"Prisencolinensinainciusol" (; stylized on the single cover as "PRİSENCÓLİNENSİNÁİNCIÚSOL") is a song composed by the Italian singer

Adriano Celentano Adriano Celentano (; born 6 January 1938) is an Italian singer-songwriter, actor, showman, and filmmaker. He is dubbed ''Il Molleggiato'' ('the springy one') because of his energetic dancing. Celentano's many albums frequently enjoyed both com ...

, and performed by Celentano and his wife Claudia Mori. It was released as a single in 1972. Both the name of the song and its lyrics are

gibberish Gibberish, also known as jibber-jabber or gobbledygook, is speech that is (or appears to be) nonsense: ranging across speech sounds that are not actual words, pseudowords, language games and specialized jargon that seems nonsensical to outsid ...

, but are intended to represent what

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

sounds like to people who do not understand English. The song charted in several European countries.

Background

By the 1960s, Celentano was already one of the most popular

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

musicians in Italy, in large part due to his appearance at the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...

in 1960 and the subsequent success of his song " 24.000 baci". Martina Tanga writes that his artistic persona was characterised by "loud lyrics and inelegant body movements", which differentiated him from other singers of the time. Paolo Prato describes his style as "a bit of Elvis, a bit of

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian, with a career spanning seven decades in film, stage, television and radio. Famously nicknamed as "Th ...

, a bit of folk singer". "Prisencolinensinainciusol" was released in 1972 and remained popular throughout the 1970s.

Song

Style

"Prisencolinensinainciusol" has been described as varying music genres including

Europop Europop (also spelled Euro pop) is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and ...

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

. Celentano, however, did not have these styles in mind when writing the song. He composed "Prisencolinensinainciusol" by creating a loop of four drumbeats and improvising lyrics over the top of the loop in his recording studio. The song is characterised by an E flat

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station ...

in the

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

and

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

and

riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

in the

horn section A horn section is a group of musicians playing horns. In an orchestra or concert band, it refers to the musicians who play the "French" horn, and in a British-style brass band it is the tenor horn players. In many popular music genres, the term ...

. Between the drum loop, the looped horns, and the conversational improvisational "freestyle" flow of the lyrics and the chanting chorus, the song has many elements later found in hip hop in the mid 1980s and 1990s. Celentano has claimed that with this song he invented rap.

Lyrics and language

The song is intended to sound as if it is sung in English spoken with an American accent; however, the lyrics are deliberately unintelligible

. Andrew Khan, writing in ''The Guardian'', later described the sound as reminiscent of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

's output from the 1980s. Celentano's intention was not to create a humorous

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

but to explore communication barriers. The intent was to demonstrate how English sounds to people who do not understand the language: Celentano also took inspiration from the

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

account of the

Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel is an origin myth and parable in the Book of Genesis (chapter 11) meant to explain the existence of different languages and cultures. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language migrates to Shin ...

Releases and versions

The original version of the track was released as a single on 3 November 1972, and appeared on Celentano's album '' Nostalrock'' the following year. For its UK release, the single was given the simpler title of "The Language of Love (Prisencol…)". The song appeared on the 2008 dance

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

'' Poplife Presents: Poplife Sucks''. Celentano later recorded a version with real Italian lyrics; this version, released on his 1994 album '' Quel punto'', was named "Il Seme del Rap" and served as a

parody. In 2016, Celentano released a new recording of the song (with the original lyrics); this version featured the music of

Benny Benassi Marco "Benny" Benassi (; born 13 July 1967) is an Italian DJ and music producer. He is widely seen as a pioneer of electro house, a genre brought into the mainstream by his 2002 summer club hit " Satisfaction". He started his career as DJ alon ...

and vocals from Mina. Celentano performed the song at least twice on Italian television. In the fourth episode of the 1974 variety series ''Milleluci'', he dances with Raffaella Carrà, who lip-syncs to Mori's vocals. In an episode of ''Formula Due'', a TV show hosted by Loretta Goggi, the song appears in a comedy sketch in which he portrays a teacher. Video clips of both performances, both separate and edited together, began to appear on YouTube in the late 2000s. It became something of an

Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

, and in 2009 it was posted to

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, and subsequently saw renewed interest in the Italian media. It was the subject of a 2012 ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'' (

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

) segment, for which Celentano was interviewed. In 2017, Celentano's version appeared in Season 3, Episode 1 of the FX television series '' Fargo''. In 2018, the song was included in the soundtrack of "Lone Star", the second episode of the FX television series '' Trust''. The song was incorporated into

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

's radio show as one of the revolving bumper music intros, where Limbaugh asserts learning about it from his memory of details that match the TV show. In 2023, the song appeared in Season 3, Episode 3 of the

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

series ''

Ted Lasso ''Ted Lasso'' ( ) is an American sports film, sports comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence (TV producer), Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly. It is based on a character Sudeikis portrayed in a series ...

'' over a montage of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

games involving the character Zava, AFC Richmond's newest player acquisition. In 2025, it was featured in the closing credits of

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

's '' Highest 2 Lowest'', in a cover version performed by Anna Lee.

Track listing

*7" single – BF 70026 # "Prisencolinensinainciusol" (Adriano Celentano) – 3:54 # "Disc Jockey" ( Luciano Beretta, Adriano Celentano, Miki Del Prete) – 4:54

Charts

Sales

References

External links

Sasha Frere-Jones blog at newyorker.com
(28 April 2008)
Language Log post
(25 October 2009) with videos
The Deep Roots of an Italian Song That Sounds Like English—But Is Just Nonsense
{{Authority control 1972 singles Adriano Celentano songs 1972 songs Novelty songs Experimental pop songs Songs written by Adriano Celentano Epic Records singles Gibberish language