Franco Battiato was elected internally by RAI to represent Italy in Eurovision 1984 due to his great success in the early 1980's. Looking back now it feels like a miracle he accepted but maybe he found it an amusing thing to do. His song I treni di Tozeur, that finished only 5th but deserved so much more, is a real classic and many fans consider it as one of the best Eurovision songs ever. Me included. Now we know of course he went to Luxembourg with this very song, took Alice with whom he had been working a lot in those years.
The legend tells he had originally another song in his mind for the occasion. However, its chorus was in English and that was a big No no those days (yet I treni di Tozeur includes the opera part in German!) but I'm still wondering how it would have sounded as a duet if he took Alice along with this one, too? Namely No time, no space. Another special song with a majestic orchestration in the chorus. And could it have done better than I treni di Tozeur?
After Eurovision it was most of Alice to gain success in Europe. She already had hits in Germany for example before Eurovision but her following albums Gioielli rubati - a cover album of Battiato's songs - and Park Hotel gained her fame and popularity also in Scandinavia and central Europe (and Japan of all places). Battiato did try to break through in the Spanish speaking market but with less success. However, today Battiato is a living legend in Italy as a singer, songwriter, author, producer and painter and still actively producing music, both pop and classical, and touring. A new album (29th poppish one and 54th if we include also classical, live and compilations) is to be released later this year.
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