Somehow, I missed the announcement of Gina Lollobrigida's death earlier this year, otherwise she would have featured here sooner.
Actress, model, photojournalist, artist and politician... was there anything Gina Lollobrigida couldn't do? Well, she wasn't afraid of Howard Hughes, for a start, and in 2013 she sold her extensive jewellery collection and gave the money (five million dollars) to stem cell research. She starred alongside Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner, Rock Hudson, David Niven, Telly Sevalas and Bob Hope. And she was definitely the best Esmerelda. When acting slowed down, she switched to journalism and managed to grab an exclusive interview with Fidel Castro. And then she was in Falcon Crest! What's not to love about Lollobrigida? Well, perhaps it's not the easiest name to fit into a pop song. Though you might be surprised...
There are many Italian songs that sing Gina's praises, but my translator is on the fritz, so here are the English language lyrical references I dug up, starting with the ever-reliable Dan Bern...
Venus and Serena came in here
Gina Lollobrigida too
Pink was back in the backroom
Lookin' for you
You and me, we could get on
Probably with nothing at all
Blossom Dearie sounds like she should be a character in Last of the Summer Wine or Coronation Street. But she's much classier than that...
I'm quite a fan of Lena
Close to Katrina
Very fond of Gina Lollobrigida, too
And as for Pasadena
Everybody there's an old shoe
But anyone can see my new celebrity is you
Here's a Canadian band who were never on Rough Trade...
Mondo Italiano La Dolce Vita
Lollobrigada and Lolita
And here's a band called Birth Control who were probably very effective, because if you played their records to your lover... you weren't getting any that night.
Lola Paloza's coming
On time lolling Lollabrigida
Dinky hips, great big brown eyes
Domino, a canvas Casanova
But which titular mention of Gina Lollobrigida was first to spring to mind when I heard about her passing? Was it these guys...?
Never before did it seem what it used to seem
I'm packaged right like Gina Lollobrigida
No!
Was it... this dude?
Surprisingly not.
Was it anything to do with the Croation electro-clash band who named themselves after Gina?
Of course not.
It was David Gedge, wasn't it? In his part-time, holiday job...
I love it when you see the title of a blog post and immediately know what the closing song is going to be.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of Gina, this 7" sleeve comes to mind...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.discogs.com/master/1505143-James-Dean-Driving-Experience-Sean-Connery
If you have covered Sean Connery on Celebrity Jukebox, you may remember this one.