“La bambola” (Italian for “The Doll”) is an Italian pop song written by Franco Migliacci, Bruno Zambrini and Ruggero Cini, and performed by Patty Pravo. The song had been previously refused by several artists, including Gianni Morandi, Little Tony, Gigliola Cinquetti, Caterina Caselli and The Rokes.
The single peaked at number one on the Italian chart for nine consecutive weeks between May and June 1968 and was certified gold. It had sold 200,000 copies by May 1968[6] and a million copies by December 1968. The single also charted in Argentina. It is considered as the song which consecrated Patty Pravo to fame. The B-side of the single is “Se c’è l’amore” (“If There Is Love”), a cover of Long John Baldry’s “Let the Heartaches Begin”. A Spanish-language version of the song was released in Spain.
Pravo revisited “La bambola” on her albums of re-recorded material in 1987 and 1990. To commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the hit, she released a new version of the song in 2008.
“La bambola” was covered by numerous artists. It was also used in several films, notably Anton Corbijn’s The American, Michele Placido’s Romanzo Criminale, Emanuele Crialese’s Respiro, and Bigas Luna’s Bambola.
