Andiam a lavorar playlist

It's off to work we go 

This selection of songs dedicated to work takes its name from ‘Heigh-Ho’, the song sung by the famous seven dwarfs in the Walt Disney production Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). This example of singing at work became one of the first hits of the international music scene; this playlist presents the Italian version by Renzo Mori and Anacleto Rossi under the direction of Dino Olivieri. Indeed, songs dedicated to work and workers, who often meet with ill fortune, make up an endless repertoire, with tunes dating as far back to the early years of the last century. A noteworthy example is ‘Miniera’ by Bixio Cherubini and Cesare Andrea Bixio, here presented in the classic version by Ines Talamo. As we have said, though, dozens of songs dedicated to work could be cited: to begin with, there are those that speak of farm work, such as ‘Contadinella’ and ‘Mieteremo al sole’, the latter taken from the American film Going Hollywood (where it is entitled ‘We'll Make Hay While the Sun Shines’). Then there are the songs depicting factory work, such as ‘Fischia la sirena’ (1927) and ‘Ferriera’, and those about workers at sea, including ‘O marinariello’ and the famous ‘Lo stornello del marinaio’, a piece that inevitably recalls the best years of singer Luciano Tajoli. The playlist then moves back to Walt Disney and the tireless Cinderella, protagonist of the eponymous film (1950), from which is taken ‘Lavorare che fatica’ (‘The Cinderella Work Song’), sung here by Lucia Mannucci. So here is a cross section of work songs, which opens with the Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala under the direction of Pietro Mascagni in a historical recording of ‘Il canto del lavoro’, and concludes with ‘Cantilena del trainante’, presented at the 1955 Sanremo Music Festival, here in the version by Paolo Sardisco.

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