How to write essays and feel like a spy

My favourite Italian film soundtracks, after years of digging

For my writing process I am reliant on some very specific pieces of music: the instrumental to Britney Spears’ entire Blackout album (no seriously you should try it), Air’s Moon Safari, and between 30 and 40 Italian soundtracks for really dodgy films I would only sometimes actually watch. If something ever comes out weird I was probably distracted by a cool organ solo. Lots of Discog-ing has gone into this - here are some obscure-ish discoveries I think other people should check out if they want to feel more like a spy/adultress/secret investigator in their writing life.

The Magnificent Tony Carrera (1968) by Gianni Marchetti

The OST to this Spanish-German-Italian racecar spy film (not kidding) is a smorgasbord of the period’s best sounds - organs!!! Piano rhapsodies!!! Fellini circus stuff!!! I am not sure what I expected it to sound like but it was definitely not this. I also really enjoy Marchetti’s soundtrack to sex comedy Vita Segreta di una Diciotenne although I fear it will get me put on a list (I’ve never seen the film).

Goldsnake Anonima Killers/Suicide Mission to Singapore (1966) by Carlo Savina

Imposing chords - sultry vocals - precious metals. Goldfinger? You are wrong. It’s Gold… SNAKE!!! (He’s the snake with the Midas touch!) I’ve complained about Marvel market saturation before but I would actually really enjoy a repeat of 1960s post-Bond Eurospy market saturation, which was far more colourful and interesting than what’s going on now. When you combine generic constraints with low budgets and mad auteurs, you get lots of brilliant missteps and amusing instances of plagiarism. Along with its strangely familiar opening track, the Goldsnake soundtrack comes with an imposing ‘Oriental Mood’ theme (played with zithers and gongs), psych nightclub tunes, and a lot of Pink Panther-esque lounge music - perfect for tiptoeing around to if you have been sent on a secret mission.

Also if you want more theme songs that sound almost exactly like Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger, you should try Agente 077: Missione Bloody Mary (it’s not a drink but a weapon of death…)

Revelations of a Psychiatrist on the World of Sexual Perversion (1973) by Gianfranco Reverberi

Reverberi is relatively new to me but I knew this anthology soundtrack would sound great just from the title. (It’s also got one of the best tracklists ever - I particularly like ‘Perverse Flute no. 3’). I was expecting ‘porno groove’ (also good) but it’s actually more in the realm of a giallo or Spaghetti Western soundtrack, with plenty of imposing chords, atmospheric synth work, and blues guitar.

Confessions of a Police Captain (1971) by Riz Ortolani

I love listening to this while trying to focus on atmospheric writing. Builds up throughout until you’re fully immersed in a dramatic standoff with organs and electric guitars and probably guns. Will make you feel like a cross between a policeman and cowboy.

The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968) by Nora Orlandi

Orlandi is the only female giallo composer and also did her own vocals on this lounge soundtrack. I love this sort of elevator music for deep focus - it’s like listening to a more sophisticated version of those YouTube anime girl lo-fi streams. The highlight here is the only actual song, Molto Tempo Fa’, which sounds really similar in places to Barbra Streisand’s theme for Eyes of Laura Mars, released a whole decade later. (That film is an Anglosphere take on giallo, complete with fashion photographers, first-person gimmicks, shady men hanging around police stations, and art-world parties - could this have been intentional all along??)

God Under the Skin (1974) by Piero Piccioni

Very front-loaded. Begins with maybe the most brilliant spy-jazz (sort of) soul cut ever put to tape with vocals by Catherine Howe, keeps going for an hour of lounge-y alien synths and Eastern zithers. If you are trying to write but not in the mood to explore the happy nuances of mankind you will be after hearing the theme song, which comes back in near the end in wordless Dell’Orso form. The actual film is apparently a documentary about deindustrialisation. It’s probably lost; nobody has seen it and the people who are looking for it are all doing so because of the vocal theme.

Eyeball (1975) by Bruno Nicolai

This has been ‘my’ giallo OST for probably 3 years. I’ve written probably 10,000 words to it; I used to sit down and just put it on by default. It’s hypnotic, catchy and atmospheric. There are three tunes and they just repeat over and over with different instrumentation. I still haven’t got round to actually watching the film. Love Birds is also great - the film was missing for ages but has resurfaced online, although only in German.

The Tenth Victim (1965) by Piero Piccioni

C’est super cool - lounge jazz with a ‘shake’ in the middle. Mina does the Dell’Orso vocals (my ultimate Italian pop bias, you MUST at least listen to Studio Uno ‘65, but she really doesn’t sound like herself here… I also recently thought this was her but it’s actually Ella Gaby who released like 3 things ever and is definitely not me in a past life).