English title Shake a Hand Composer(s) Jimmy Fontana | Published 1971 Lyricist(s) Franco Migliacci | |
Che sarà ([ke ssaˈra]; English: "What will (it) be?") is an Italian song, written by Jimmy Fontana (music) and Franco Migliacci (lyrics) for the 1971 Sanremo Music Festival. Up until that year, each song was interpreted by two artists or performers to showcase the songwriters' craft rather than the singers' interpretations.
Contents
Che sarà was sung by José Feliciano and the Ricchi e Poveri group and came second to Il Cuore E' Uno Zingaro. RCA's Italian producers saw the song and the festival as a way to bring José Feliciano, already an international star, to Italy, as he already knew Jimmy Fontana. Although Ricchi e Poveri was a new, young group, it was chosen to sing the second version after Gianni Morandi, a well known Italian singer and RCA artist, had declined to sing the song. Jimmy Fontana, reportedly, was disappointed by RCA's decision and withdrew from the music business for many years.
Recordings
Feliciano's recorded version was successful in Italy, in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Japan. It was an even greater success in Latin America and Spain in Feliciano's Spanish version, titled Qué será. Feliciano's version peaked at number one in Spain. An English-language version titled Shake A Hand charted in Scandinavia but not in the Top Tens of the USA or the UK.
Song
The lyrics of the song describe the singer's sadness at having to leave his native village (Paese mio che stai sulla collina disteso come un vecchio addormentato; Oh my village set on the hill, lying down like an old, sleeping man) and were inspired by Cortona, a small town in Tuscany where the lyricist, Franco Migliacci, had lived for many years. For Jimmy Fontana, who wrote the music, the song is devoted to Bernalda, his wife's home village
Coincidentally, the Cortona story echoes the personal history of José Feliciano, who was born in the hill village of Lares in Puerto Rico, and who left it for New York, joining many other Puerto Rican migrants to the USA. In fact, the Spanish version of the song is considered by many in the Latino population to be a migrants' hymn.
Curiosity
Concerning music, there is a song composed by Caetano Veloso around 1971 (London, london) that is identical, at least in the verse.