Celebrity Jukebox #83: Gina Lollobrigida

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

Dan Bern - All Right Kind of a Girl

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

Blossom Dearie - My New Celebrity Is You

Here's a Canadian band who were never on Rough Trade...

Mondo Italiano La Dolce Vita

Lollobrigada and Lolita

Rough Trade - The Sacred And The Profane

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

Birth Control - Domino’s Hammock

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

The Cardiacs - Gina Lollobrigida

No!

Was it... this dude?

Tony Bass - Gina Lollobrigida

Surprisingly not.

Was it anything to do with the Croation electro-clash band who named themselves after Gina?

Lollobrigida - Moj Dečko Je Gay

Of course not.

It was David Gedge, wasn't it? In his part-time, holiday job...