1958 Italy: Domenico Modugno - Nel blu dipinto di blu ("Volare") 3rd place - Second performance

Performed by: Domenico Modugno
Music by: Domenico Modugno
Lyrics by: Domenico Modugno, Franco Migliacci
Conductor: Alberto Semprini
Language: Italian
Placing: 3rd (13 points)

"Nel blu, dipinto di blu" (Italian pronunciation: [nel ˈblu diˈpinto di ˈblu]; "In the blue [sky] [as I was] painted blue" or "In the blue-painted blue [sky]"), popularly known as "Volare" (pronounced [voˈlaːre]; "To fly"), is a song recorded by Italian singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno. Written by Franco Migliacci and Domenico Modugno, it was released as a single on 1 February 1958.
Winning the eighth Sanremo Music Festival, the song was chosen as the Italian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958, where it won third place out of ten songs in total. The combined sales of all the versions of the song exceed 22 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most popular Eurovision songs of all time and the most successful Sanremo Music Festival song ever.

It spent five non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in August and September 1958 and was Billboard's number-one single for the year. Modugno's recording subsequently became the first Grammy winner for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards in 1958.

The song was later translated in several languages and it was recorded by a wide range of performers.

At the end of the voting, it had received 13 points, placing 3rd in a field of 10. Despite this, it became one of the most successful songs ever performed in Eurovision Song Contest history.

It was succeeded as Italian entry at the 1959 contest by "Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)", also performed by Modugno.

The song's popularity endures, and in 2004, according to the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers, it was the most played Italian song, in Italy as well as in the whole world and it is the only song competing in the Eurovision Song Contest to receive a Grammy Award.

In 2001, seven years after his death, Modugno was awarded with the Sanremo Music Festival Special Award, "given to the one who, [...] in 1958, with "Nel blu dipinto di blu", turned the Sanremo Music Festival in a stage of worldwide relevance".


Lyrics:


Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare)

Penso che un sogno così non ritorni mai più
Mi dipingevo le mani e la faccia di blu
Poi d'improvviso venivo dal vento rapito
E incominciavo a volare nel cielo infinito

Volare, oh oh...
Cantare, ohohoho...
Nel blu dipinto di blu
Felice di stare lassù

E volavo, volavo felice
Più in alto del sole ed ancora più su
Mentre il mondo pian piano spariva, lontano laggiù
Una musica dolce suonava soltanto per me

Volare, oh oh...
Cantare, ohohoho...
Nel blu dipinto di blu
Felice di stare lassù

Ma tutti i sogni nell'alba svaniscono perché
Quando tramonta, la luna li porta con sé
Ma io continuo a sognare negli occhi tuoi belli
Che sono blu come un cielo trapunto di stelle

Volare, oh oh...
Cantare, ohohoho...
Nel blu degli occhi tuoi blu
Felice di stare quaggiù

E continuo a volare felice
Più in alto del sole ed ancora più su
Mentre il mondo pian piano scompare negli occhi tuoi blu
La tua voce è una musica dolce che suona per me

Volare, oh oh...
Cantare, ohohoho...
Nel blu degli occhi tuoi blu
Felice di stare quaggiù

Nel blu degli occhi tuoi blu
Felice di stare quaggiù con te



English:


Blue painted in the blue (Flying)

I think such a dream will never come back
I painted my hands and my face blue
Then suddenly I was ravished by the wind
And I started flying in the infinite sky

Flying, oh oh...
Singing, ohohoho...
Blue painted in the blue
Happy to be up there

And I was flying, flying happily
Higher than the sun and even higher
While the world was slowly disappearing, far beneath
A soft music was playing just for me

Flying, oh oh..
Singing, ohohoho...
Blue painted in the blue
Happy to be up there

But all the dreams fade away at dawn, because
While setting, the moon takes them away
But I keep dreaming in your beautiful eyes
Which are as blue as a sky quilted with stars

Flying, oh oh...
Singing, ohohoho...
In the blue of your blue eyes
Happy to be down here

And I keep flying happily
Higher than the sun and even higher
While the world is slowly disappearing in your blue eyes
Your voice is a soft music playing for me

Flying, oh oh...
Singing, ohohoho...
In the blue of your blue eyes
Happy to be down here

In the blue of your blue eyes
Happy to be down here with you