Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march

Subject: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 04 May 21 - 12:02 AM

I'm hoping someone here can supply the info I'm seeking:

On the Limeliters' 1964 album Leave It to the Limeliters there is a song they called Inspection Time which Lou Gottlieb adapted and translated (probably loosely). He says it's from World War I. It's sung in Italian, with Gottlieb speaking in English over the verses.

Inspection Time

Since I don't speak Italian, I can't make heads or tails of the original lyrics.

Can anyone provide some history regarding this song and, perhaps, the original Italian lyrics?

I also remember hearing the song briefly - in Italian - in the 1953 film Terminal Station (aka Indiscretion of an American Wife).

I've looked around the Net but came up empty - or maybe I don't know where to look.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Jay

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: cnd
Date: 04 May 21 - 12:24 AM

The IMDB page on the movie Terminal Station has only 3 listed tracks:

Autumn in Rome Sung by Patti Page (link)
Indiscretion Sung by Patti Page (link)
Rhapsody in Blue

Another website I've never heard of (filmscoremonthly.com) gave the following track list:

INDISCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE (1953) mono
1. Terminal Station 4:07
2. The Meeting 4:19
3. Rendez-vous 3:41
4. Search and Near Accident 3:21
5. Deserted Car 2:37
6. Decision 3:56
7. Parting 2:49

You can hear snippets of each track here and attempt to ID the song you heard, though most were pretty typical 50s flowery violin background music to me.

Minor tidbit, but it was copyrighted under the name Cal Bagby, a pseudonym of Lou Gottlieb.

So unfortunately I can't find much in the way of answers

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: GUEST,#
Date: 04 May 21 - 09:01 AM

Here's the entire track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxtFnWF4eGU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxtFnWF4eGU

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: GUEST,#
Date: 04 May 21 - 09:13 AM

According to the YouTube link, the song was by

Composer, Lyricist: Cal Bagby

However, knowing that has so far not helped with the request.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: GUEST,#
Date: 04 May 21 - 09:32 AM

From a link posted by cnd:

"Terminal Station (1953) focuses on the last encounter at Rome's central train station of a remorseful married woman and her Italian lover. From a script by Cesare Zavattini and with dialog by writer Truman Capote, Vittorio De Sica directed this English language melodrama starring Montgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones, the wife of executive producer David O. Selznick. Unsatisfied of the result, Selznick cut nearly one third of the movie's running time for the American market, newly retitled Indiscretion of an American Wife."

from

https://www.soundtrack.net/album/station-terminus-aka-indiscretion-of-an-american-wife-the-black-orchid/

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 04 May 21 - 07:17 PM

GUEST# - the link you posted was the same one I provided in the OP.

It was not composed by Cal Bagby (Lou Gottlieb). The Limeliters/Gottlieb sometimes took credit for songs they did not write, but only slightly adapted.

In the film I mentioned, it is heard (very briefly) toward the end of the film, sung IIRC by some soldiers in the rail station. It is heard so briefly that I doubt it would be listed on any sort of soundtrack. But I confess it's been a number of years since I saw the film; both the short and long version are available on YouTube, if anyone's interested.

Jay

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: GUEST,#
Date: 04 May 21 - 10:02 PM

My apologies. I missed that. Won't happen again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: cnd
Date: 05 May 21 - 10:43 AM

Sorry, Jay, I guess I could have been clearer, but I meant only that the Limeliter version was copyrighted by Gottlieb, not the original.

As for "creative license," or modernizing trad. materials, I'm of the opinion that more than one of the folk groups of the time created songs of their own and purported them to be folk. Though a different group, I've found no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Billy's Mule comes from an earlier source despite notes on the album liner to the contrary. I would not be shocked if there was in fact no traditional song that this song is based on.

That being said, getting Italian lyrics to the song would help greatly. There are a few polyglots on here who I think could be of assistance... Monique knows many languages, as does Felipa, though I'm not sure Italian is in either of their wheelhouses.

Subject: ADD: Garibaldina (Italian)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 May 21 - 07:50 PM

I think I found it: https://mourra.pagesperso-orange.fr/mourra/chansonspatois/Garibaldina.htm - a song about a "capricious blonde."

GARIBALDINA (Biondina capricciosa)

Refrain
Cara biondina capriciosa Garibaldina trullala
Tu sei la stella, tu sei la stella
Cara biondina capriciosa Garibaldina trullala
Tu sei la stella de noi soldat.

E li capelli che noi portiamo
Son gli ombrelli, son gli ombrelli
E li capelli che noi portiamo
Son gli ombrelli de noi soldat.

E le stellete che noi portiamo
Son disciplina, son disciplina
E le stellete che noi portiamo
Son disciplina de noi soldat.

E le giberne che noi portiamo
Son’ porta-cicce, son’ porta-cicce
E le giberne che noi portiamo
Son’ porta-cicce de noi soldat.

