar is limited to arpeggio in the first verse , while chords are struck in the second, parallel to the onset of the drums. At the beginning of the third verse there is a driving rhythm in the strings. The otherwise rather reduced vocals are always supplemented by strongly protruding accompanying vocals to insert the melisms in the chorus .
text
La compagnia is about the day after a breakup. In the first verse, the singer describes how, after getting up, she wanders aimlessly through the streets for a long time (ho camminato a lungo senza meta) until she is lured by the singing in a bar. In the second stanza she thanks the anonymous “company” (sconosciuta compagnia) that she gets in the bar and realizes that her heart is getting warmer again. The feeling of happiness increases in the chorus:
" Felicità, t'ho perso ieri ed oggi ti ritrovo già. "
"Lucky, yesterday I lost you, but I can find you again today."
In the third verse, the protagonist states that her heart is "singing" again (canta di nuovo il mio cuor) and that she has possibly already forgotten the person she loves. Here, too, the importance of community is striking: In the plural, the singer tells that they (together) drank and danced (abbiam bevuto e poi ballato) .
Success and covers
The song was already a success in its original version, but Marisa Sannia did not enter the chart in 1969.
La compagnia was first covered in 1976 by Lucio Battisti ; all later covers are based on this version. In 1982 the Sardinian singing group Coro degli Angeli followed , which recorded the song on their cover album Canzoni di Mogol-Battisti (although actually by Mogol-Donida), which was created in collaboration with Mogol himself and Gianni Morandi . Mina recorded the song in 1988 for her double album Ridi pagliaccio . In 1994, again for a Battisti tribute album ( Innocenti invasioni 2 by different interpreters), the Sardinian band Tazenda, which emerged from Coro degli Angeli, covered the song again. In 2007 it was finally known to a wide audience again through the rock version of Vasco Rossi .
Version by Lucio Battisti
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Lucio Battisti recorded the song in his 1976 album Lucio Battisti, la batteria, il contrabbasso eccetera . His version is musically very reduced and seems to a certain extent unfinished; however, atypically Battisti even had several recordings made in search of the desired “emotional wave”. Stylistically, the recourse to the composition by Donida was an exception in Battisti's other musical work at the end of the 1970s. It was to be the last time that the musician recorded a song he had not written himself in his own album. In addition to the changed arrangement and the style of singing typical of Battisti with a strong use of falsetto , the tempo (greatly slowed down) and meter (from an even to a 6/8 measure ) also changed in this version , and the last line of the stanzas is repeated and before the last chorus there is a built-in saxophone solo, making the song about twice as long (5:47) as the original.
The album Lucio Battisti, la batteria, il contrabbasso eccetera reached the top of the M&D charts and was the third most successful album of 1976. The only single was Ancora tu (with B-side Dove arriva quel cespuglio ), which also topped the Reached the single charts and became the hit of the year; for the publication in France, however, La compagnia was chosen as the B-side of Ancora tu . Another single was released, still in 1976, as the A side of a jukebox record, with Sposo mio of the band Blu as the B side. In addition, a music video was shot in which the singer can be seen on a bicycle tour; however, the video was never released.
Version by Vasco Rossi
Rock musician Vasco Rossi announced his cover of the song in April 2007, pointing out the great importance that Battisti's version had on him. He had always found the song “moving” and now tried to convey the melancholy in his version that he felt in it. He also thought it was time to publish a text in which, with the line “songs, smoke and happiness” (canzoni e fumo ed allegria), three remedies against lovesickness that were so frowned upon in the “society of appearances” are sung about. Musically, Rossi's version is based entirely on the Battisti version, but in a different key and naturally with strong rock elements. The recordings took place between Bologna and Los Angeles , with the participation of u. a. Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Lee Sklar (bass), Mike Landau and Stef Burns (guitars).
The song first appeared on the EP Vasco Extended Play on May 11, 2007, which practically consisted of only two titles: Basta poco , released in advance as a download at the beginning of the year, and La compagnia . Both songs reached the top of the download charts , which were still separate at the time, and La compagnia was number one for five weeks with interruptions. At the same time, the EP reached the top of the single charts and stayed there for 21 weeks.
Web links
- Original text on Musixmatch.com
supporting documents
- ^ Biografia di Marisa Sannia. In: Rockol.it. Retrieved July 2, 2019 (Italian).
- ↑ Giangilberto Monti: Marisa Sannia, sarda cantante. Pardon, cantautrice. In: La Brigata Lolli. Retrieved July 2, 2019 (Italian).
- ↑ Marisa Sannia - La compagnia at Discogs
- ↑ Marisa Sannia - Marisa Sannia canta Sergio Endrigo e le sue canzoni at Discogs
- ↑ Marisa Sannia - Tu reviendras (La compagnia) / Mais moi (Guarda) at Discogs
- ↑ a b Andrea Pedrinelli: La compagnia . In: Vasco Rossi. La storia dietro le canzoni . Giunti, Florence 2017, ISBN 978-88-09-86317-0 (e-book).
- ↑ Il Coro degli Angeli - Canzoni di Mogol-Battisti at Discogs
- ↑ Mina - Ridi pagliaccio at Discogs
- ↑ Various - Innocenti evasioni 2 at Discogs
- ↑ Gianfranco Salvatore: L'arcobaleno: storia vera di Lucio Battisti vissuta since Mogol e dagli altri che c'erano . Giunti, Florence 2000, ISBN 88-09-01805-2 , pp. 211 .
- ^ Donato Zoppo: Il nostro caro Lucio: Storia, canzoni e segreti di un gigante della musica italiana . Hoepli, Milan 2018, ISBN 978-88-203-8652-8 (e-book).
- ↑ Guido Racca: M&D Borsa Album 1964-2019 . Self-published, 2019, ISBN 978-1-09-470500-2 , pp. 113 .
- ↑ Guido Racca: M&D Top 100 Year-End: Singoli & Album 1960-2018 . Self-published, 2019, ISBN 978-1-980329-12-1 , pp. 176 .
- ↑ Lucio Battisti - Ancora tu at Discogs
- ↑ Guido Racca: M&D Borsa Singoli 1960-2019 . Self-published, 2019, ISBN 978-1-09-326490-6 , pp. 126 .
- ↑ Guido Racca: M&D Top 100 Year-End: Singoli & Album 1960-2018 . Self-published, 2019, ISBN 978-1-980329-12-1 , pp. 55 .
- ↑ Lucio Battisti - Ancora tu / La compagnia at Discogs
- ↑ Lucio Battisti / Blu - La compagnia / Sposo mio at Discogs
- ↑ Laura Berlinghieri: Lucio Battisti. 18 canzoni per ripercorrere la storia del genio della musica italiana. In: Spettakolo.it. March 5, 2018, accessed July 2, 2019 (Italian).
- ↑ 2nd stanza; in the interview quoted above, Rossi incorrectly states canzoni, vino e allegria (“songs, wine and happiness”)
- ↑ a b Vasco Extended Play. In: VascoRossi.net. Retrieved July 2, 2019 (Italian).
- ↑ Guido Racca & Chartitalia: Top 100 FIMI Singoli . Lulu , 2013, p. 166 .
- ↑ Guido Racca & Chartitalia: Top 100 FIMI Singoli . Lulu, 2013, p. 35-36 .