Ma La Notte, No!

April 26, 2020 5:18 AM

Back in the 80's singer songwriter impresario jazzman Renzo Arbore ran a variety show on Italian televsion called Quelli della notte, launching pad for Roberto Benigni among others, the theme song of which was Ma La Notte, No!, (lyrics here), the basic sense of it being that the slings and arrows might trouble you during the day time, But At Night - Not! Well. Corona changes everything, and twenty Neapolitans with time on their hands and a song in their hearts have updated the piece to In Quarantina Sto! (Italian subtitles for those unfamiliar with Neapolitan dialect). Music starts at fifty second mark.

Bonus track La Rimbamband "VIRUS CORONA"

For anglophones, some more parodies. Lot of other talented people with time on their hands
Probably too much time.

posted by BWA (3 comments total)

I found some of his song here in youtube channel MrGiovi1972
posted by feroz at 5:36 AM on April 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Che nostalgia! Thanks so much for sharing.
posted by Superplin at 6:52 AM on April 26, 2020

Huh. Back in the late-ish 80s, when I was a kid, I used to sometimes watch a Spanish-language show called Mala Noche No. It was a talk show with sketches and musical numbers hosted by Veronica Castro, a Joan Collins-y 80s sexpot lady. Basically the whole show seemed like an excuse for Castro to wear lots of sparkly strapless dresses, which was fine with me. I didn't speak Spanish but I watched purely because I thought Castro was pretty and the internet wasn't really a thing yet. A few years ago I mentioned the show to a younger, Spanish-speaking co-worker and she insisted I had to have the title wrong. "Nobody would say, Mala Noche No! It doesn't mean anything!" She was adamant. To convince her I wasn't making it up, I had to look up a clip of Castro singing the theme song. (Warning: Potential 80's cheese overload.)

Well, looking at the theme for Ma La Notte, No!, it's the same song! Castro's version is super sexed-up and the lyrics are in Spanish instead of Italian, but it's the same melody. Googling doesn't turn up which version came first, but I suspect it was the Italian one. So, maybe "Mala Noche No" isn't something Spanish-speakers would say normally, but the show had that title because it was a spinoff/rip-off of Ma La Notte, No!? Finding out about this Italian show just raises further questions about the enigma that is Mala Noche No!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:06 AM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]