Cantaré, oh-oh-oh-oh

I spent all day in the garden today, on what was probably the hottest day of the year so far - I achieved a lot, including splitting and re-potting one of the Salvia uglinosa, moving loads of plants around to their summer locations ("playing Tetris"), and then watered and fed every one of our 200+ pots! I'm knackered now.

Inevitably, my company all day was BBC Radio 2 and, it being the run-up to Eurovision, a number of Euro-themed shows were on offer.

Most fascinating was Jack Savoretti's Made In Italy, in which he explored the breadth of Italian pop and its relationship with Eurovision [this year's contest takes place in Milan] - and with a whole load of songs that we consider "standards" today, such as these...

Dusty Springfield's You Don't Have to Say You Love Me began life as an entry in the 1965 Sanremo Festival thus:

Pino Donaggio - Io Che Non Vivo Senza Te

Mostly due to a certain Dean Martin, this song has had a life of its own for decades, yet was originally entered in the 1958 Eurovision Song contest, only coming third:

Domenico Modugno - Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu

Cilla's You're My World was originally Il mio mondo, premiered by Umberto Bindi, but sung here by Miranda Martino:

Finally, where would one of or treasured Patron Saints Dame Shirley Bassey have been without the pioneering team behind this massive hit for another Patron Saint, Mina?!

Mina Mazzini - Grande, Grande, Grande

Viva l'Italia!

Domani chi lo sa, quel che sarà?

The higher the hair, the closer to God?

For a change, dear reader, I am not groaning after the end of another weekend - for I am on leave for two weeks. Yay!

To add to the joy, we have another "diva discovery" to ease us into a new week! The rather faboo Miranda Martino (for it is she) is a singer and actress whose career has spanned seven decades, yet is completely unknown outside her native Italy. Her career was launched at the 1956 Sanremo Festival, and after numerous albums, film and television appearances throughout the intervening decades, she made a resurgence in 2019 at the age of 85 with a one woman revue called I began again at 80. Just this year she popped up as one of the "talking heads" in a film documentary about the life of Ennio Morricone. Phew!

I discovered her when this choon was featured as part of the daily In Tune Mixtapes on [surprisingly; again] the BBC's classical music station Radio 3 - with this number [a song that was featured in the first Pink Panther film, and was written by Signôr Morricone]:

Miranda Martino - Meglio stasera

On this Tacky Music Monday however, here she is belting out one of her power ballads - for some bewildering reason on what looks for all the world like a motorway viaduct...

Miranda Martino - O paese d'o sole

Questions, questions... Why is she on a tour bus looking like she just stepped off Aristotle Onassiss's yacht at Antibes? Why did said bus then abandon her and that gaggle of gormless tourists on the side of the road and drive off? Who was the weirdo in a bowler hat anyway, and why did they book a tour with him when he's clearly disturbed? Furthermore, I wish this video were in colour, because I'd love to know what shade of vivid red she might have chosen for that wig!

Have a good week, chums.