Adriano Celentano and ‘Prisencolinensinainciusol’, the funniest song of all time
For as long as there has been pop music, there have been comedy songs that parody pop music. Whether that be The Barron Knights mimicking 1960s beat groups, Jilted John taking a swipe at punk rock in the 1970s, or the psychedelic fever-dream comedy of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. However, one comedy track, penned by Italian musician Andriano Celentano, stands out from the rest due in part to its ridiculousness and in part to simply how catchy it is.
The track, succinctly entitled ‘Prisencolinensinainciusol’, was released in 1972 and made it all the way to number five in the Italian singles chart. So, what does the title mean? It is gibberish, as are the rest of the lyrics to the song. Celentano wanted to create a song that was entirely nonsensical but that sounded to Italian ears like the English language being sung in an American accent.
The results of this experiment are very entertaining and weirdly catchy. Celentano’s vocals are almost Bob Dylanesque – in fact, jokes were made that nonsensical lyrics followed a path that much of Bob Dylan’s own work from the 1980s followed.
Celentano, who was already one of the most popular rock musicians in Italy at the time, wrote the song – or rather, improvised the gibberish lyrics over a beat – and performed it with his wife, Claudia Mori. In an interview with NPR, the artist revealed: “So at a certain point, because I like American slang, I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate”.
He added: “So to make a comparison, it’s like what happened with the Tower of Babel. Everyone wanted to go towards the sky, and they were punished because God confused all the languages and no one understood each other anymore. This is the reason why I wrote this song.”
Not only was this novelty track a hit, but surprisingly, it featured some pioneering musical techniques that were later adopted by hip-hop and dance music. The single was one of the first to be made using a drum loop and blends styles ranging from disco to Afrobeat.
This seemingly silly novelty song is, in reality, a very important track in the history of popular music. It is perhaps for this reason that the song has endured for so long. There have been numerous dance remixes, covers and homages to Celentano’s track, which remains popular today.
Currently, the track is proving a hit on social media, particularly TikTok, which is exposing it to a whole new audience, but the song has been discovered and rediscovered countless times since its release in the early 1970s. The funny backstory and undeniably catchy nature of the song means it will likely continue to be celebrated for years to come.