«Se telefonando» by Mina: Meaning & Lyrics

A call that never takes place, and three notes from a police siren: together they produced one of Italy’s greatest classics. Mina, the singer who grew up in Cremona, released «Se telefonando» as a Ri-Fi single in May 1966; Ennio Morricone wrote the music. The title means roughly “If I were on the phone”, and that is the point: a brief, intense love affair that a woman wants to end without having to look the man in the eye.

Sixty years later, the song has been certified platinum and is considered by many to be Mina’s finest recording. Nek won the cover night at the Sanremo Festival with it in 2015, Franco Battiato and Il Volo have sung it, and you recognise Morricone’s siren motif within two seconds.

How was «Se telefonando» created?

Mina’s real name is Anna Mazzini. She was born on 25 March 1940 in Busto Arsizio, north of Milan, and grew up in Cremona, the violin-making city on the Po. By 1966 she was already a star and was hosting «Studio Uno» for the second time, Rai’s major Saturday-night show directed by Antonello Falqui.

The song itself was intended for another programme. Maurizio Costanzo, then a young television writer and later Italy’s best-known talk-show host, wrote the theme tune for the Rai programme «Aria condizionata», meaning “air conditioning”, with playwright Ghigo De Chiara. The music was entrusted to Ennio Morricone, the composer from Rome who had become famous for his Western scores for Sergio Leone. He also arranged the piece and conducted the orchestra.

Morricone gave the two lyricists an unusual brief. He asked them to think of the Marseille police sirens, because he based the main theme on three notes from those sirens. Costanzo brought in the telephone, which was appearing in more and more Italian homes. In Rai’s studios on Via Teulada in Rome, Morricone played the song for Mina on the piano; she asked for the lyrics and immediately sang it.

On 28 May 1966, Mina presented «Se telefonando» on «Studio Uno». The single, with «No» on the B-side, appeared that same month. The song was also included on «Studio Uno 66», one of Italy’s best-selling albums of the year. The single now has a platinum certification from FIMI, the Italian music industry association, for 70.000 units.

What is «Se telefonando» about?

«Se telefonando» tells of the end of a love affair that grew too quickly. A woman wants to say goodbye and wishes she could do it over the phone because she lacks the courage to say it to his face.

The song is no lament. The singer remains clear-headed and almost matter-of-fact, taking stock while openly admitting her weakness. That attitude suits Mina, who had thoroughly overturned the image of the dutiful Italian pop singer in the sixties.

The Lyrics, Verse by Verse

You can find the full lyrics on Spotify and Apple Music; here we focus on their imagery. At the start, the singer recalls a night by the sea when two strangers met. In the darkness they suddenly grew close, and the surprise soon became a great love.

Then the mood changes. The love has grown too quickly, and the singer senses that it is over. She wants to say goodbye, but not face to face. If she could do it by telephone, she would call: that thought gives the song its title.

In the chorus, the voice climbs the scale while the brass repeats the siren motif. The word telefonando, meaning “on the phone”, becomes a symbol of everything two people can no longer say to each other directly.

Why does Morricone’s arrangement sound so modern?

Morricone built the song like a miniature film score. Trumpets carry the melody, backed by driving drums, strings, a female chorus in the style of European pop of the sixties and deep, rumbling trombones. Above it all is the siren motif, running through the piece like an alarm signal.

Several key changes in the chorus keep increasing the tension. That makes the song a test for singers, as it demands a wide vocal range. The Italian edition of Rolling Stone counts «Se telefonando» among Morricone’s greatest pop works.

«Se telefonando» on video

At the top of this article, you can hear the original 1966 recording on Mina’s official channel. Below it you can watch Mina’s performance on «Studio Uno», released from Rai’s archive. It lets you experience the song as television viewers first heard it in spring 1966. Films were also made for «Carosello», Rai’s popular advertising programme in which Mina appeared for pasta maker Barilla.

Available for listening on streaming services:

Who has covered «Se telefonando»?

As early as 1966, French singer Françoise Hardy recorded the song as «Je changerais d’avis». That same year it was sung by Iva Zanicchi, the singer from Emilia who won the Sanremo Festival three times. Mina herself recorded an English version for the overseas market at the end of 1966. Later versions followed from the Italian electropop band Delta V in 2005, Roman singer-songwriter Claudio Baglioni in 2006 and Northern Irish musician Neil Hannon in 2008.

The most successful new version is by Nek, the pop singer from the Modena area. He sang «Se telefonando» during the cover night at the Sanremo Festival in February 2015 and won the award for best reinterpretation. His studio recording sold more than 50.000 copies in Italy. In November 2015, Sicilian singer-songwriter Franco Battiato, known for «La cura», released his own version; in 2021 the pop-opera trio also sang it. Il Volo.

Mina’s stage career began and ended on the Versilia coast

Mina’s path to stardom began not on television but on the Tuscan coast. In the summer of 1958, then aged 18, she sang spontaneously on the stage of the Bussola, the legendary nightclub in Marina di Pietrasanta, for the first time. Twenty years later, on 23 August 1978, she gave her final live concert at Bussoladomani, the club’s larger venue on the same coast. Mina has sung only in the studio ever since.

The Versilia, the stretch of coast between Viareggio and Forte dei Marmi below the Apuan Alps, remains a meeting place for music and nightlife. Find out which places are worth visiting and where to swim in our Versilia travel guide.

Conclusion: a farewell with an alarm signal

«Se telefonando» proves that a television song can become a classic when lyrics, composition and voice come together. To hear more of Mina, continue with «Parole parole» , her duet with actor Alberto Lupo, or with «The Sky in a Room» by Gino Paoli, which Mina turned into a hit in 1960. You can find all our song profiles in our overview of Italian music.