This is a collection of love songs, some of which I wrote by myself, some of which I borrowed. I am fascinated by the way a song can be rewritten while still being faithful to itself. That’s why I can hardly find the words to express my gratitude to Giovanni Coda for his great movie, “Mark’s Diary”, without which neither would this soundtrack album exist, nor would I have had the opportunity to investigate, through songs and in sync with the movie, various shades of loving.
Far from being an “album of covers”, this record is mainly a “sonic transposition”, so to speak, of what happens on the silver screen as the movie unrolls and its characters communicate using words that are sometimes borrowed from the lyrics of the songs in this album.
I (respectfully) changed practically everything in the songs, to both adjust them to the movie and to reveal more about them than I thought had previously met the eye (or, better, the ear).
Here and there, I even added or changed a word or two – like in Fabrizio De Andrè’s immortal “Amore che vieni, amore che vai” – a song about the elusiveness of love - to which I added a verse by American Beat Poet Alleng Ginsberg that fits perfectly into it, stating that “The weight we carry / is love” .
And, as my memory returned transfigured versions of classics, I poured a bit (or a lot) of my soul in Blondie’s “Call me”, in Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence”and in “A Little Love, a Little Kiss”, a worldwide hit by Sardinian composer Lao Silesu & British lyricist Adrian Ross, dating back to 1913.
Then I messed with The Doors’ “Light my Fire”, with a couple of masterpieces by The Smiths and with a precious song by Italian Punk Band CCCP.
Moreover, I wrote a couple of songs in English myself, (“Bitter Song” and “In Spite of Everything”), and set to music a poem by English poet and prophet William Blake (“Morning”), as I felt the need for a ceremony of sound and words I could open the record with.
There’s so much to these songs. They are not simply timeless “love songs” wearing a new dress. They make a delicate and poignant soundtrack to an important movie dealing with the relationship between love, sexuality and disability.
Other important contributions to the soundtrack, not included in this record, came from Arnaldo Pontis and Cosimo Morleo, fine musicians I have already had the pleasure and the honour to work with.
So, for what this movie is capable of revealing about the joy and the pain of love for so many people mainly forced to look at life through a window, I am grateful to Giovanni Coda and to all the great artists and performers who helped turn this movie into a masterpiece.
Such a lot of hard work and passion and all of a sudden, lo, it’s happened!
Hugs,
Andrillo
Cagliari, Sardinia, April 2019