Heavily influenced by his idol, Elvis Presley, and the 1950s rock revolution, he is also known as the most famous dancer of the Hula hoop fad. For the last 40 years he has retained his popularity in Italy, selling millions of records and appearing in numerous TV shows and movies (including a short appearance in Fellini's La Dolce Vita, before becoming a famous artist). In the latter respect, he has also been a creator of a comic genre, with his characteristic walking and his facial expressions. For the most part, his films were commercially successful, in fact in the 1970s and part of the 1980s, he was the king of the Italian box office in low budget movies. As an actor, critics point to Serafino (1968), directed by Pietro Germi, as his best effort.
As a director he frequently casts Ornella Muti, Eleonora Giorgi and his wife Claudia Mori. His best movie like director is "Yuppi Du", winner of The Golden Palm at Cannes Festival. He and Claudia are the parents of Rosita, Rosalinda and Vincent Celentano, the latter most notable to worldwide audiences for playing the Satan character in Mel Gibson`s The Passion of the Christ. He also works often as a host for several Italian television shows.
His 1968 song "Azzurro" has regained popularity in 2006, due to it being the anthem of the Italian national football team (the Azzurri) who won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The artist Vincent Fiorello has also created a remix of the song.
His last concert-event in 2012, after 18 years without live performances, was transmitted on Canale 5, with over 9 million viewers both evenings.
Movimento Rock
Adriano Celentano Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Per i ragazzi del juke box
La gioventu
La gioventu
La compra per cinquanta lire
E nulla di piu
Basta un dolce blues
E una canzone
Ballando qua
Ballando la
Ognuno trova la sua gran felicita
Dai dai dai
Gira con me
Dai dai dai
Stringimi a te
Con ardore
Con furore
Baciami baciami baciami
La felicita costa un gettone
Per i ragazzi del juke box
La gioventu
La gioventu
La compra per cinquanta lire
E nulla di piu
Dai dai dai
Gira con me
Dai dai dai
Stringimi a te
Con ardore
Con furore
Baciami baciami baciami
La felicita costa un gettone
Per i ragazzi del juke box
La gioventu
La gioventu
La compra per cinquanta lire
E nulla di piu
Dai dai dai
Gira con me
Dai dai dai
Stringimi a te
Con ardore
Con furore
Baciami baciami baciami
La felicita costa un gettone
Per i ragazzi del juke box
La gioventu
La gioventu
La compra per cinquanta lire
E nulla di piu
Dai dai dai
Gira con me
Dai dai dai
Stringimi a te
Con ardore
Con furore
Baciami baciami baciami
La felicita costa un gettone
Per i ragazzi del juke box
La gioventu
La gioventu
La compra per cinquanta lire
E nulla di piu
In un gettone
C′e l'ossessione
C′e l'ossessione
Dei ragazzi del juke box
The lyrics to Adriano Celentano’s Movimento Rock describe the simple pleasures of youth culture in 1960s Italy. The song asserts that happiness can be found in the simple things in life, such as the jukebox music that played a vital role in young people's entertainment. Celentano sings of the joy and thrill of youth, as well as the importance of music in their lives. The song’s repeated refrain of “La felicita costa un gettone” translates to “Happiness costs a token,” referring to the puny fee needed to play a song on a jukebox. The phrase represents how small and affordable happiness was to young people at that time.
The author also notes that the youth of the time were fixated on music, with the phrase “La gioventu/La gioventu,/La compra per cinquanta lire/e nulla di piu” emphasizing how much they were willing to pay for a piece of entertainment that brought them joy. The youths are depicted as carefree and uncomplicated, dancing with each other (“Ballando qua/Ballando la”), and finding their happiness in each other. The song's final lines say that "In a token/There is the fixation, the fixation/Of the jukebox boys," underscoring the notion that music was the obsession of young people back then, and the only matter they needed to focus on was enjoying their lives.
Line by Line Meaning
La felicita costa un gettone
Happiness can be achieved for the price of a single token
Per i ragazzi del juke box
For the jukebox boys
La gioventu
Youth
La compra per cinquanta lire
Can be bought for just fifty lira
E nulla di piu
And nothing more
Basta un dolce blues
All it takes is a sweet blues
E una canzone
And a song
Ballando qua
Dancing here
Ballando la
Dancing there
Ognuno trova la sua gran felicita
Everyone can find their own great happiness
Dai dai dai
Come on, come on, come on
Gira con me
Spin around with me
Stringimi a te
Hold me close to you
Con ardore
With passion
Con furore
With fury
Baciami baciami baciami
Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me
In un gettone
In a single token
C′e l'ossessione
There is an obsession
Dei ragazzi del juke box
Of the jukebox boys
Contributed by Maya W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.