In the movie Booty Call, Jamie Foxx’s character, Bunz, relates a story about growing up with a cheap TV on which it was impossible to read subtitles; therefore, he watched a lot of movies with only foreign-language accompaniment, particularly kung-fu flicks. After a while, he tells acquaintances at dinner, “I started being able to understand the motherfuckers.”
I’m not going to claim that after dozens of listens to Signor Rossi – a reissue of an out-of-print collection of soundtrack music from the animated TV show of the same name – I can understand Italian any better. I can still only make out the words that mirror their counterparts in the Spanish language. That’s it. However, now that I’ve absorbed a SHIT-ton of these delightful cycles of cheeky voices, sounds, and instrumental blurts, I feel a certain kinship with the characters and, especially, the tunes.
Part of their charm is that they simply couldn’t have been created in any other environment. This is cartoooon moooosic throooo and throooo, and as such it’s technically one of the only examples I’ve heard of its kind. There are snips and snatches of Ennio Morricone flourishes and other signatures I’m sure many-a soundtrack composer used back when this batch of songs was whipped up, but, for me, the constituent parts have no clear precedent, which is a mind-blowing thing if you’re used to being pelted by four-member units with a singer-guitarist-bassguy-drumdude lineup.
The lack of linguistic understanding even allows me to focus more closely on the instrumental deviations and the actual sounds being made by the singers’ mouths. Which is to say, my mind is uncluttered by the need to make sense of what's being said, a state of purity that’s more liberating than you might think. Not to mention that there’s a lot of ‘bop-ba-bop-ba’ stuff that’s as communicable as the International Language.
I never expected to derive such pleasure from a complication such as this, and now that I’ve finally allowed myself to look up a few of the cartoons themselves, I’m convinced this stuff might have influenced The Critic. Or maybe not.
1. Herr Rossi Sucht das Glück - Millerc
2. Rossi Easy Background
3. Parapapa "Perepepe" Choir
4. Sicura E Trac, Pts. 1-3 - Nichetti
5. Bim Bum Bam Patabum Choir
6. Qua Qua Qua - Marrow
7. Tutankamen Cha Cha Cha
8. Wild Wild West
9. Viva Happiness - Nichetti
10. La Canzone di Merlotto - Nichetti
11. Bu Bu Buana Bu
12. Krimi Slop
13. Gatto Blues
14. Vita Da Can - Nichetti
15. Rossi-Polka
16. Signor Rossi Chac Chac Chac
17. Doctor Frankenstein
18. Arabia
19. Salamek Zumpalla
20. W La Felictà - Nichetti
21. Ogni Estate Za Za Za - Nichetti
22. Fish Song
23. Qua Qua Qua
24. Marcia Della Fattoria
25. Spooky Twist
26. L' Allero
27. Hills & Guitars
28. Ol' Man Rossi
29. W La Felicità - Nichetti
30. Sicura E Track - Nichetti
31. Qua Qua Qua - Marrow
32. W La Felicità - Nichetti
33. W La Felicità