Parole parole


"Parole parole" is a duet song by Gianni Ferrio, Leo Chiosso and Giancarlo Del Re. The song was originally performed by Mina and Alberto Lupo.

Original version

The lyrics were written by Leo Chiosso and Giancarlo Del Re, the authors of the Italian Teatro 10 series of TV variety nights. The music and the score were by Gianni Ferrio, the conductor of the "Teatro 10" orchestra. In Spring 1972, the song was the closing number of all eight of the "Teatro 10" Saturday nights. The song is an easy listening dialogue of Mina's singing with Alberto Lupo's declamation. The song's theme are hollow words. It intertwines the female singer's lamentation of the end of love and the lies she has to hear, while the male actor simply speaks. She reacts and scoffs at the compliments that he gives her, calling them simply empty words – parole. The single was released in April 1972 under PDU, Mina's independent record label to become a top hit in Italian charts. The song was also published as one of the standout tracks of Mina's Cinquemilaquarantatrè album and included in the I'm Not Scared movie soundtrack.

Cover versions

A parody version of "Parole parole" was performed by Adriano Celentano, Mina and Alberto Lupo on the penultimate "Teatro 10" show on May 6, 1972. In recent years the song became a part of the repertoire of Martina Feri accompanied by Gorni Kramer Quartet.
In 1973, "Paroles... paroles...", with the lyrics translated into French by Michaële, was performed by Dalida with Alain Delon and published by Polydor. The track became a hit in France, Japan, Mexico and Canada.
On France 2's 1996 New Year's Eve programme, Alain Delon performed French cover of the song again, but this time in duet with Céline Dion, in the tribute for Dalida. In 2001, again for tributing Dalida, the French cover was remixed by the participants of the first edition of Star Academy France.
Dalida also released a German version together with Friedrich Schütter in 1973, titled "Worte, nur Worte", and again recorded the song in 1983, with Harald Juhnke, which was released under the same title.
Actress and singer Carmen Sevilla released a Spanish language version with the also actor Francisco "Paco" Rabal titled "Palabras Palabras".
There is a Hungarian version from 1970s performed by Viktória Vincze and popular actor Sándor Lukács.
Vicky Leandros released a German version with the actor Ben Becker on her album Zeitlos in 2010 which is called "Gerede Gerede".
"Amai Sasayaki", the song in Japanese, was recorded by actor Toshiyuki Hosokawa and the female singer Akiko Nakamura in 1973.
Two Spanish versions were recorded, one by singer Silvana di Lorenzo and another by Lupita D'Alessio and actor Jorge Vargas. D'Alessio and Vargas were married at the time and had a rocky relationship.
Portuguese versions were recorded in 1972, translated as Palavras, palavras, in Brazil sung by Maysa with actor Raul Cortez, and in Portugal, with the title "Parole Parole" sung by Tonicha with actor João Perry.
Two Dutch translations were made in 1973. The first one in Belgium, by Nicole and Hugo : "Die woorden, die woorden". The second Dutch translation was made in the Netherlands by author Cees Nooteboom, entitled "Gebabbel". It was performed by Liesbeth List and Ramses Shaffy. This version was parodied in 1992 by Dutch comedian Paul de Leeuw and female singer Willeke Alberti. Their version was a major hit in The Netherlands, reaching number 2 in the Top 40.
A Turkish version was recorded by the Turkish singer and actress, Ajda Pekkan in 1973. Ajda sang the song with voice actor Cüneyt Türel, who added a funny touch to the song through his alterations to the spoken parts. In 2010 another version of the song was recorded by famous Turkish pop singers Göksel and Teoman.
A Slovenian version was recorded by Slovenian singer :sl:Elda Viler|Elda Viler with the Slovenian actor :sl:Boris Cavazza|Boris Cavazza, titled Besede, Besede on her album Elda in 1982. Song was re-recorded in 2014 by the band Pliš with actor :sl:Jurij Zrnec|Jurij Zrnec.
In Croatia, the song was recorded at 1991 by singer Ksenija Erker and Croatian actor Relja Bašić. It is worth to mention that the song is recorded in Italian language with its original text. It appeared at Ksenija Erker's LP "Ciao Italia". The song was translated to Croatian and covered again in 2006 by soul group Rivers with male vocals of Massimo Savić.
A Greek version was recorded by Greek singer Marinella with Greek actor Kostas Spyropoulos, "Kouventes" on her album I Marinella Tragouda Megales Kyries in 1992.
In 2003, the Argentine duo Pimpinela includes a Spanish versión on his album Al modo nuestro.
In 2004, a Vietnamese cover version was released: "Những Lời Mê Hoặc " by Minh Tuyết ft. Trần Thái Hòa.
An Italian house remix of the song was featured in the 2005 compilation album by Gigi D'Agostino, Disco Tanz.
Amanda Lear performed the French "Paroles, paroles" with Titof on TV channel M6. This version was included on her 2005 compilation Paris by Night – Greatest Hits.
Zap Mama recorded a cover version with the French actor Vincent Cassel, on her album ReCreation in 2009. The duet was recorded with Cassel in Brazil.
Another cover version was performed in German by Jens Wawrczeck and Andreas Fröhlich as a slapstick part on the live tour of Die drei Fragezeichen in 2009.
Portuguese singer Ágata, with Vitor Espadinha, recorded a cover version in 2009 .
A cover version of the song was published in 2014 by the Flemish singer Licia Fox, in a duet with her producer Tormy Van Cool.
Anna Vissi and Thanasis Alevras covered the song for the main title of Annita Pania's TV show "Parole".
Azerbaijani singer with 4 range ofvoice Flora Karimova recorded the song in Azerbaijan language "Unutma, unutma", with Agil M.Quliyev.
Soolking used the refrain in his 2018 song "Dalida".