Gente di mare

"Gente di mare"
Eurovision Song Contest 1987 entry
Country	Italy
Artist(s)	Umberto Tozzi, Raffaele Riefoli
As	Umberto Tozzi & Raf
Language	Italian
Composer(s)	Umberto Tozzi, Raf
Lyricist(s)	Giancarlo Bigazzi
Conductor	Gianfranco Lombardi
Finals performance
Final result	3rd
Final points	103
Appearance chronology
◄ "Magic Oh Magic" (1985)
"Vivo (Ti scrivo)" (1988) ►

"Gente di mare" ("People of the sea") was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987, performed in Italian by Umberto Tozzi & Raf.

The song is a blues-influenced ballad, in which the singers describe the qualities of the "people of the sea". They describe themselves as "people of the plain", who are "prisoners of this city", while contrasting that with the freedom of the people of the sea "who leave it behind".

The song was performed seventh on the night, following Sweden's Lotta Engberg with "Boogaloo" and preceding Portugal's Nevada with "Neste barco à vela". At the close of voting, it had received 103 points, placing 3rd in a field of 22.

While not winning the Contest the song achieved considerable popularity, becoming a Top 10 hit in most parts of Continental Europe and Scandinavia in the summer of 1987 (#7 Switzerland, #8 Austria, #6 Sweden) ^[1] and was included on the compilations of Winners and Classics produced to coincide with the Congratulations special in late 2005.

It was succeeded as Italian representative at the 1988 Contest by Luca Barbarossa with "Vivo (Ti scrivo)".

Dutch-language covers

Dutch satirists Henk Spaan and Harry Vermeegen performed the song in 1988 on their successful TV-show Verona as Ach, laat maar waaien (compare; Take it easy). A Dutch reworked version, called "Dit was je leven" ("This was your life") was done by Marco Borsato.

Charts

References