Bartleby
Bartleby
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Prisencolinensinainciusol

Posted over 3 years ago

Sometimes it seems that nonsense is the only possible response to the absurd (hint)

When it comes to balderdash, no one is more qualified than Professore Celentano. Listen to his lesson in inanity

Girl: Listen, Professore.
Professore: Yes, tell me.
Girl: Why did you write a song with strange words which don't mean anything...?

Please forgive my very rusty Italian.

5

Comments (29)

  1. Anonymous says Not heard of this guy but liking the song quite a bit. How old is this? Or is it new? I can't tell from the vid.
    Permalink posted 05/13/2008
  2. Anonymous says This is great!
    Permalink posted 05/13/2008
  3. Anonymous says Sorry everyone, looks like notifications have delayed for me *Aug*: The video is from the 70s. Over 30 years. Adriano Celentano is now 70 and was in his prime quite a renaissance man. He wrote quote a few songs that didn't mean anything but mimicked American rock-soul-funk. The popular hits of the moment. *Zeroskilz*: Thanks for popping in. Glad you like it. I think your handle is a misnomer ;)
    Permalink posted 05/13/2008
  4. Anonymous says I love it! If it's from the 70s, then he was rapping before rap was "on the map." It's got a great beat, great dancing and great cinematography. Best of all for me personally is that it has what I've been hoping to find for decades and had just about given up, and that is the sound of empty English. I have brothers who can imitate empty Spanish, empty French, empty German and empty Chinese, and that made me wonder if there exists somewhere in the world a stand-up comedy recording by someone talking empty English. A sophisticated brother-in-law of mine suggested that the sound of English is, like, say, Russian, not sonically distinctive enough to spawn empty imitation, but here we have Adriano Celentano from thirty years ago.
    Permalink posted 05/13/2008
  5. Anonymous says Spike, I was hoping Adriano Celentano would grant me your enlightened presence. Isn't it amazing that Celentano did invent rap before rap and before it was called so in the US. The "linguaphile" in me just relishes your comments on linguistic mimics. I truly believe that all languages come out as a stream of more or less organised sounds (or phonemes) and once you've picked up the repetitive patterns, it's possible to have an empty Babel as it were. -- For me though, whenever I hear people going for empty Chinese or empty German, it never sounds as good as when Professore Celentano does it. It may be because I'm a bit familiar with those languages but his empty English is so perfect. Here is back in 1959 Here's also his greatest hit: Volontation: In both songs, he mixes Italian and English. Just brilliant.
    Permalink posted 05/13/2008
  6. Anonymous says This is my first encounter with Signiore Celentano. I can't understand a word...but damn, that beat is OLL RAIGHT! And who is the blonde Faye Dunaway look-a-like? She's fabulous! This is such a __splendido tesoro,__ Bartleby. Thank you for sharing :)
    Permalink posted 05/13/2008
  7. Anonymous says That's incred B! I would have sworn that beat was much newer. Such marvelous things tucked into these closets. Enjoyed that!!!
    Permalink posted 05/13/2008
  8. Anonymous says MOGGERS: get transcribin'!! First complete set of "Prisencolinensinainciusol" lyrics wins some razzums and some rolls and some meezumwazzums. Fun stuff, Mr. B. Yes, yes. Most English-speaking Americans have heard comical fake Chinese, fake Italian, fake Spanish, fake Indian. This answers my age-old question "What would fake English sound like?"
    Permalink posted 05/13/2008
  9. Anonymous says Michael, you give me too much credit. This stuff is great though. I'm still digging that first song. Scotfree is right, the sound is incredibly fresh.
    Permalink posted 05/13/2008
  10. Anonymous says To do empty English you have to remember that in words that have two or more syllables, you will always have one of those syllables that will be stressed. For example, in "America"; the stress will be on the second syllable. Using a French word, let's say, " marteau", to make it sound English, you stress the first syllable and don't roll the "r". (MAHR-tow) Empty French is characterized by putting no stress on all syllables of all the words of the sentence except the last syllable of the last word . If you say "excellent", both syllables should be of equal strength, and it would be essential that you learn to pronounce nasals (en, in, an, on, un, etc. where the "n" is not sounded) (ex-sell-ah...).
    Permalink posted 05/13/2008
