Originally, this was a Italian song composed by Pino Donnagio (Io Che Non Vivo Senza Te ), an Italian musician, singer, and film composer. A classically-trained violinist, Donaggio is known for his collaborations with director Brian De Palma, and for his work in both European and American genre cinema.
Springfield heard Donnagio perform it at the San Remo festival (and despite having no awareness of the lyrics' meaning the song moved Springfield to tears) and asked her friend Vicki Wickham, who produced the British TV show Ready Steady Go, to write some English lyrics for it. With the help of Yardbirds manager Simon Napier-Bell, she did. Simon Napier-Bell is quoted as saying:
"Vicki and I used to eat together, and she told me that Dusty wanted a lyric for this song. We went back to her flat and started working on it. We wanted to go to a trendy disco so we had about an hour to write it. We wrote the chorus and then we wrote the verse in a taxi to wherever we were going. It was the first pop lyric I'd written, although I've always been interested in poetry and good literature. We'd no idea what the English [Italian] lyric said. That seemed to be irrelevant and besides, it is much easier to write a new lyric completely."
Springfield recorded her vocal the next day: unhappy with the acoustics in the recording booth she eventually moved into a stairwell to record. Springfield was not satisfied with her vocal until she had recorded 47 takes.
In 2004, the song made the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #491.
Originally, this was a Italian song composed by Pino Donnagio ([Io Che Non Vivo Senza Te](https://www.hooktube.com/watch?v=wrvrq18EiJs) ), an Italian musician, singer, and film composer. A classically-trained violinist, Donaggio is known for his collaborations with director Brian De Palma, and for his work in both European and American genre cinema.
Springfield heard Donnagio perform it at the San Remo festival (and despite having no awareness of the lyrics' meaning the song moved Springfield to tears) and asked her friend Vicki Wickham, who produced the British TV show Ready Steady Go, to write some English lyrics for it. With the help of Yardbirds manager Simon Napier-Bell, she did. Simon Napier-Bell is quoted as saying:
"Vicki and I used to eat together, and she told me that Dusty wanted a lyric for this song. We went back to her flat and started working on it. We wanted to go to a trendy disco so we had about an hour to write it. We wrote the chorus and then we wrote the verse in a taxi to wherever we were going. It was the first pop lyric I'd written, although I've always been interested in poetry and good literature. We'd no idea what the English [Italian] lyric said. That seemed to be irrelevant and besides, it is much easier to write a new lyric completely."
Springfield recorded her vocal the next day: unhappy with the acoustics in the recording booth she eventually moved into a stairwell to record. Springfield was not satisfied with her vocal until she had recorded 47 takes.
In 2004, the song made the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #491.
Originally, this was a Italian song composed by Pino Donnagio (Io Che Non Vivo Senza Te ), an Italian musician, singer, and film composer. A classically-trained violinist, Donaggio is known for his collaborations with director Brian De Palma, and for his work in both European and American genre cinema.
Springfield heard Donnagio perform it at the San Remo festival (and despite having no awareness of the lyrics' meaning the song moved Springfield to tears) and asked her friend Vicki Wickham, who produced the British TV show Ready Steady Go, to write some English lyrics for it. With the help of Yardbirds manager Simon Napier-Bell, she did. Simon Napier-Bell is quoted as saying:
"Vicki and I used to eat together, and she told me that Dusty wanted a lyric for this song. We went back to her flat and started working on it. We wanted to go to a trendy disco so we had about an hour to write it. We wrote the chorus and then we wrote the verse in a taxi to wherever we were going. It was the first pop lyric I'd written, although I've always been interested in poetry and good literature. We'd no idea what the English [Italian] lyric said. That seemed to be irrelevant and besides, it is much easier to write a new lyric completely."
Springfield recorded her vocal the next day: unhappy with the acoustics in the recording booth she eventually moved into a stairwell to record. Springfield was not satisfied with her vocal until she had recorded 47 takes.
In 2004, the song made the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #491.