Does anybody know what song is playing from the vagrant's phonograph at the very end of the film, when we see Marcello's final, very forlorn facial expression? It seeems to be missing from all soundtrack listings for the film. Is it "source music" rather than part of the original score? Do the lyrics of the song have any particular bearing on the meaning of the scene? (I don't speak Italian.)
shareThe song is "Come l'Ombra," or "Like [the] Shadow." We hear the version recorded by Trio Lescano, who are the real-life model for the singing group in the radio studio in the early scene of the movie. Their group bio can probably be found in many editions of wikipedia, certainly the U.S. English one.
I don't speak Italian either, unfortunately, but imagine that the lyrics themselves are expressive here, as are the identities of the singers. Trio Lescano were three sisters, not originally Italian but very popular in the 1930s throughout eastern and central Europe. They settled in Italy and made a string of hit records. Also, they were Jewish, and eventually suffered the same persecutions as did many under the Nazi regime.
They were fortunate enough to survive the camps, however, and as I recall resettled and lived out their lives in South America. Most of their pre-war records were lost, some just in the chaos of the war maybe, but many, including masters, destroyed deliberately because of who they were. A collector has found a copy of "Come l'Ombra," however, and uploaded a recording of it onto youtube. It is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCS86b0UoZ0
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Sam Lowry: Who was the man who gave you the parcel? What's
in it? It's the only thing you saved from the [burning] lorry...
It must he something very special.
Jill Leighton: I saved you from the lorry and you're not
something very special.
Sam (very nervous): ... It's a bomb isn't it?
||-Brazil (1985)