Via con me

This song by Paolo Conte is one of those that sticks without warning. It’s not just its catchy melody or that piano that sounds as if it’s floating, but the way it tells something everyday — like a train journey or a sunset in a small town — with an air of mystery and nostalgia. The track Via con me doesn’t ask for permission to sneak into your head: it appears and never leaves. In just three minutes and a quarter, it achieves what few do: being at once intimate and universal, as if Conte had written those words thinking of everyone and no one at the same time.

The song was recorded in 1981, just as Italian jazz was beginning to blend its swing with warmer rhythms, and it was released on an album called Paris milonga. The record didn’t sell much at first, but the song lingered, circling around until time turned it into an unexpected classic. What’s curious is that, although the track is Italian, it ended up sounding in French, German, and even a couple of American productions. From French Kiss with Meg Ryan to Deep Water with Ana de Armas at the piano, it sounds as if it’s always been there, a silent companion to stories that aren’t its own. That said, Italian television even gave it a show: Vieni via con me, with the song as its theme music. Not bad for a track that started as a simple imaginary journey.