A rather sad rabbit folk song. The beginning of Beatrix Potter’s story - The Tale of Peter Rabbit - is set to music by Antonio Cipolla (2021). Recorded on 13/02/2021.
For my little niece Agnese: Be a good little bunny!

PETER RABBIT’S SONG - a rather sad rabbit folk song

W.H. Auden’s poem MISS GEE adapted and set to music by Antonio Cipolla (2008, completed 2019). Recorded in August 2019. Revised version.

MISS GEE (A Tale) - song adapted from W.H. Auden’s poem

D.H. Lawrence’s poem PIANO set to music by Antonio Cipolla (2003). Recorded on 14/11/2019. Revised version.

PIANO - song from a poem by D.H. Lawrence

W.H. Auden’s poem set to music by Antonio Cipolla (2020). Recorded 1/3/2020.

FUNERAL BLUES  -  song from a poem by W.H. Auden

Poesia di Pablo Neruda musicata e cantata da Antonio Cipolla (2020). Registrata il 22/2/2020.  Per Rita.

Pablo Neruda: Ode to the Happy Day
This time let me
be happy.
Nothing has happened to anybody,
I am nowhere special,
it happened only
that I am happy
through the four chambers
of my heart, walking,
sleeping or writing.
What can I do? I am
happy,
I am more uncountable
than the meadow
grass
I feel my skin like a wrinkled tree
and the water below,
the birds above,
the sea like a ring
around my waist,
the Earth is made of bread and stone,
the air sings like a guitar.

Ode Al Giorno Felice - canzone dalla poesia di Pablo Neruda

In this song by Antonio Cipolla, the opening lines of the novel  L’Ètranger by Albert Camus (1942) are set to music (2022). Recorded on 8/4/2022.

After two years of inconceivable sufferance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is  now witnessing the absurd and barbaric invasion of Ukraine by Putin, a Russian warmonger, which will have far reaching consequences for us all. Without a doubt, these are devastatingly “stranger times”!

“Everything feels so unreal, 
  Living in stranger times;
  Seems like I’ve been here before, 
  Lost in stranger times.” 
(Antonio Cipolla)

Stranger Times

A song for piano composed by Suzuki for my little granddaughter, to which I afterwards added the lyrics. The resulting song seems to reach us from out of the past. Recorded in April, 2022.

Lyrics for Hand in Hand (My Sweetest)

Strolling along on the promenade in spring,
Lazily, wandering in my mind, my dear;
Thinking how happy I might be
If you my darling, we’re here with me
Walking hand in hand.

Yes, I would give you anything, dear,
Just to be with you
Walking hand in hand.

Hand In Hand (My Sweetest)

IN TRUMP TIMES, MR. JONES
In this political ballad we remeet Mr. Jones - protagonist in Bob Dylan's ‘Ballad Of A Thin Man' from 1965 - this time in modern day America. Trump, elected in 2016, officially ended his term as the 45th President of the United States on January 6, 2021. 
Yes, Mr. Jones, something is happening in America, but we don’t know yet what it is….
Song recorded on July 4, 2022.

“Because something is happening here 
but you don't know what it is
Do you, Mr. Jones?”
Bob Dylan, Ballad of a thin man (1965)

Lyrics: 
You’ve been to hell and back 
in the last couple of years;
They said you ought to blame
that crazy virus of theirs:
Their putting the blame on others
didn’t seem fair,
But you know that’s just what
politicians do.

They promised to make 
America great once again,
But the passing years
laid bare their empty refrain.
And you quit, along with your
family and friends,
Trying to make sense where no 
sense was to be found. 

You saw it on TV -
They stormed Capitol Hill;
An angry mob was shouting:
“Stop the steal!”
Their attack on democracy though
was not for real,
But you know that it won’t be
the last time.

You’re starting to feel
that life’s getting tough -
Too many twists and turns, 
Of good luck not enough.
But you know worrying won’t 
help much, 
Because everything and everywhere 
is changing now!
(Antonio Cipolla)
////
Here’s the link to a thought provoking video accompanying this song:
https://youtu.be/HIZAFfpUi1U

Something’s Happening Here (in Trump times)

For today’s refugees....
Lyrics adapted from W.H. Auden’s poem REFUGEE BLUES and set to music by Antonio Cipolla (2004). Recorded on 8/8/2022.
/////
Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear,
Yet there's no place for us.

O once we had a country,
A country and we thought it fair.

I dreamt a building with a thousand floors,
A thousand windows and a thousand doors:
Not one of them was ours, my dear,
Not one of them was ours.

O once we had a country,
A country and we thought it fair.

Look in the atlas and you'll find it there;
We can't go there now, 
O my dear we cannot go there now.

At a public meeting the speaker said:
"If we let them in, they will steal our bread";
He was talking of you and me, my dear, 
He was talking of you and me.

O once we had a country,
A country and we thought it fair.

On a great plain in the falling snow,
Ten thousand soldiers they're marching to and fro;
Looking for you and me, my dear, 
Looking for you and me.

O once we had a country, 
A country and we thought it fair.

Look in the atlas and you'll find it there;
We can't go there now, 
O my dear we cannot go there now.

Went down to the harbour and stood upon the quay,
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free.
Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
They had no politicians and sang at their ease.
But they weren't the human race, my dear!
(Lyrics adapted from REFUGEE BLUES by WH Auden, written in 1939)

REFUGEE SONG - lyrics adapted from "Refugee Blues" by W.H. Auden

A new song written for my wife now that I’m “old and grey”. The musical idea sparked off in me a few days before we visited Rome for a short stay; the lyrics were completed in Rome. Recorded on 26/9/2022.

Lyrics of LOVING YOU

Loving you has been the theme of my life,
I felt so happy inside - I was in love;
But now that I’ve become old and grey,
What have I more to say?