  11. Anonymous says Wow, the things one might learn on the MOG, snippets of linguistics, and pronunciations keys for empty English. Bartleby, I concur with the others the drum track sounds ultra modern from the dirty tuning to an absence of any cymbals that I could detect besides an offbeat click. The gang vocal call and response, the deadpan blond, rapping 30 years ahead of its time ... uncannily bizarre ... but totally freakin' cool. What really gets me most on this particular track though, even amid all that other coolness, is the placement of the horn lines, popping in and out, in really odd places and in very unexpected ways, but again totally hip. I really dig the horn lines ... those are killer. This dude was pretty brilliant. Here's my theory ... he was a time traveler from the future. And the empty English he was speaking was just a common syntax that made perfect sense in the future world. Babel on!! Caw
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  12. Anonymous says ° ° ° Celentano was a huge star in Europe (some years back) a very innovative and creative artist, singer and actor, eg. in 1961 San Remo's Festival he was the first one to "dare" to do a live show with his back turned all along toward the audience (ridiculous detractors said it was because of his shyness, afterwards he widely proved them that they were the shy's and not him :))) And he was ranked as SRFestival's second best performance award for this at the time. He also wrote a few books the latest being "RockPolitik" (with Mariuccia Ciotta) ed. Bompiani Overlook (2006) http://www.celentano.it/ In my very early teens i was a huge fan of this guy, but never owned any of his numerous vinyls, there was no need to download to share it, these were good ole tape piracy days :) ------------------ Song "lyrics" / Adriano Celentano / Prisencolinensinainciusol (spoken) Prisencolinensinainciusol (sung) In de col men seivuan prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait Uis de seim cius men op de seim ol uat men in de colobos dai Trr... Ciak is e maind beghin de col bebi stei ye push yo oh Uis de seim cius men in de colobos dai Not is de seim laikiu de promisdin iu nau in trabol lovgiai ciu gen in do camo not cius no bai for lov so op op giast cam lau ue cam lov ai Oping tu stei laik cius go mo men iu bicos tue men cold dobrei gorls Oh sandei... Ai ai smai sesler eni els so co uil piso ai in de col men seivuan Prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait Uei ai sint no ai giv de sint laik de cius nobodi oh gud taim lev feis go Uis de seim et seim cius go no ben let de cius end kai for not de gai giast stei Ai ai smai senflecs eni go for doing peso ai In de col mein seivuan prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait lu nei si not sicidor ah es la bebi la dai big iour Ai ai smai senflecs eni go for doin peso ai In de col mein saivuan prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait lu nei si not sicodor ah es la bebi la dai big iour °°°°°°°°°°°°° U.
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  13. HelenMarie
    HelenMarie says Damn B...that's fun stuff! Love it! There's no one out there who can keep still with this playing. : )
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  14. FluxCapacitor
    FluxCapacitor says I concur. It's fascinating gibberish. I wonder what the impulse was to create this style. Satire? Mimickery? Trying to creaate a new type of sound? Either way, it's done with a lot of panache. Great find, M.
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  15. Lizziegreeneyes
    Lizziegreeneyes says my goodness... where do you find such wonderful clips ?!? That one chikita sounds an awful lot like RHPS's Magenta...
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  16. Bartleby
    Bartleby says *Lilja*: I'm glad you like il Professore Celentano -- Regarding the Faye-Dunaway blonde, I'm afraid you will have to ask Universalis about her because I've no clue who she can be. *Scotfree*: Call me blasé but the first time I heard the beats I thought they were a bit dated. Maybe it had to do with the horns which tinged it with a pre-iPod colour. -- Then again who am I to argue Celentano's grooves? (Glad to see popping in now and then, any posts soon?) *Yor*: Thank you for the Q and Bill. I've never heard it before but it sounds quite fresh too. Also, I think Universalis has won some of your meezumwazzums. *Z*: Glad you liked it. (You're just too modest) *Levek*: Thank you for your lesson in empty English. I think it's always very hard to do an empty language if you know what it should like or when you're familiar with said idiom. Take Chinese (or more precisely Cantonese) for example, in its simplest form it is what you could call a tonal language. Every time, I hear someone trying to speak in gibberish Chinese it always sounds more Japanese than Chinese. Tonalities play a key role in many idioms. *Ohm*: I think you may be right. As Universalis pointed out, Celentano is such an extraordinary renaissance who was never afraid to do all forms of entertainment (he was a TV presenter for instance). So he may well be a time traveller like other geniuses such as Lewis Carroll.. *Universalis*: Your contributions are always encyclopaedic in the best possible way. Thanks also for the lyrics. *Sunny*: I haven't met him personally but Celentano seems like a very funny guy. He can shake too, can't he? *FluxC*: As a matter, this song is a satire of American English pop songs which were so popular in Italy at the time. He may also have been a bit influenced by the theatre of the absurd.
