PANE VOLPE E SUCCO D'AQUILA "LE CIPOLLE / WASSA WASSA" (1971)

Pane volpe e succo d'aquila (...Italian for "Bread, fox and eagle juice"... It is used in phrases like "Ha mangiato pane, volpe e succo d'aquila a colazione" which translates into "He had bread, fox and eagle juice for breakfast" = "He wisen up"...) was an impromptu studio project by Claudio Fontana; as far as I know, "Le cipolle / Wassa Wassa" is their only release.

Claudio Fontana, better known by his stage name of Claudio Daiano, or simply Daiano, is a composer and singer-songwriter who wrote very famous Italian songs during the '60s / '70s: "Sei bellissima" for Loredana Berté (available here), "L'isola di Wight" for the group Dik Dik (here), "Un pugno di sabbia" (here) and "Un giorno insieme" (here), both for the band Nomadi, "Il volto della vita" for Caterina Caselli (an adaptation of "Days of Pearly Spencer" by David McWilliams", available here and here), "Un'ombra" for Mina (here) and many more.



Son of Silverio Fontana, manager of the "Dancing Fontana", one of the most famous clubs of Cervia, Claudio approached music along with his brothers Carlo and Franco.

He began his career as singer in some groups in his area and then moved to Milan to attend University. Here he got in touch with the world of music and the recording-industry, and offered his services as a lyricist. His first success was in 1968 with "Il volto della vita" sung by Caterina Caselli, co-wrote by Mogol.

During the same same year he also scored a hit with "Quelli erano giorni" sung by Gigliola Cinquetti (here), a cover of "Those Were the Days", the debut single by Mary Hopkin (here) adapted from a Russian song performed by Nani Bregvadze (here).

In 1968 he wrote the lyrics for the Italian version of the famous and scandalous "Je t'aime... moi non plus" by Serge Gainsbourg (...with Jane Birkin, available here, and with Jane Birkin, and here). Among the many versions recorded in those days we remember the one sung by Giorgio Albertazzi & Anna Proclemer (here), and the one sung by Ombretta Colli together with an unidentified partner (low quality, here).

In 1969 Daiano participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with "Due grosse lacrime bianche", sung by Iva Zanicchi (here).

Claudio Daiano, promotional shot, circa mid '90s

In 1970 he scored two big hits with "The Isle of Wight" for Dik Dik (here), a cover of "Wight is White" by Michel Delpech (here), and "Un pugno di sabbia" for Nomadi (here), which achieved fourth place in the "Un disco per l'estate" competition.

In 1973 he debuted at the Sanremo Festival as the author of "Angeline", performed by Pop Tops (here), which was instantly eliminated... The following year Daiano won the Festival with "Ciao cara, come stai?" sung by Iva Zanicchi (here).

In 1974 he also released his own first album as a singer-songwriter, "Io come chiunque". It is a collection of songs by Leonard Cohen translated in Italian, arranged by Vittorio Bacchetta.

In the same year he participated in the "Mostra Internazionale di Musica Leggera di Venezia" with "Momenti sì, momenti no" sung by Caterina Caselli (here).

1975 was the year of "Sei bellissima", which has become one of the most famous Italian pop songs, thanks to the stunning performance of Loredana Berté (here).

Continuing to pursue his solo career, Daiano recorded a few more 7" singles and a second album, but success as a singer kept on eluding him and nowadays he is best remembered as an author.

During the years he also wrote songs for Fiordaliso ("Oramai", available here), Vicini di casa ("15 anni", available here) and Collage ("Donna musica", here, and "I ragazzi che si amano", here, among others).

Here's the track list for this 7" single:

01. Le cipolle (3:13)
02. Wassa Wassa (2:51)

Both tracks were remastered in June 2014 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the original item.

Please have a look at the comments for the download links.





"Le cipolle ovverossia Piangendo tutti insieme appassionatamente" is a catchy song, probably born as a divertissment, with funny lyrics about "eating onions to get rid of a demanding girlfriend"... "Wassa Wassa" on Side B is nothing more than a simple filler with repetitive lyrics and guitar/percussions in the same musical vein of the main side, but not with the same appeal.

The following videos offer a preview of the remastered single, enjoy "Le cipolle" and "Wassa Wassa"!

More information about Claudio Daiano is available here:

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Daiano

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/claudio_daiano

http://www.discogs.com/artist/1331279-Daiano

http://digilander.libero.it/gianni61dgl/daiano.htm

http://ilnegoziodieuterpe.blogspot.com/2010/12/claudio-daiano-io-come-chiunque-sulla.html

http://www.cerviablog.com/?page_id=145

http://www.secondhandsongs.com/artist/3233/all

http://nuke.mariboservice.com/Portals/0/maribo%20service/IMMAGINI%20ARTISTI/Daiano%20completo.pdf

If you have any other useful information about this post, or if you spot any dead links, just get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!