Che cosa stai dicendo, Willis?

Ok, I admit it. I know I should be really ashamed for my sheer delight in finding little Arnold Drummond plastered on the side of a centuries-old building during a Sunday stroll yesterday. I'd say he's at least 3 feet tall or so. But as you may know, I am pretty numbed towards graffiti in my neighborhood, and I can't help but be amused by random and mysterious urban street symbolism (remember Untho?).

Anyhoo, found this guy around the corner from Piazza S. Maria in Trastevere. If you're familiar with the area, it's posted right in front of that bar that seems to be the headquarters for the Rome grunge movement, and where to my horror Ale swears some of the best gelato in all of the city is made. I've been dragged in there enough times but I still am not convinced. If I'm feeling brave one day, maybe I'll attempt a post about it.

But for today, how's about some Arnold trivia for you? Did you know that Diff'rent Strokes was called "Harlem contro Manhattan"(Harlem against Manhattan) in Italy? Then it was inexplicably changed to "Il mio amico Arnold" (My friend Arnold) and in its final mutation, simply "Arnold." Personally, I think the Japanese said it best: "Arnold bouya wa ninkimono ." Apparently this is a "literal title" but what it literally translates too, one can only wonder.

I have learned that there was a theme song in Italian but to my dismay have not been able to find any audio copies of it online, just the picture from the album, which was being auctioned off on Italian eBay, but alas, I missed that one too. Not that I have a record player for 45s, but who knows, perhaps I would have bought one just to listen to it.

Would any of you Italian speakers out there be interested in the lyrics? I did manage to dig those up. Thanks to Nico Fidenco for the composition.
Oh, what the heck. Let's just go ahead and translate some of the choicer gems, for the ridiculousness of it all. I mean, what did I learn Italian for, after all, right? Just keep in mind that in the original Italian version, IT ALL RHYMED.

ARNOLD
-------------------------------
Arnold a-ha
Arnold a-ha

Arnold, Arnold, sempre nei guai
una ne pensi e cento ne fai

Arnold Arnold zarattata'
giri la testa e lui te la fa

Arnold Arnold zarattata'
giri la testa e lui te la fa

Lo trovi nascosto in un vecchio cassetto
sorriso da furbo, occhi da matto

You find him hidden in an old drawer,
smiling like a trickster with crazy eyes

ti prende il tubetto del dentifricio
lo spalma felice per tutto l'ufficio

He takes your tube of toothpaste
and happily spreads it all over the office

Arnold a-ha

Se sulla faccia ti salta un ranocchio
o la pallina ti arriva in un occhio
o in tasca trovi la zampa di un'oca
puoi star sicuro che e' Arnold che gioca

If a frog jumps on your face,
or a ball hits you in the eye,
or you find a ..wait... what's a zampa di un'oca? a goose's claw? in your pocket,
you can be sure that's Arnold playing

Arnold, Arnold, sempre nei guai
una ne pensi e cento ne fai

Arnold Arnold zarattata'
giri la testa e lui te la fa

Bicchieri e piatti rotti
li trovi dentro i letti
la scatola del lucido
e' piena di confetti

Broken cups and plates,
you find them in the beds,
the shoe polish can
is full of candies

And then it repeats itself again... ah, the joy. If only I knew the melody, we could all sing together. And by the way, where the heck was I when Arnold was putting broken plates in the beds? Was that one of the "very special" episodes?

I did find the theme song in Italian to another old show though... did you ever read this post?