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Performed by: Mia Martini
Music by: Giuseppe Dati
Lyrics by: Giancarlo Bigazzi
Conductor: Marco Falagiani
Language: Italian
Placing: 4th (111 points)

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"Rapsodia" (English translation: "Rhapsody") was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992, performed in Italian by Mia Martini, one of Italy's most successful and celebrated female artists of all time, making her second appearance in the Contest after 1977's "Libera", which finished 13th in a field of 18 participating countries.

The song is a dramatic and despairing ballad, in which Martini sings about two "old lovers" who happen to meet in a bar. She sings that they have "left their families, betrayed their friends" as part of their quest for "another youth", still "they don't want advice about how to be happy". They ask themselves "who they really are", as they sit there "worn out, ashamed, yet sincere", wondering "why it all had to end", confessing that they can't get "this life" to work out. The entire situation is described as "this immense and hopeless rhapsody", and as the old lovers leave the bar – and each other – they both become "songs of once upon a time".

The song was performed nineteenth on the night, following Denmark's Kenny Lübcke & Lotte Nilsson with "Alt det som ingen ser" and preceding Yugoslavia's "Extra Nena" with "Ljubim te pesmama". At the close of voting, it had received 111 points, including 12 points from France, Finland, Norway and The Netherlands, 10 points from Cyprus and Iceland, and 8 points from Sweden and Portugal, placing it 4th in a field of 23, a considerably better result than in 1977.

Three years after participating in the contest Martini unexpectedly died, at just 47 years old.

Mia recorded her first records as Mimì Bertè, but soon decided to change her name to Mia Martini. She represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest twice: in 1977 with "Libera" (13th out of 18), and in 1992 with "Rapsodia" (4th out of 23). That same year she recorded "Per amarti", written by Bruno Lauzi and Maurizio Fabrizio. She won the World Popular Song Festival Yamaha in Tokyo with "Ritratto di donna" who comes to the first positions in the Japanese charts. In 1982 she participated at the Sanremo Festival. In late 1983, she decided to retire.

In 1989 she returned to the Sanremo Festival with "Almeno tu nell'universo", which won her the Critics Award and new success. The song remains an Italian classic (with many cover versions).

In 2019, a biopic of Martini titled "Io sono Mia" was released. The film was directed by Riccardo Donna and stars Serena Rossi as Martini. The title is, in Italian, a double entendre, translating to both I am Mia and I am Mine.

She is considered, by many experts, one of the most beautiful and expressive female voices of Italian music ever, characterised by her interpretative intensity and her soulful performance.

Lyrics:

Rapsodia

Un giorno i vecchi amori
S'incontrano nei bar
Bugiardi ma sinceri a dirsi come va
Magari fuori piove e allora stanno lì
Pensando chissà dove
Chissà perché finì

Un giorno i vecchi amori si dicono l'età
Dolcissimi rancori ed altre verità

Chi siamo noi, sperduti qui?
Così diversi dagli eroi del nostro film
Con l'ironia e un po' di guai
In questa immensa rapsodia dei nostri ormai

Ma un giorno i vecchi amori si chiedono di più
I sogni e i desideri di un'altra gioventù
E lasciano famiglie tradiscono gli amici
Non vogliono consigli per essere felici

E quando i vecchi amori si lasciano nei bar
Diventano canzoni di tanto tempo fa

Chi siamo noi seduti qua?
Ad ascoltare questa vita che non va
Chi siamo noi buttati via
In questa immensa e disperata rapsodia

Oh chi siamo noi buttati via
In questa immensa e disperata rapsodia


English:

Rhapsody

One day the old lovers
Meet in a bar
Deceitful but sincere telling how it goes
It was raining outside and they were there
Thinking about who knows where
Who knows, because it's over

One day the old lovers tell each other their ages
Sweet resentments and other truth

Who are we, feeling lost?
So different from the heroes in our movie
With the irony and a bit of trouble
In this immense rhapsody, now about us

But one day the old lovers long for more
Dreams and desires of another youth
And they leave their families, betray their friends
They don't want advice about how to be happy

And when the old lovers leave each other at the bar
They will become songs of a time far behind

Who are we, sitting here?
Listening to a story of a life that didn't work out
Who are we, sunk in shame
For this immense and hopeless rhapsody

Oh who are we, sunk in shame
For this immense and hopeless rhapsody

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