Cantagiro, the songs of 1968
The Cantagiro, a singing event created by Ezio Radaelli, and still in progress although with different methods than the initial ones (the first edition took place in 1962), is a travelling song competition modelled on the Giro d’Italia: a caravan made up of various singers that moves between the cities of Italy, with evening performances and public voting at each stage, until the final stage where the overall winner is proclaimed.
1968
GROUP A
1° Caterina Caselli The face of life
2nd Gianni Morandi Chimera
3rd Dalida A little bit of love
4° The Chameleons Me for her
5th Jimmy Fontana Our fairy tale
6° Massimo Ranieri Prayer for her
7° The Rokes Save the last dance for me
8th Gian Pieretti Happiness happiness
9th Bobby Solo Siesta
10° I Dik Dik The wind
11th Antoine Good morning hello
Bruno Filippini Happiness
Claudio Villa When the wind rings the bells
Mario Guarnera Congratulations
Mario Zelinotti A blow to the heart
Mauro Lusini Oh Susy Susy
Nicola Di Bari The world is grey, the world is blue
The Nomads In Death of SF (Song for a Friend)
Tony Del Monaco Magic
Shirley Bassey Tomorrow Tomorrow
GROUP B
1° The Showmen I would like just one hour of you
2° Mino Reitano I had a heart (that loved you so much)
3° Elio Gandolfi One more year
4th Lucio Battisti Balla Linda
5° Sergio Leonardi Forget Me Not
6th Mario Tessuto I wrote the end
7° The Scooters The daughter of the tomato king
8th Primitives’ Disease Doll
9° The Rich and the Poor The Last Love
10th Nancy Cuomo Yesterday (only yesterday)
11th Mini Molly The Last Prayer
GROUP B – Other songs in the competition
Anonima Sound Speak Up
Giusy Romeo The wave
The Honeybeats Do whatever you want
Rinaldo Ebasta I’m crazy about Lola
A book by Federico Pieri and Daniele Sgherri – “Cantagiro vol. 1” – reconstructs the history of the event, covering the editions from 1962 to 1969, telling its story and publishing all the covers of all the 45 rpm records of all the competing songs; from it we have drawn the information for this series of articles.