“Azzurro” (transl. ”[Light] Blue”) is an Italian pop song composed by Paolo Conte, Vito Pallavicini and Michele Virano. Its most famous version was recorded by Adriano Celentano in 1968.
Conte and Pallavicini wrote “Azzurro” especially for Celentano. The song describes a lonely summer in the city. Structurally it typically reflects Conte’s writing style, combining simple and catchy melodies with unusual elements, like the military march music bit in the middle. Conte would record the song himself in 1985, ten years into his own solo career as a performer. Together with “Via con me” and “Sotto le stelle del Jazz”, it is now one of his most popular songs.
The first line of the chorus goes: “Azzurro, il pomeriggio è troppo azzurro e lungo per me…” (“Blue, the afternoon is too long and blue for me…”). Note that, in Italian, azzurro does not bear the negative connotation of “depressing” that blue has in English.
