Andra’ tutto bene playlist

It will all be okay

Here’s a collection of old songs amidst the outlandish regime rhetoric, following the guiding thread of the planetary catastrophe looming over this woeful 2020.

But there’s also room for humour, the caustic sovereignist humour of a tightrope walker like Rodolfo De Angelis: his Va fuori d’Italia, o prodotto stranier - which we like to think of as a mantra for the present day.

There are the bitter hits for the catchphrase of the moment: I’m staying at home (Questa sera… resto in casa..., a cheerful instrumental foxtrot; Casa sulitaria, with the incomparable voice of Roberto Murolo; Casa, with lyrics by the great Totò; A casa, a casa, a detour into melodrama, but this duet from "Cavalleria Rusticana" almost has foxtrot movements); the appointments on the balconies (Cantiamo le canzonette), it will all be okay (Tutto va bene madama la marchesa, a classic of international humour; Va bene, va bene, from the musical "La Piccola Cioccolataia").

Finally, the songs of hope (Andrà meglio domani, danceable with a noticeable accordion; Un filo di speranza, Speranza, and the anthem to the outdoor life, Voglio vivere così, which we all hope will be restored.

In exceptional cases like the current pandemic, the old motto "canta che ti passa – sing and you’ll get over it" might sound like a lack of respect. But, as the Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti wrote, it is still always true that music is the great consoler and we resort to it in order to be consoled.