Mina Week: “If by calling”

In the week of Mina’s birthday, we wish her a happy birthday by publishing five cards, one a day, taken from the book “Mina è” by Renato Tortarolo and Gabriele Sanlazzaro, published by Rizzoli (368 pages, 25 euros).

Album: STUDY ONE 66

If by calling

Unpublished

Duration: 2:56

Authors: Maurizio Costanzo, Gaetano “Ghigo” De Chiara (text); Ennio Morricone (music)

You’re on the corner. You want to tell him that the story is over but you don’t even have the courage to look him in the face. You know for a fact that you don’t want to humiliate him, see him suffer. There would be another solution, pick up the phone and say goodbye. There’s no getting out of it, it takes courage to tell a love that has just begun that it’s already over. And this courage leads you to confrontation, you have to see it. But sorry if you do, he suffers. There is a before and an after: «The wonder of the night / Wide open to the sea / Surprised us that we were strangers, / You and me. / Then, in the dark, your hands / Suddenly, on mine. / This love of ours has grown too quickly.”

If by calling it is the classic example of a song born in the period of great recording and television euphoria of those years. It was written by Maurizio Costanzo and “Ghigo” De Chiara, for the words, and Ennio Morricone for the music. It immediately becomes the final theme song of the program Air conditioning (1966), on Sunday evenings on the Secondo Canale Rai, while it is contained in the album Studio One 66.

It would be difficult to find such different personalities among Mina’s authors later on. Costanzo is a journalist on the rise, Morricone enters and exits Sergio Leone’s western sagas. The music of the chorus is immediately said to be inspired by the sirens of the Marseille police, while the composer replied that it was created while he was queuing at the post office. . At the time he had already signed the soundtracks of For a Fistful of Dollars (1964), A gun for Ringo , For a few dollars more (both from ’65), The good, the bad and the ugly And The Battle of Algiers (both from ’66). And he arranged, among others, Salt flavour for Gino Paoli (1963); Very tanned for Edoardo Vianello (1963); The world for Jimmy Fontana (1965); and exactly If by callingwhich was his favorite, favorite.

If by calling it’s wonderful and exciting. Morricone’s talent envelops Mina’s voice in an embrace, giving one of her most unforgettable interpretations. The piece does not have a canonical structure but, thanks to some harmonic devices, it manages to maintain its intensity for more than half of the duration. After the first verse and the prechorus we arrive at the song, which is repeated two more times until the end. The final crescendo also uses a change of key that allows Mina to fly higher, supported by those choirs that the composer often used in cinema too.

If by callingHowever, it also immediately turns out to be risky. One of the most controversial points is the use of the pronouns: “mia” and “mie”. In fact, one verse says: «Then, in the darkness, your hands / Suddenly, on mine». In the original draft, Costanzo and De Chiara had instead written «(…) your hands (…) on mine». Mina had sensed a possible, dangerous misunderstanding. That “mia”, on a night on the beach, could also generate sexual misunderstandings, too explicit for those years. The singer intervened to change “mia” to “mie”.

The fact remains that the inability to seal a farewell in person remains to this day. If by calling it is therefore extremely current. If you then look at the Barilla carousel, directed by Piero Gherardi, it seems to have been created on purpose to underline the lack of communication between her and him. On the notes of If by calling and against the backdrop of Vesuvius shrouded in mist, Mina is framed from above as she gracefully wanders on the roof of Naples Central Station. He has a black cady tunic with long, thick threads of fabric that look just like telephone wires. A video that conveys all the atmosphere of melancholy distance contained in this little masterpiece.