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  17. Bartleby
    Bartleby says *Lilja*: I'm glad you like il Professore Celentano -- Regarding the Faye-Dunaway blonde, I'm afraid you will have to ask Universalis about her because I've no clue who she can be. *Scotfree*: Call me blasé but the first time I heard the beats I thought they were a bit dated. Maybe it had to do with the horns which tinged it with a pre-iPod colour. -- Then again who am I to argue Celentano's grooves? (Glad to see popping in now and then, any posts soon?) *Yor*: Thank you for the Q and Bill. I've never heard it before but it sounds quite fresh too. Also, I think Universalis has won some of your meezumwazzums. *Z-skills*: Glad you liked it. (You're just too modest) *Levek*: Thank you for your lesson in empty English. I think it's always very hard to do an empty language if you know what it should like or when you're familiar with said idiom. Take Chinese (or more precisely Cantonese) for example, in its simplest form it is what you could call a tonal language. Every time, I hear someone trying to speak in gibberish Chinese it always sounds more Japanese than Chinese. Tonalities play a key role in many idioms. *Ohm*: I think you may be right. As Universalis pointed out, Celentano is such an extraordinary renaissance who was never afraid to do all forms of entertainment (he was a TV presenter for instance). So he may well be a time traveller like other geniuses such as Lewis Carroll.. *Universalis*: Your contributions are always encyclopaedic in the best possible way. Thanks also for the lyrics. *Sunny*: I haven't met him personally but Celentano seems like a very funny guy. He can shake too, can't he? *FluxC*: As a matter, this song is a satire of American English pop songs which were so popular in Italy at the time. He may also have been a bit influenced by the theatre of the absurd. *Lizzie*: If you told YouTube, would you believe me? :p I knew Celentano was influential but didn't know he reached Transylvania.
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  18. Lizziegreeneyes
    Lizziegreeneyes says Via the Tran*SEXUAL* spaceship of Dr. Frank-N-Furter !!!
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  19. Bartleby
    Bartleby says Now, behave sis'... There are people watching :p
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  20. Lizziegreeneyes
    Lizziegreeneyes says wha did I say ?!? it got gobbled - or were you extra hungry today ?!?
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  21. Lizziegreeneyes
    Lizziegreeneyes says MOG was gnawwing on it for a spell... but there it is...it's back & I will be good now... still, I wanna know which Big Brother is watching lil ole me... HARMLESS I am !!!
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  22. HelenMarie
    HelenMarie says *; )*
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  23. HelenMarie
    HelenMarie says Lizzie...the WEB SHERIFF is watching you! That's who. ; )
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  24. lilja88
    lilja88 says I agree with Lizzie, there are aspects of it that are very RHPS...
    Permalink posted 05/14/2008
  25. Anonymous says ° ° ° Despite my alleged encyclopaedic knowledge (if any :) i am totally unable to find the name of that Faye Dunaway-like cute blondie. Well, keep in mind that she must be going around her 60(or 70? :) years old today. Universalia Encyclopedis :)))
    Permalink posted 05/15/2008
  26. Anonymous says Ah, yes, theatre of the absurd. Pirandello et al. Very interesting to see how it manifested into popular music.
    Permalink posted 05/15/2008
  27. lilja88
    lilja88 says

    I keep coming back here...it's so good! I don't think I will ever get tired of it.

    Permalink posted 06/16/2008
  28. Bartleby
    Bartleby says

    Heheh, Professore Celentano has found a very attentive student in you, Lilja ;)

    Permalink posted 06/16/2008
  29. smecucci
    smecucci says

    Hi Guys, just signed in tell who's the blond girl dancing.

    She is Raffaella Carrà. One of the greatest star of the first italian state television.

    Adriano is a Genius to me.

    Try to find "Yuppi Du", a movie he made in the 70's, with a young Charlotte Rampling, recently restored and presented at Cannes. Like Prisencolinesinainciusol, this movie is 40 year in the future for the ecological themas it suggests.

    Silvio, an italian.

    Permalink posted 12/21/2009

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