ChapterZero

Andrea Bocelli is one of those few musicians who, as far as I’m concerned, can do no wrong. I’ve heard three of his albums, and loved just about every song. Of course, he could probably sing a receipt at me, and I’d think it was beautiful.

A while back, I made myself a promise that whenever I get a new Bocelli album, I’ll memorize the lyrics to at least one of his songs (an Italian one)– it feels good to be able to sing a beautiful song in a language you can’t speak. Part of the attraction is probably that you’re able to focus on the sound of the words instead of the meaning. You approach each song as a purely mechanical puzzle– when do I pause, put a treble in my voice, …– all preconceptions aside, something harder to do when you understand the lyrics.

One of the songs I’m attempting on “Amore” is Canzoni Stonate. I’m trying it because the singing is slow enough that I can have a chance at enunciating some of the words correctly, and it’s a just-platonic-love song or a non-cheesy-romantic-love song, depending on how you choose to interpret it (check out the lyrics, original and translated).

The first one of his songs I memorized is Con te Partiro. Check it out on youtube (the lyrics are also there in Italian and English if you want to learn them):

Here’re two guys (no idea who they are) singing Canzoni Stonate. Not nearly as good as Bocelli’s version, but it’s a good song, and I couldn’t find one of him singing it.