The singer-songwriter: «Mike Bongiorno added Friendship Hymn to the title. Royalties? They don’t make me rich”
The song begins like this: «He is, the friend is…» If you were born in the Seventies you will remember at least one verse. It was the year 1983 and alternating on the notes of the final theme of Mike Bongiorno’s Superflash were Dario Baldan Bembo and Caterina Caselli, with vocal contributions from Pupo, Ornella Vanoni, Gigliola Cinquetti and Giuni Russo: to recognize their voices, a competition was even announced on TV Sorrisi e Canzoni. The song, in reality, was released in 1982 with another title, Bonfirewhere there were 300 inhabitants of Maggiora forming the choir, the small village in the Novara area where Baldan Bembo was home and where he recorded the entire album outdoors Spirit of the Earth. He was the author of the music, the lyrics by Sergio Bardotti and Nini Giacomelli, to which Mike Bongiorno was added, who put his signature on it by adding to the title — Friend is — «Hymn of friendship». Today Dario Baldan Bembo, in the study of his Milanese apartment, comments: «You can say that I anticipated We Are The World».
The song was performed in French by Céline Dion, as “Hymne à l’amitié”. He must have become very rich with royalties!
«Never mind: he had engraved it three times and Siae hadn’t even noticed. My nephew had reported it to me, who had heard it while he was on holiday.”
But it has also become the anthem of the stadiums.
«If I earned a euro for every fan who sang it, then I would be rich: Bayern Munich made it theirs, and I also heard it sung by Milan and Inter. Not to mention the processions, with various adapted versions… It was sung by people of all ages, political and football beliefs.”
Another of his worldwide hit songs is «Soleado»: the American version «When a Child is Born» became a famous Christmas song with 200 million copies sold. He wrote the music with Ciro Dammicco.
«Don’t tell me about Soleado, born as The Blue Roses in 1972. In Germany it won two platinum records thanks to Mark’Oh’s interpretation in Tears Don’t Lie. In America Bing Crosby sang it a year before his death. In addition to him, Demis Roussos, Placido Domingo and Andrea Bocelli performed it, among others. Very few royalties.”
But that’s not possible!
«And yet it is so. I own the copyright of about forty songs. Each alone wouldn’t allow me to live, but the volume makes the difference and guarantees me a good pension.”
Let’s start with Mia Martini. He wrote “Little Man” for her in 1972.
«In reality I wanted to entrust her to Mina or Ornella Vanoni, because Mimì was still completely unknown. But his producer insisted, and he was right.”
He wrote a total of twelve songs for her, including «Minuetto» and «Donna sola». Why did the partnership end?
«Because in 1975 I made my debut as a singer-songwriter. Up until that point I had only written the music for songs performed by others. She considered it a personal betrayal, she didn’t forgive me for it. And in fact in 1976 the collaboration ended.”
Are you no longer clear?
«Something very special happened. In 1995, a few months before he died, we found ourselves by chance at Fiori Chiari, a nightclub in Brera. We hugged each other and improvised a concert, with the instruments of the orchestra left there. She sang all 12 of our songs. At the time, cell phones didn’t exist, otherwise everyone would have seen it.”
Who notified him of his death?
«He called me Renato Zero. And I got shivers thinking about our concert, about that meeting that I saw again with the eyes of a farewell.”
For Renato Zero he wrote about fifteen songs. Among these, “Friend”.
«That day I played him the melody of Friend out of exhaustion, after having proposed many others. He immediately fell in love with it. My Siae accounts soar after his concerts.”
Is the music or the lyrics more important?
«Good question… Both are important. For me music comes first. Then, of course, there is the mastery of the lyricist which forms the perfect fit, as was the case for Minuetto: Franco Califano found the right words for the music I had written.”
What if I tell you Lucio Battisti?
«He was a crazy megalomaniac, with whom I had formed a beautiful friendship, even a very confidential one. I collaborated with him for three records: I played the Hammond organ. He lived near me, I picked him up in my black Volkswagen convertible and we arrived together at Fonorama, in via Barletta in Milan.”
What were you talking about in the car?
«Ah well, only he always spoke: I did this, I did that… But playing with him was beautiful, every time it seemed like a jam session, he was really good on the guitar. He called me Abbarda’, Roman style.”
Mina?
«We spent a night together. But let me explain…”.
Here, that would be the case.
«He had me called to the restaurant where I was having dinner. They handed me the telephone receiver and I obviously thought it was a joke, but she started singing Together to convince me. She asked me to join her in Corso Italia, in the deconsecrated church where she recorded the songs. He wanted me to write one for him.”
How did it go?
«We worked from 10 at night to six in the morning. She would sing a tabedabedà and I would build another piece on top of it until it was right. She was born like this Here I am: with a grand piano and a bottle of Johnnie Walker. At 6, when we finished, he threw Paolo Limiti out of bed and joined us in his pajamas: at 9 he had already written the lyrics.”
You have an incredible amount of anecdotes: why don’t you tell them on TV?
«Because they don’t invite me and I’m a bit sorry».
His fame as a composer exceeds that of a singer.
«It’s a fact: I am considered a very good composer and a good singer. Yet my first song as a songwriter, Airwas also recorded by Shirley Bassey. At Siae there were 120 versions in the world, but thanks to my fans we counted 500. By bringing all the documentation we managed to raise the royalties a little, but not much. Overseas it is difficult to recover what you would be entitled to: there is an album by Nicola Di Bari with my music distributed in Latin America for which I have not seen a euro.”
Who do you like among young people?
«I found Mahmood’s songs very interesting, Inuyasha And Chills. And I consider Marco Mengoni a great professional: the arrangers are very good, but all his staff know how to work very well. Of the less young people, I like Baglioni.”
He also worked with Giorgio Faletti.
«He wrote me the words to an entire album. He was very serious, a true professional.”
Did you go to Ornella Vanoni’s funeral?
«No, I don’t like those funerals transformed into spectacle. I want to preserve the memory of her of the last time she came to visit me at home, with her assistant: it was March 2025 and she wanted me to write her a song. She was sitting right there where she is now. We were above all friends, I didn’t have a composer’s relationship with her, even though I had still written some songs for her.”
What plans do you have for the future?
«At the end of last year I was at the Teatro San Babila in Milan with a show of my songs, interspersed with the narrative voice of Erica Tamborini: I would like to do it again. And in the summer I have something in mind in Maggiora.”
Is your son Luca a musician?
«No, he is 40 years old, he is passionate about music, he plays the guitar very well, but he hasn’t made it a profession. For him the saying applies: learn the art and put it aside.”
