June 22, 2004

It's Amore

Posted by Henry

As mentioned in an earlier post, Silvio Berlusconi didn’t cover himself in glory during Italy’s Presidency of the European Council. Now, CT can tell you why. Berlusconi spent a big chunk of the Italian presidency reliving his career as a cruise-ship piano-bar singer by co-writing the songs on Mariano Apicella’s recent CD release, Meglio una Canzone. I was in Italy last month, and morbid curiosity drove me to buy a copy - I can now confirm that it’s precisely as dreadful as you might expect. Soft glissandos, cheesy strings, hammy vocals, and inane lyrics (the last are courtesy of Silvio). Popular love songs typically don’t have much in the way of artistic merit, but “Meglio una Canzone” fails to achieve even the usual level of mediocrity. Desperate lovers swooning, happy lovers crooning - all the usual stereotypes in words of three syllables or less.

My copy of the album comes with a special offer form: if you send it in before June 30, Mariano Apicella himself (perhaps with Berlusconi in tow: who knows) may come to perform at your wedding. If there’s any eligible CT reader with impending nuptials in Italy and either (a) a taste for syrupy love-songs, or (b) an unusual sense of humour, I’m happy to pass it on.

Posted on June 22, 2004 11:27 PM UTC
Comments

Not as good as Arlen Specter then? Maybe they should get together.

Posted by harry · June 22, 2004 11:53 PM

When a small inner voice
Says you don’t have a choice
That’s a more.

And when you aggrieve
The conscience collective
Thats a more …

I’m sorry, I’ll stop now.

Posted by Kieran Healy · June 23, 2004 12:26 AM

Popular love songs typically don’t have much in the way of artistic merit

Eh, what? “Our Love Is Here to Stay”? “Night and Day”? “Tracks of My Tears”? I suspect I could go on. I don’t have Billboard results for popularity, but it seems to me that popular love songs form part of the greatest artistic accomplishments of my country in particular.

Posted by Matt Weiner · June 23, 2004 08:36 PM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.