I'm in a Band With an Italian Drummer
Encyclopedia
I'm in a Band With an Italian Drummer is an ironic/spoof rock
song by Bruce Dickinson
, first issued as the B-side of his 1996 single "Back from the Edge" (only on its 7-inch vinyl format) off his solo album Skunkworks
, and subsequently released on the second disc of the 2001 Best of Bruce Dickinson
compilation. It was written by bassist Chris Dale, who was in Dickinson's short-lived backing band for that album, also named Skunkworks. The song's instrumentation features funny breaks with lots of deliberately off-beat electronic drum machine
effects, each occurring immediately after the line "...and when he plays his drums it sounds like this". The lyrics, which (unusually for Dickinson) are composed of rapped
verses and sung choruses, are a very ironic portrait of the band's drummer Alessandro Elena, who is "really Italian" - as a line in the lyrics defines him - and feature most of the clichés commonly associated with the way Italians are perceived outside of Italy, in the Italians Do It Better style. The song's ending bit is spoken by the drummer himself in Sicilian dialect (starting with a line in heavily inflected, "Italianized" English and then going straight into dialect) and features him complaining about his complete lack of understanding of what Dickinson is singing, all spiced up with "colourful" Italian and Sicilian dialect expressions.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
song by Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson
Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....
, first issued as the B-side of his 1996 single "Back from the Edge" (only on its 7-inch vinyl format) off his solo album Skunkworks
Skunkworks (album)
Skunkworks is a hard rock album released in 1996 by Bruce Dickinson.Originally, Bruce intended for Skunkworks to be the debut album of a band by the same name. However, the label would not publish the record under any other name than Bruce Dickinson. Consequently the album sounds quite different...
, and subsequently released on the second disc of the 2001 Best of Bruce Dickinson
The Best of Bruce Dickinson
The Best of Bruce Dickinson is a compilation album released in 2001 by Bruce Dickinson. Two versions were released; a single disc version and a bonus disc version...
compilation. It was written by bassist Chris Dale, who was in Dickinson's short-lived backing band for that album, also named Skunkworks. The song's instrumentation features funny breaks with lots of deliberately off-beat electronic drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
effects, each occurring immediately after the line "...and when he plays his drums it sounds like this". The lyrics, which (unusually for Dickinson) are composed of rapped
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
verses and sung choruses, are a very ironic portrait of the band's drummer Alessandro Elena, who is "really Italian" - as a line in the lyrics defines him - and feature most of the clichés commonly associated with the way Italians are perceived outside of Italy, in the Italians Do It Better style. The song's ending bit is spoken by the drummer himself in Sicilian dialect (starting with a line in heavily inflected, "Italianized" English and then going straight into dialect) and features him complaining about his complete lack of understanding of what Dickinson is singing, all spiced up with "colourful" Italian and Sicilian dialect expressions.