E se domani

Carlo Alberto Rossi: “E se domani also went unnoticed at the Sanremo Festival. I wrote it one very melancholy Saturday afternoon, while Marisa (who later became my wife) was in Parma, with her parents. We’d left each other after a half-fight, and I kept thinking about her, how much I would suffer if I never saw her again.

A few days later I took that record to the great Sugar, the patron of Messaggerie Musicali, to ask his opinion. I also invited Johnny Dorelli to the audition, and I was counting a lot on him to launch the song. Our meeting went very badly. Dorelli clapped me on the shoulder and told me, “You’re always really good!”, but he was careful not to add that he would sing my song. Luckily I had the good singer, Fausto Cigliano, on hand.

He knew how much I cared about it, and agreed to take E se domani to Sanremo.

After the festival, where I certainly didn’t make sparks fly, I came back on the offensive, this time with Mina. At that time, the tiger of Cremona was making her records at the studio I’d opened in Milan, the Fonorama, and so I had plenty of opportunities to ask for her help. The fact is that one day I found the words ‘e se domani’ carved into a beautiful table that had cost me an arm and a leg. Mina had done it. She took responsibility for it and, to be forgiven, finally agreed to sing my song. She sang it only once, without rehearsal, like the great singer that she is.

E se domani was revalued all of a sudden, and since then Mina has sung all my ‘fiascos’ for years, making them into hits”.

Excerpt from: Fratarcangeli, Fernando, Mina Talk. Vent’anni di interviste, Rome, Coniglio Editore, 2005, p. 356