Writing and recording Tenco spent a long time crafting the lyrics for "", writing around ten different versions before the final one. In the process, he sought counseling from
Mogol, with whom he had collaborated for "", who found that the lyrics were perfect the way they were. The earliest known version of the lyrics was elaborated with
Sergio Bardotti; closely following
Bob Dylan's "
Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35", it was a call to get rid of "false values". These lyrics were used in a later recording by
Nicola Di Bari titled after the opening line "" ("The World Spins"). The penultimate version of the lyrics, which is the best known besides the official release, was titled "" ("I Saw Them Come Back") and was vocally
antimilitaristic. While his record label,
RCA Italiana, deemed this version too "extreme" and advised him to amend it, Tenco recorded it in full; following the same musical structure as the final revision, it would only be published in 1972. Tenco was reportedly unconvinced even of the final version, but shortly after meeting Dalida at the RCA Italiana headquarters in Rome in 1966, she persuaded him to submit it for participation in the
Sanremo Festival. That summer, the pair decided that both of them would perform "", and they were ultimately admitted to the competition.
Sanremo Music Festival 1967 The night before the start of the
Sanremo Music Festival 1967, Tenco asked for some of his friends' opinion on "", promising that he would treat them to dinner in case of victory. According to journalistic accounts, Dalida's performance during the rehearsals came off better than Tenco's. The two premiered the song on the first night of the competition on 26 January 1967, with Tenco telling presenter
Mike Bongiorno, before getting on stage, "This is the last time;" Bongiorno later recounted having thought that Tenco had chosen to end his artistic career. Tenco's performance of "" was negatively impacted by the assumption of a medicinal drug and a pear
grappa, with the conductor Reverberi himself having a hard time keeping up with him. Dalida was also heard backstage complaining that he was "spoiling the song." "" obtained a score of 38/900 == Composition and lyrics ==