La bambola

"La bambola"
Single by Patty Pravo
from the album Patty Pravo
B-side"Se c'è l'amore"
Released1968
GenrePop
Length3:08
LabelRCA Victor
Songwriter(s)
Patty Pravo singles chronology
"Se perdo te"
(1967)
"La bambola"
(1968)
"Gli occhi dell'amore"
(1968)
"La bambola" (audio) on YouTube

"La bambola" (Italian for "The Doll") is an Italian pop song written by Franco Migliacci, Bruno Zambrini and Ruggero Cini, and performed by Patty Pravo.[1] The song had been previously refused by several artists, including Gianni Morandi, Little Tony, Gigliola Cinquetti, Caterina Caselli and The Rokes.[1][2][3]

The single peaked at number one on the Italian chart for nine consecutive weeks between May and June 1968[4] and was certified gold.[5] It had sold 200,000 copies by May 1968[6] and a million copies by December 1968.[7] The single also charted in Argentina.[8] It is considered as the song which consecrated Patty Pravo to fame.[1][2][9] The B-side of the single is "Se c'è l'amore" ("If There Is Love"), a cover of Long John Baldry's "Let the Heartaches Begin". A Spanish-language version of the song was released in Spain.

Pravo revisited "La bambola" on her albums of re-recorded material in 1987 and 1990. To commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the hit, she released a new version of the song in 2008.

"La bambola" was covered by numerous artists. It was also used in several films, notably Anton Corbijn's The American, Michele Placido's Romanzo Criminale, Emanuele Crialese's Respiro, and Bigas Luna's Bambola.[10]

  1. ^ a b c Ezio Guaitamacchi (2009). 1000 canzoni che ci hanno cambiato la vita (in Italian). Rizzoli. ISBN 978-8858617427.
  2. ^ a b Enrico Deregibus (2010). Dizionario completo della canzone italiana (in Italian). Giunti Editore. ISBN 978-8809756250.
  3. ^ L'espresso, Volume 46, Issues 32-35. p. 149.
  4. ^ "Hit Parade Italia - Top Settimanali Single" (in Italian).
  5. ^ Joseph Murrells (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. ISBN 0214205126.
  6. ^ "Italy" (PDF). Cash Box. Vol. XXIX, no. 43. 25 May 1968. p. 56. Retrieved 30 June 2023 – via World Radio History.
  7. ^ "Patty Pravo Makes 1st Visit To U.S." (PDF). Cash Box. Vol. XXX, no. 20. 14 December 1968. p. 18. Retrieved 30 June 2023 – via World Radio History.
  8. ^ "Argentina's Best Sellers" (PDF). Cash Box. Vol. XXX, no. 6. 7 September 1968. p. 56. Retrieved 30 June 2023 – via World Radio History.
  9. ^ Gianfranco Salvatore (1997). Mogol-Battisti: l'alchimia del verso cantato: arte e linguaggio della canzone moderna (in Italian). Castelvecchi. ISBN 8886232853.
  10. ^ "Patty Pazza idea, la colonna sonora del film con Patty Pravo" (in Italian). Oggi al Cinema. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.