nino ferrer, vol. 5 - alexandre

in this post you will find the rare spanish language version of nino ferrer's song "alexandre" and an english language version by german band the boots, called "alexander" (to be found on the excellent german sixties compilation "the in-kraut 66-74").

nino ferrer, vol. 4 - mirza

so, this is my fourth nino ferrer related post. this time there are two cover versions of hit single "mirza" - the first one by portugese (or brazilian?) band conjunto oliveira muge, the second a parody by suzanne gabriello, called "z'avez pas lu kafka". this song - as far as i understand it - replaces the lost dog "mirza" from the original with the question if you had read something by franz kafka.

here you can see and hear the original by nino ferrer.

guenther kaufmann - so much tenderness

this is a most beautiful song by german actor guenther kaufmann from the 1970 rainer werner fassbinder movie "der amerikanische soldat" (the american soldier).

the song is written by fassbinder himself, the music by his frequent callaborator peer raben. in the movie, a very noir gangster story, the song is featured at the very end.

ornella vanoni - il mio posto qual'e

this song, the b-side to her 1967 single "tristezza" is my absolute favourite song by ornella vanoni. oddly enough, it does not appear on any of her greatest hits or other compilations, at least to my knowledge. thankfully it was included on the "beat 600" compilation, coupled with other rarities like david bowie's italian version of "space oddity".

baustelle - la canzone del riformatorio

this song by italian group baustelle is the best song pulp never wrote in their best days, circa 1995. it comes from their first record "sussidiario illustrato della giovinezza" (2000) which is sadly out of print. in 2005/06, after releasing their third record and major label debut "la malavita" they became very successful in italy but remain largely unnoticed in the rest of the world. this album's first single, "la guerra è finita" you can sample here.



their singer and main songwriter, francesco bianconi, wrote italy's big summer hit of 2007: "bruci la città" by irene grandi - another shamefully unnoticed song elsewhere.





the new record by baustelle, titled "amen" is scheduled to be released in january 2008. it was recorded collaborating, among others, with soundtrack legend alessandro alessandroni and ethiopean jazz musician mulatu astatke - something to lookout for!

monkiss

nino ferrer avec les gottamou - avec toi j'ai compris le monkiss
gemelle kessler - monkiss

in 1966, nino ferrer recorded an e.p. with les gottamou. all four songs on this record deal with "monkiss", which seems to be some kind of dance. the song "avec toi j'ai compris le monkiss" was subsequently covered by german kessler twins who were very popular in italy at the time, their italian version simply called "monkiss" (originally posted on the schlocker blog).

erasmo carlos - deixa de banca

this song by brazilian singer erasmo carlos is a portugese-language cover of the james booker / nino ferrer song "les cornichons". it can be found on his 1967 album "você me acende". hope you like it.

james booker - big nick

this instrumental by new orleans jazz musician james booker from around 1961 was later covered by french-italian singer nino ferrer. adding lyrics, it became one of his most famous songs under the title "les cornichons" (italian version: "il baccalà"). it was covered by the likes of mina and recently by mareva galanter.