La Strada Per Rotterdam: Diodato's Piove

Here's a lovely videoclip of Piove by Diodato, the 2020 Eurovision singer for Italy.

Piove a.k.a. Ciao Ciao Bambina was 2nd the Sanremo winner for Domenico Modugno and also his 2nd Eurovision entry. The song ended (only) 6th in the contest and was another worldwide hit after the Grammy winning 1958 entry Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare).

Diodato's Piove is taken from the 2014 album A Ritrovar Bellezza including coverversions of several Sanremo and other Italian classics.

Diodato will perform Fai Rumore in the Rotterdam contest. You can read all about that and full Sanremo 2020 release stuff and more Diodato info here at the Rotterdam Collection.

Find more: Piove at the 10.000 coverversions project and other related Eurocovers posts.

Sanremo 65 - Tutte Le Vincitrici

Sanremo is 68 by now, but I just noticed this 4CD album with coverversions of all 65 winners from 1951 up to 2015 of the Mother Of All Songcontests, the Festival Della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo.

The first Sanremo festival was in 1951 and Nilla Pizzi won with Grazie Dei Fior.
Sanremo quickly became a successful stage for Italian singers and songwriters.
The Eurovision Song Contest which premiered in 1956 was modelled on the Italian music spectacular.
The Sanremo festival became closely connected to Eurovision straight away: The winner of Sanremo went on to be the Italian Eurovision entry from 1956 to 1966.

In 1967 things changed. Sanremo winner Non Pensare A Me by Claudio Villa was disqualified because the new Eurovision regulations ruled the song had been released too early. It was replaced by Non Andare Piu' Lontano after the Eurovision rehearsals started.
After that the actual Sanremo winner only went to Eurovision on four occasions.
Sometimes the Sanremo winning artists would pick another song or someone who ended lower on the Sanremo table represent Italy in Europe. In the 70's and 80's the Eurovision choice was often Sanremo unrelated.

To celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Sanremo contest a 4CD was released by Azzurra Music in 2016. It includes all Sanremo winners recorded by new, young and upcoming artists. 15 of the 65 songs are Eurovision entries.
The 4CD is still available at Azzurra Music, but for you digital youngsters, it's also available through your favorite mp3 outlets, or if you're broke, Spotify.

These are the Eurovision songs on the Sanremo 65 Tutte Le Vincitrici 4CD:
(For the full tracklist see picture below)
Year     Title  - original artist - artist on the Sanremo 65 4CD

1956 Aprite le finestre - Franca Raimondi - Serena Carpi

1957 Corde della mia chitarra - Nunzio Gallo - Marco Tascone
1958 Nel blu dipinto di blu - Domenico Modugno - Swinger Twinger
1959 Piove (Ciao ciao bambina) - Domenico Modugno - Blues Coffee Trio ft Teresa
1960 Romantica - Renato Rascel - Animarma ft. Eniko
1961 Al di là - Betty Curtis - Carlotta ft. Olly Vincent
1962 Addio... addio - Claudio Villa - Michael Vaiasinni
1963 Uno per tutte - Emilio Pericoli - Kabaré Voltaire
1964 Non ho l'età (Per amarti) - Gigliola Cinquetti - Francesca Beccaria
1965 Se piangi se ridi - Bobby Solo - Mercoledi Notte
1966 Dio come ti amo - Domenico Modugno - Luca Bui
1972 I giorni dell'arcobaleno - Nicola Di Bari - Errequatro

1997 Fiumi di parole - Jalisse - Ibrevidiverbi

2013 L’essenziale - Marco Mengoni - Proclama
2015 Grande amore - Il Volo - S.Ma.C.K (Stefania, Carlotta, Karol)

More at Eurocovers about: Aprite Le Finestre, Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu, Piove, Romantica, Al Di La, Addio Addio,  Uno Per Tutte,  Non Ho L'eta,  Se Piangi Se Ridi, Dio Come Ti Amo.

