Does anyone have this book? I’d like to hear about its details in more detail before possibly buying it.
I’m writing my master’s thesis on Spaghetti Western theme songs and I’m going to compare the Italian and English theme songs of some Spaghs. On the database on this book’s page, it says that the book contains information about the songs and the artists who performed them, but I’d like to know if the book has any information about some of the songs having two different language versions.
One question I need an answer to is that which of the two versions is the original: The English or the Italian? Does this book shed any light on the matter?
you mean the language of the title tracks of films? What does original mean? For some, there were simply two versions recorded, for each language version of the film (dub), but that’s not the case for all spaghetti westerns
Well, for example, let’s talk about The Big Gundown. It has an English song (Run Man Run) and Italian song (Corri uomo corri). Both songs have similar lyrics: Run until you find a peaceful land where you can be free.
I found the Italian dub on YouTube and we have *Run Man Run in the intro credits instead of Corri uomo corri. Can we determine which one of these songs was written first? Was it Run Man Run that was then immediately translated to Italian, because the Italian version had to be on the OST? Or was Corri uomo corri written first, and then right after translated to English because the English version had to be in the film? Or were these songs simply written separately with the same main idea and the information that they’ll both be on the OST of The Big Gundown or in the film itself?
Not sure the angle you’re taking with your project, but have you found differences in the lyrics between Italian and English versions that represent something beyond translation? For example, a change in the lyrics between Italian and English due to differing cultures at the time… or simply to market to one audience more effectively over another? It seems this could make for an interesting point for analysis if there is any of that occurring.
This is a good point. I haven’t properly analyzed my material yet, but some of the songs seem to be adaptations instead of translations. For example, in Django, Prepare a Coffin!, You’d Better Smile is obviously related to the film while Cosa vale un uomo not so much. I believe it’s a similar situation with Gold and Come mai in Kill Them All and Come Back Alone.
A lot of spaghetti western songs seem to bear no relation to the movies they relate to. I guess the song was commissioned with no instructions other than ‘we are making a western titled X - give us a 2m song please’.
A Pistol for Ringo is a case in point. I doubt if the writer of Django knew much about the movie other than the title either. Whereas ‘Run man run’ at least seems to have been written by someone who knew what the plot of the Big Gundown was.
I’m intrigued by Occhio per Occhio/An Eye for an Eye from the For a Few Dollars More soundtrack, which exists in both English and Italian versions, but doesn’t feature in the film at all. I wonder if it was dropped from the soundtrack, or just recorded for publicity purposes?
I’ve been wondering the same thing. If I remember correctly, this book doesn’t answer the question, but I personally feel like it was recorded for publicity reasons.