RAFFAELLA’S COVER

Raffaella Carrà’s recording career began in 1970, with the release of Ma che musica maestro, the theme for Canzonissima 1970, a television broadcast combined with the New Year’s Lottery which Carrà hosted with Corrado Mantoni. In fact, her first recording dates back to 1966. She was participating in the musical comedy Ciao Rudy, and recorded two of the show’s songs, which later appeared on the related record: Gente Matta, a duet with Marcello Mastroianni, and Piaceva alle donne, a choral piece with the entire cast of that show. Carrà was under contract to the label RCA and, following the success of the 45 single Ma che musica maestro, RCA decided to let her record her first album in 1971. Due to the artist’s limited repertoire, she recorded numerous covers to complete the track-list of the album, some of which were also used during the dance numbers in which she starred during the various episodes of Canzonissima 1970. Simply titled Raffaella, the album contained I Say A Little Prayer (written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach and debuted by Dionne Warwick first and then Aretha Franklin), If I Give My Heart To You (a hit by Doris Day), Chissà se ci sei (from Sookie Sookie by Don Covay), Pensami (from Who Are We by James Last), Domenica non è (from Hum A Song by Lulu), Count on me (from Foot Prints On The Moon by Johnny Harris) and Top (from T.O.P. by Oscar Harris & Twinklestars).

 Carrà’s personal success in Canzonissima 1970 ensured her participation in the next edition (again hosting with Corrado Mantoni), whose theme Chissà se va quickly climbed the ranks of best-selling singles and paved the way (again in 1971) for her second long-playing album, titled Raffaella Carrà. It included two other songs by David-Bacharach, namely Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head first performed by Billy Joe Thomas e Close To You debuted by Dionne Warwick. El borriquito (a hit by Peret) was the first sign of the artist’s interest in the Latin-American repertoire. This later materialised in Raffaella Carrà’s sensational popularity in Spain and Latin America throughout the 1980s. But there was also space for E penso a te, a hit of Bruno Lauzi written by Mogol and Lucio Battisti. On the third album, Raffaella senza respiro from 1972, there are only two covers, the Supremes’ Where Did Our Love Go and She’s Looking Good by Rodger Collins. It was a sign that the artist’s growing popularity was convincing record companies to focus on original repertoire rather than resorting to covers. Although the next album, Scatola a sorpresa of 1973 (which marked the transition to CGD) is basically a long list of covers: Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones, Quando, quando, quando by Tony Renis, a medley with Miss Molly by Bob Wills, Long Tall Sally and Tutti Frutti by Little Richard and Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On by Big Maybelle. And then again came tributes to Italian song classics such as Romagna mia and La marcia dei bersaglieri. There was a look at the Hispanic repertoire with Espana Cani by Pascual Narro and the Brazilian repertoire with La samba di Orfeo. It then jumped from Let’s Twist Again by Chubby Checker to Rosamunda by Jaromir Vojvoda, from Tea For Two originally performed by Helen Clark and Lewis James in 1924 to The cumparsita by Gerardo Matos Rodriguez, arriving at Lola, the Italian version of Yes Sir, That’s My Baby by Gene Austin. In 1974, the great success of the television programme Milleluci (which Carrà hosted with Mina) was also made into an album of the same title, which is practically a tribute to the Italian song: Crapa pelada, Tarantelluccia, La rumba degli scugnizzi, Camminando sotto la pioggia, Tirami la gamba, La famiglia canterina, as well as Copacabana by Renato Barros and another version of She’s Looking Good by Rodger Collins.

From this point on, Carrà’s albums increasingly consisted of original songs and fewer covers, both Italian and international, with the addition of her highly personal repertoire, to the point that her records were released directly in Spanish, with songs written specifically for her by Spanish songwriters, for a Spanish label (Hispavox) which were then distributed in Italy. However, some covers reappeared from time to time, such as the classic Italian Tornerai on the album Forte forte forte from 1976, Innamorata by Roberto Carlos for Fatalità of 1983, while on Raffaella of 1988 there is a new version of Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye by Steam. During the ‘90s and the first decade of 2000 her recording career slowed down significantly, until 2018 when Raffaella Carrà (quite surprisingly) released the classic Christmas Album, a milestone for all great international artists, titled Ogni volta che è Natale which included among the many Christmas (or almost Christmas) covers, the classic White Christmas by Bing Crosby, Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, Feliz Navidad by Josè Feliciano e Jingle Bell Rock, debuted in 1957 by Bobby Helms.