10.000: # 3 - Piove (Ciao Ciao Bambina) - Domenico Modugno (1959)

Third in the top 10 of most covered Eurovision songs is, no surprise, another Italian classic and another Domenico Modugno song. Piove (Ciao Ciao Bambina), writen by Modugno & Dino Verde, ended 6th at the contest and was another international hit for Modugno and many others. But the song failed to score in the US, where the biggest hit was for Jacky Noguez whose instrumental version (accordion) was a # 24 hit. In the UK the biggest hit was for Marino Marini only reaching # 24, and Modugno reaching # 29.
Domenico Modugno released at least 9 versions of the song. including versions in Spanish and German, re-recordings and live versions. All information on this, taken from the Eurovision Collectors Guide, is featured in the Piove document.

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# 3
- Piove (Ciao Ciao Bambina)
- Domenico Modugno
- 351 versions listed

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Some of the big names that recorded Piove: Caterina Valente, Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney, Connie Francis, Dalida and Ennio Morricone.
Eurovision stars: Peppino di Capri, Al Bano, Nunzio Gallo, Pino Gasparini, Claudio Villa, Vice Vukov, Emilio Pericoli, Jean-Paul Mauric, José Guardiola, Jaime Morey, Brita Borg, Gustav Winckler, Marku Aro, Grethe Ingmann and Katy Bødtger. The language count is now at 20.

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DALIDAWith so many versions it's hard to pick some favorites, but one singer that belongs in this list is Dalida. The legendary French singer needs no introduction. (Or check http://www.dalida.com/ for biography in 10 languages)

It's the typical superstar tragedy: All the world loves Dalida but her life comes to a tragic end (in 1987).
Dalida recorded in 10 languages and Ciao Ciao Bambina can be found in three: Italian, French* and German. She also recorded the Italian Eurovision songs from 1959 (Nel blu dipinto di blu) & 1960 (Romantica).
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In the Eurocovers post about Gloria Lasso I already mentioned the alledged rivalry between Dalida & Gloria.

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Another version I love is the Polish version by Sława Przybylska. I don't have much on the singer (my Polish is a bit rusty) but hers is just a great version of the song. Many versions open with a short cinematic orchestral impression of rain (Piove = it's raining) and in this one it's the best. And the parlando bits at 2:24 are lovely too, even if I don't know what it's all about.
This one is from a Polish Readers Digest CD box 'Królowe polskiej piosenki' but was originally released on a LP Sława Przybylska 'spiewa ulubione przeboje (Muza SX2641).

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Of the next version I only know that the singer is an Hungarian actress, Zita Szeleczky, or Szeleczky Zita as they like to say in Hungary. I don't have any details on the recording supposed to be from an LP 'Zita Szeleczky Sings', but I included it for the lovely introduction before the song starts.

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Instrumental versions, who needs 'em.

I think many of the instrumental covers of Eurovision songs can bore a person to death, and I can't tell one anonymous orchestra / keyboardwizzard or accordion jerker from the other. But it needs to be said that in the world of instrumental cheese / exotica a lot of fun is to be had too, and some of the big name Orchestra's or Hammond players made remarkable versions of your beloved Eurovision tunes.

Featured here is a version of Piove by the man whose name alone triggers a host of images (movies, album sleeves) to pop up in your brain straight away. Ennio Morricone, him of the Italian western soundtracks.
His orchestra, with the help of a lovely wailing lady, recorded Piove in 1964. The song can be found on the 2001 CD set Anthology 1959 - 1999 (BMG), celebrating 40 years of Ennio Morricone with loads of rare tracks and unreleased material.
More stunning intrumentals in the next Eurocovers 10.000 post. (10:000: # 2)

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LOOKING FOR: André Hazes at 8 and ﾁｬｵ ﾁｬｵ ﾊﾞﾝﾋﾞｰﾅ
One version I'm looking for in particular is the one from a 1959 single by the late André Hazes. The man later became the peoples singer #1 in the Netherlands. Hazes also recorded Piove in the 80's but this was his very first single from 1959, released when he was 8 years old. If you can help me hear it, please let me know.
Other versions I'd love to hear are the Japanese ones by ペギー葉山, Peggy Hayama and by 鮫島有美子,Yumiko Samejima.