E gli scarpetti che noi portiamo
Son’ gli barchetti, son’ gli barchetti
E gli scarpetti che noi portiamo
Son’ gli barchetti de noi soldat.

https://w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=GS_nYXknk2Y

And get a load of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIu_YnPGsB0

And a choral version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGUBIKpt0Rc (E le stellette)


I wonder how long it will take for Monique to show up and shed more light on this (and correct my mistakes!) I really don't think the title is "Garibaldina."

These lyrics look more credible, but I don't have time to transcribe them now. They seem to be in a different dialect.

http://badigit.comune.bologna.it/books/sol/328694_INV.pdf

More info here: https://www.museosanmichele.it/apto/schede/cara-biondina/

Subject: ADD: E Le Stellette
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 May 21 - 08:40 PM

Another version:
https://www.anadomodossola.it/musica/testi%20canzoni/testi%20canzoni%20Alpini/e%20le%20stellette.htm

E LE STELLETTE

E le stellette che noi portiamo
son disciplina, son disciplina;
e le stellette che noi portiamo
son disciplina per noi soldà.

E tu biondina capricciosa
garibaldina trullallà,
tu sei la stella, tu sei la stella;
e tu biondina capricciosa
garibaldina trullallà,
tu sei la stella di noi soldà.

E le scarpette che noi portiamo
son le barchette, son le barchette;
e le scarpette che noi portiamo
son le barchette di noi soldà.

E tu biondina capricciosa…

E le giberne che noi portiamo
son portacicche, son portacicche;
e le giberne che noi portiamo
son portacicche di noi soldà.

E tu biondina capricciosa…

E la gavetta che noi portiamo
è la cucina, è la cucina;
e la gavetta che noi portiamo
è la cucina di noi soldà.

E tu biondina capricciosa…

E la borraccia che noi portiamo
è la cantina, è la cantina;
e la borraccia che noi portiamo
è la cantina di noi soldà.

E tu biondina capricciosa…

Ed il cappello che noi portiamo
sì, è l'ombrello, sì, è l'ombrello;
ed il cappello che noi portiamo
sì, è l'ombrello di noi soldà.

E tu biondina capricciosa…

And one more: https://www.scribd.com/doc/88231617/Biondina-Capricciosa-Garibaldina

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: GUEST,#
Date: 06 May 21 - 02:05 PM

Always from our Risorgimento we gladly retrieve a very happy song, of which it would be a real shame to lose its memory as it is also part of our heritage of folk songs.

The title of this song is very controversial, as are the verses, the order of the verses, the year of birth and even the author.

The title of this song is "Rivista al Corredo", but it is also known as "La Stella dei Soldati" or "La Rivista Garibaldina" or "E Le Stellette" or "E tu biondina".

The refrain was taken from the song "La Stella dei Soldati". The date of origin is estimated at 1866 and on the stanzas it is assumed that they were improvised by the soldiers who sang it.

How did it go?
Well the most likely story is very similar to that of the symbolic song of France "La Marseillaise" born spontaneously during the march of French soldiers from Marseille to Paris.
Well, "La Rivista Garibaldina" was born among the ranks of Garibaldi soldiers, almost all of them from the north, during the March of the Thousand in 1860, which lasted 5 months, for the unification of Italy.

The song was still sung during the First World War by the soldiers to cheer up the morale in the trenches, was re-sung during the Second World War and finally was introduced in many issues of the Avanspettacolo Theater and reproposed in the television shows of the 60s.

The above is from

https://www.lanuovapadania.it/storia-territorio/e-le-stellette-con-la-capricciosa-garibaldina/

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 May 21 - 02:55 PM

Thanks, #.
I bought two Italian military songbooks in a book sale in a Metro station in Rome 9 years ago. I figured this would be the first time for me to benefit from them. Nope. They didn't have this song.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 07 May 21 - 12:14 AM

Aha! Finally some concrete leads! Many thanks - I guess my Internet searches were marching me down the wrong paths.

Jay

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Limeliters/Italian military march
From: GUEST,#
Date: 07 May 21 - 09:58 AM

One remark: The date given in the post of 06 May 21 - 02:05 PM is not a definite date. From some further reading it may be as early as 1860, so take that as an estimate. It begins to look like the original song from which the others came is the following:

ANNO: 1866

GRUPPO:
Testo e musica: (Anonimo)

Bella bambina,
capricciosa garibaldina,
tu sei la stella,
tu sei la bella di noi soldà.

Tu sei bambina,
bella bionda garibaldina;
tu sei la bella,
tu sei la stella di noi soldà

A Google translate of the above two stanzas provides the following:

Beautiful girl,
capricious Garibaldian,
you are the star,
you are the beauty of us soldiers.

You are a child,
beautiful blonde Garibaldian;
you are the beautiful,
you are the star of us soldiers

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