La Vita
Music written by B. Canfora
Original Italian words by A. Amurri
English lyrics by Norman Newell.
Released in 1968 on an Italian Single and on the Italian album La Vita. Available on CD digitally remastered on the collection Bassey - The EMI/UA Years 1959 - 1979.
For this song the lyrics of the original Italian song "La Vita" were partially rewritten in English by Norman Newell. In the next step he penned English words for the remaining Italian parts of the song and the result was This Is My Life.
In the spring of 1968 Shirley Bassey sang La Vita live at the San Remo Festival in Italy. Shirley Bassey had selected this song to win the festival with. Among the other contestants were Dionne Warwick and Louis Armstrong. Shirley Bassey received the greatest crowd ovation of any performer with her impassioned rendition of "La Vita", but unfortunately she couldn't get into the the finals, because of a long outstanding bias against non-Italian contestants, or maybe because of the dialect she has. Although she failed to win the festival, the Italian public fell in love with this Welsh diva. Read comments about in the sleeve notes to Live At Carnegie Hall and All By Myself.
A single with "This Is My Life" had been released in Italy then and to remember the
public about the festival it has the note "XVIII Festival Di Sanremo" on the cover
though it contains the English version (UA 3130, B-side: "Without A Word").
Lyrics
Funny how a lonely day,
can make a person say:
What good is my life
Funny how a breaking heart,
can make me start to say:
W
hat good is my life
Funny how I often seem,
to think I'll find another dream
In my life
Till I look around and see,
this great big world is part of me
And my life
Ah, la vita
Più bello della vita non c'è niente
E forse tanta gente non lo sa, non lo sa, non lo sa
Ah, la vita
Che cosa di più bello esiste al mondo
E non ce ne accorgiamo quasi mai, quasi mai, quasi mai
Sometime when I feel afraid,
I think of what a mess
I've made
Of my life
Crying over my mistakes,
forgetting all the breaks
I've had
In my life
I was put on earth to be,
a part of this great world is me
And my life
Guess I'll just add up the score,
and count the things
I'm grateful for
In my life
Ah, la vita
Più bello della vita non c'è niente
E forse tanta gente non lo sa, non lo sa, non lo sa
Ah, la vita
Che cosa di più bello esiste al mondo
E non ce ne accorgiamo quasi mai, quasi mai, quasi mai
Ah, la vita
Che cosa di più bello esiste al mondo
E non ce ne accorgiamo quasi mai, quasi mai, quasi mai
Ah, la vita
Ah, la vita
Ah, la vita
(Transcribed by Roman supported by Francesco)