I’ll be loving you for the rest of my life;
I need you by my side, to feel you close to me;
So take this old hand of mine,
We’ll live our dream through to the end of time.

So hug me, let’s pretend 
We’re falling in love like we were young again.

LOVING YOU - the theme of my life

T.S. Eliot’s poem set to music by Antonio Cipolla (2005). Recorded November 2019. Song dedicated to my friend Andi, and to his haughty but gorgeous cat, Pushkin. 

THE NAMING OF CATS
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.
(T.S. Eliot)

THE NAMING OF CATS - song from the poem by T.S. Eliot (Original Music)

A quaint and rather unusual cover of a great jazz standard, with me singing along with Suzuki on piano. It was Suzuki’s intention that our cover should be unique, not ordinary. I hope that we have succeeded in the intention.
Original piano arrangement is by Suzuki. The song was recorded in January 2023.

My Funny Valentine (feat. Suzuki on piano)

A romantic ballad composed to sound as if it came out of one of the musicals of the past. The piece was written after seeing for the first time the marvelous LA LA LAND musical film from 2016, which itself had been a homage to the Hollywood classics of the 40s and 50s.
Song recorded in February, 2023. Piano arrangement and performance by Suzuki; composition and vocals by Antonio Cipolla.
I wish to thank Suzuki for his invaluable help in making the piano accompaniment of my song “an image according to my idea”.

In The Mood For Love - a song for a musical (feat. Suzuki on piano)

An excerpt from W.H. Auden’s poem “O Tell Me The Truth About Love” is set to music by Antonio Cipolla (2023). Song recorded on 25/1/2023. Revised version.

O Tell Me The Truth About Love

An excerpt from the beginning of the prose poem “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas is set here to music by Antonio Cipolla (2023). Two voice round recorded in February, 2023. Revised version.

Song dedicated to Suzuki, musician and composer that I am fortunate to have met on SoundCloud and very privileged to have collaborated with. 

“One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.”

A Child’s Christmas in Wales - Two voices round

A song by Antonio Cipolla (2023) recorded on 28/2/2023.

A young man feels remorse after a quarrel with his girl friend. Will she forgive and forget? 
﻿
I’m goin’ down your street
There’s a strangeness in the air 
I know we’re gonna meet
But I don’t know if you care.

Refrain:
And I know I’ve fooled around
But I wanted you to know 
I’m changed, really changed
And I need you more and more.

I’m nearly at your gate
I don’t know if you’re at home?
Should I just stop and wait,
Will you let me into your room?

I’M CHANGED…REALLY CHANGED

A song TRUTH AND LIES (AND WAR) - one year after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on 24th February 2022 - by Antonio cipolla (2023). Recorded on 8/3/2023.  

“We’re fighting; They’re killing; We’re praying; They’re hating; We’re dying; They’re lying; We’re winning; They’re cheating”.

Truth and Lies (and War)

An unusual and rather melancholic love song composed by Antonio Cipolla (2023). Recorded on 2/5/2023.

When I’m feeling sad 
And there's no pleasure to be had
And my thoughts are tinged in gray;
When I’m all alone 
Far away from home
In another rainy day;
Then I’ll  close my eyes, 
Set my thoughts aside,
And I feign that Spring has begun;
In a little while 
There appears your smile
Like a rainbow under the sun.

When I’m out with friends 
But I’m longing for the evening to end
And I want to be on my own again;
When I’m back in my room
And night is sodden with gloom,
And I lie awake listening to the rain;
Then I’ll close my eyes, 
Set my thoughts aside,
And I wait for sleep to come;
In a little while 
There appears your smile
And with it the gloom is gone.

When I’m Feeling Sad

The first verse of John Keats’ poem “Ode To Autumn” is set to music by Antonio Cipolla (2023). Recorded on 14/05/2023.

TO AUTUMN by John Keats
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
    To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
  With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
    For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

TO AUTUMN

Una canzone di Antonio Cipolla (2023), registrata il 3/6/2023.  

Scriverò per te una poesia;
Ci metterò sopra una melodia;
E questa sarà la tua canzone -
Una canzone d’amore - 
Scritta da me, dedicata a te.

Mi sveglierò presto; all’alba 
prenderò matita e carta 
E annoterò frase e parole -
Parole d’amore -
Scritte col cuore, scritte per te.

Scriverò Una Canzone (Per Te)

An instrumental guitar piece composed by Antonio Cipolla (2023) and recorded on 16/7/2023 for the Festa di Santa Rosalia.

Curiously, both of the instrumental melodies: MUSIC FOR A SMALL TOWN FAIR no. 1 and no. 2 were originally composed to set Psalm 23 - The Lord’s My Shepherd - to music.

Music For A Small Town Fair n. 2

Musica per una Festa di Paese - a guitar instrumental piece composed by Antonio Cipolla (2023) and recorded on 9/7/2023, Festa del Monte. Revised version.

Music For A Small Town Fair

Non-professional, male singer/songwriter, 67 years old; I grew up in Birmingham, England where I lived until 1984; now living in Italy. My first songs go way back to 1977, and continue right up to this day. You’ll find all my music on YouTube - Look me up and listen to my songs/playlists.  Enjoy):

https://youtube.com/channel/UC3FOC0WL_-348A8ZM9JE10g

🎶 Please listen on SoundCloud to my playlist/album BACK TO ONE released in July, 2023 🎶

🎶 Please listen on YouTube to my latest playlist/album FORGOTTEN IN AUTUMN released in December, 2023 🎶

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJVKIcC_WOkDkl4K5zAIxcaU4QAJxSzIt&feature=shared

Enjoy ):Buon ascolto! ):

Antonio Cipolla

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