This video will be the first in the series of learning Italian by music as we will look and interpret the 1979 classic called Gloria by Umberto Tozzi, a very famous and talented Italian singer. The song was very popular in Italy and was later redone in English by the late Laura Branigan.
Interestingly enough, even though there is a version in English, the two songs convey different meanings.
Listen below and you will find out more.
(Larry): I will start the lesson. So that song that we heard “Gloria”, from Umberto Tozzi, this was done in 1979 by the Italian artist Umberto Tozzi, then they translated, well they didn’t really translate, they came up with a version in English from Lara Branigan, and this is the Laura Branigan’s song, that came out in 1982.
(Laura Branigan song)
… run now,
Running after somebody,
you gotta get him somehow
(Larry): So that was her version in 1982, I guess she passed away, I didn’t even know until I was researching this…
(Lydia): Well, I didn’t know that either.
(Larry): Yes, in her fifties or some, yeah. So that was a very popular song in 1982, you’ll remember where it cames from this one, that we are going to look in the class today. And, not to be confused with another song by Van Morrison, there is a song called “Glorya” back in the seventies or sixties called “Gloria”
(Lydia): Is that the “Glorya” G.L.O.R.Y.A.? Glorya…
(Larry): That’s right, that’s right!
(Lydia): That’s one of my favorites.
(Larry): That song. So this song we are going to looking up today is based on, someone, a woman named Gloria, leaving him, and he is missing her, and in the song is the verb, comes from the verb “mancare”, and here’s the conjugation “io manco, tu manchi, lui/lei manca, not manchiamo, voi mancate, loro mancano”. So it means, like to be missing, like he is missing her, or it could mean, to be lacking, like something could be “manca l’aria”, or “manca sale”. Let’s say we are talking about a dish, missing salt, you know it could… and that verb is all over the song, especially in this conjugation, “manchi” or “manca” in the third person. And the missing, missing is more like, “I’m missing”, like an emotion, like “I’m missing a person”, it doesn’t relate well to like “if I miss the train”, it is not used in that manner. For that verb, huh…
(Tony): So, how would you say “I have missed the train”?
(?): Yeah, that’s what I was going to ask as well…
(Larry): Huh, you would say “ho perso, ho perso il treno”, I lost the train.
(?): Oh yeah, he is lost…
(Larry): So, it’s just a real…. it’s subtle, there’s a lot of subtlety with this verb, it’s all over the song so we will start the song, now start off with…
(Lydia): We have the English translation on the right end side, did you put that for us on purpose?
(Larry): I forgot to write it out.
(Catherine): I didn’t get that!
(Celeste): Oh no, don’t take it away!
(Larry): We gonna…
(Lydia): I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, guys… ’cause now that’s pretty tough!
(Larry): Well, we’ll go through it in the song. Oh righty, so first stop, we’ve got Patty…
(Patty): Oh wait…
(Larry): ‘Cause you signed up first, so you get to go first.
(Patty): ‘Cause I got left out one time… ok, I’m ready!
(Larry): Take this three lines, right here
(Patty): Ok. Gloria, manchi tu nell’aria, manchi ad una mano che lavora piano.
(Larry): Right. so, let’s hear it…
(Umberto Tozzi song):
Gloria, manchi tu nell’aria
Manchi ad una mano
(Larry): All right, so, ops I missed a line… “che lavora piano”.
(Umberto Tozzi song):
Che lavora piano
(Larry): All right, so what do you think this song means?
(Patti): Ok, About missing, Gloria missing in the air, and then, I know that’s a hand, missing in my hand, and I’m not sure about the next one, that moves slowly?
(Larry): Hum, about his work…
(Patti): oh I’m sorry, yes, I didn’t read that…
(Larry): Labor.
(Patti): Yes, yes, yes.
(Larry): Che lavora piano. And well, I can do this here, Gloria you’re missing from the air, missing from my hand, che lavora piano, that works slowly.
(Celeste): So “piano” is slowly?
(Tony): It’s miscons that right?
(Larry): That’s correct.
(Tony): So you could also say “piano”, for the first floor, right ’cause is a ground floor, right?
(Larry): Yeah, that’s correct. Oh right, Lydia, why don’t you take these four lines…
(Lydia): Uh, ok. Manchi a questa bocca, che cibo più non tocca. E sempre questa storia che lei la chiamo Gloria.
(Larry): Ok, let’s hear it.
(Umberto Tozzi song):
Manchi a questa bocca
Che cibo più non tocca
E sempre questa storia
Che lei la chiamo Gloria
(Larry): All right, so what do you think… he said “manchi a questa bocca”, what do you think that means?
(Lydia): You are missing from mine or this mouth, I think my mouth, which food, there no touch anymore…
(Larry): Che cibo più non tocca, yeah… that food I don’t touch anymore. “Cibo” is food.
(Lydia): And always this story…
(Larry): E sempre questa storia, yeah…
(Lydia): That call herself Gloria, Whose name is Gloria actually, whose name is Gloria.
(Larry): Yeah, that she calls Gloria. Yeah, perfect, all right. Tony…
(Lydia): Rhyme is a little be tricky there.
(Larry): Yes, it is. Talking about a third… you know the story is talking about Gloria, that person is talking about Gloria. Tony, why don’t you take these four lines?
(Tony): Ok. Gloria sui tuoi fianchi, la mattina nasce il sole, entra odio ed esce amore, dal nome Gloria.
(Larry): All right, let’s hear it.
(Umberto Tozzi song):
Gloria sui tuoi fianchi,
La mattina nasce il sole,
Entra odio ed esce amore,
Dal nome Gloria.
(Larry): All right, so he said “Gloria sui tuoi fianchi”, what do you think that means?
(Tony): I don’t, I don’t have a clue.
(Larry): Ok. It means, means on your side, “fianco” on your side, “fianchi” is the plural, by your side, of your hips… La mattina, la mattina nasce il sole…
(Tony): Is this, this morning, something alone?
(Larry): NASCE, born
(Tony): Born alone
(Larry): Il sole, what’s “sole”?
(Tony): Alone
(?): Sun!
(Tony): Ah, the sun…
(Lydia): The sun comes up in the morning
(Tony): Oh, I see
(Larry): Yeah, so the morning gives birth to the sun, entra odio ed esce amore.
(Lydia): That’s very nice
(Tony): I don’t know Larry.
(Larry): Ok “entra”, is Enter.
(Lydia): And “odio” means?
(Larry): “Odio” means hate, “esce” means leaving, so hatred comes in and enters and love comes out.
(?): Escapes…
(Larry): Yep, love escapes, love comes out. So, yeah, I guess he hated his life before she came in, and then she comes in their life and…
(?): In the name of Gloria
(Larry): Dal nome Gloria, yeah. You’ve got that Tony?
(Tony): Yeah. In the name of Gloria.
(Larry): In the name of Gloria, yeah.
