In this post I am giving you the words in Italian for the song, “Chitarra Romana”. It was written in 1934 and in 1936 made a big splash thanks to Carlo Buti’s sensitive rendition. When I first started studying Italian in 1958 I was truly smitten with just about everything Italian. Before long I bought myself a long-playing record of Italian songs as sung by Carlo Buti. What a treasure that was! What a pleasurable way to learn a language!
So below you will find the words in Italian and a translation to go with them. Following that I am going to try and download a couple of interpretations, one by Buti and the other by Connie Francis.
I look for these songs on Youtube (I write “Youtube and “Chitarra Romana” in the search bar.) That seems to work. I found both the Buti and the
You might enjoy the movie, “Tango Bar”. I will try and include with this post some comments on that movie.
1 Sotto un manto di stelle Under a mantle of stars
2 Roma bella mi appare Rome looks beautiful to me
3 solitario il mio cuor My heart is all alone
4 disilluso d’amor Disenchanted with love
5 vo nell’ombra a cantar I go into the shadows to sing
6 una muta fontana A silent fountain
7 e un balcone lassù And, up there, a balcony
8 o chitarra romana Oh, Roman guitar
9 accompagnami tu Accompany me.
10 Suona suona o mia chitarra Sing out! guitar mine!
11 lascia piangere il mio cuore Let my heart weep
12 senza casa e senza amore Without a home and without love
13 mi rimani solo tu. You’re all I have left.
14 Se la voce è un po’ velata If my voice is a little subdued
15 accompagnami in sordina Accompany me in muted tones
16 la mia bella fornarina My beautiful baker girl
17 al balcone non c’è più Is no longer on her balcony
18 Lungotevere dorme The walkway along the Tiber is asleep
19 mentre il fiume cammina While the river flows its course
20 io lo seguo perché I follow it because
21 mi trascina con sé It sweeps me with it
22 e travolge il mio cuor. And overwhelms my heart
23 Vedo un ombra lontana I see a far off shadow
24 e una stella lassù And a star up there
25 o chitarra romana Oh, Roman guitar
26 accompagnami tu. Be my accompaniment.
I think it might be difficult to listen to the music and follow the written words to the song. You might be able to solve this problem by opening a new file, labelling it “Words to “Chitarra Romana” then scrolling through (highlighting) the words on the screen, clicking “control C” on it, then left click the cursor bar in the new file and click “control V” to move the lyrics to the new file.
Next, split the screen: put my blog post on one side and the new file on the other. Play the music on the left and follow the words on the right. I think this should work.
For some strange reason you can now access both the Connie Francis and the Carlo Buti versions.
Here’s the Connie Francis version: After you’ve clicked on it scroll down for the words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmbH_4VZixk (
1 Sotto un manto di stelle Under a mantle of stars
2 Roma bella mi appare Rome looks beautiful to me
3 solitario il mio cuor My heart is all alone
4 disilluso d’amor Disenchanted with love
5 vo nell’ombra a cantar I go into the shadows to sing
6 una muta fontana A silent fountain
7 e un balcone lassù And, up there, a balcony
8 o chitarra romana Oh, Roman guitar
9 accompagnami tu Accompany me.
10 Suona suona o mia chitarra Sing out! guitar mine!
11 lascia piangere il mio cuore Let my heart weep
12 senza casa e senza amore Without a home and without love
13 mi rimani solo tu. You’re all I have left.
14 Se la voce è un po’ velata If my voice is a little subdued
15 accompagnami in sordina Accompany me in muted tones
16 la mia bella fornarina My beautiful baker girl
17 al balcone non c’è più Is no longer on her balcony
18 Lungotevere dorme The walkway along the Tiber is asleep
19 mentre il fiume cammina While the river flows its course
20 io lo seguo perché I follow it because
21 mi trascina con sé It sweeps me with it
22 e travolge il mio cuor. And overwhelms my heart
23 Vedo un ombra lontana I see a far off shadow
24 e una stella lassù And a star up there
25 o chitarra romana Oh, Roman guitar
26 accompagnami tu. Be my accompaniment.
Here’s the Carlo Buti (a Florentine, by the way) version. (Oops! That didn’t work. I’m never sure if this is going to work and this time it didn’t. I’ll try one more, a version for ballroom dancers. That didn’t work either. You can find them on your own, though, through a Youtube search.
1 Sotto un manto di stelle Under a mantle of stars
2 Roma bella mi appare Rome looks beautiful to me
3 solitario il mio cuor My heart is all alone
4 disilluso d’amor Disenchanted with love
5 vo nell’ombra a cantar I go into the shadows to sing
6 una muta fontana A silent fountain
7 e un balcone lassù And, up there, a balcony
8 o chitarra romana Oh, Roman guitar
9 accompagnami tu Accompany me.
10 Suona suona o mia chitarra Sing out! guitar mine!
11 lascia piangere il mio cuore Let my heart weep
12 senza casa e senza amore Without a home and without love
13 mi rimani solo tu. You’re all I have left.
14 Se la voce è un po’ velata If my voice is a little subdued
15 accompagnami in sordina Accompany me in muted tones
16 la mia bella fornarina My beautiful baker girl
17 al balcone non c’è più Is no longer on her balcony
18 Lungotevere dorme The walkway along the Tiber is asleep
19 mentre il fiume cammina While the river flows its course
20 io lo seguo perché I follow it because
21 mi trascina con sé It sweeps me with it
22 e travolge il mio cuor. And overwhelms my heart
23 Vedo un ombra lontana I see a far off shadow
24 e una stella lassù And a star up there
25 o chitarra romana Oh, Roman guitar
26 accompagnami tu. Be my accompaniment.
Try clicking on the above links: you might have better luck than I did.
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