COFFEE IN MUSIC

Coffee not only turns on the mind, but also feeds the inspiration of many artists.

In pop and rock music, this simple yet precious beverage becomes a metaphor for different moods, according to the occasion. What could be more natural than to pause for a cup of hot coffee, even for the most unpredictable rock star, and such moments have been photographed and made iconic by numerous songs in which the vigorous notes of this beverage have been turned into sound and rhythm. By journeying back in time and styles, we have created our own playlist to listen to at any time of the day, maybe accompanied by the intense and assertive taste of our Universo blend. 

Beatles, “Savoy Truffle”

George Harrison and Eric Clapton even love coffee in desserts, which led them to write this light-hearted song. Impossible to resist a box of chocolates with its umpteen flavours and what does it matter if your teeth are going to need treatment afterwards. We don’t know whether Clapton actually went to the dentist but his friend Harrison certainly left us another hit song to start the day with.

Peggy Lee, “Black Coffee”

Coffee keeps you company on sleepless nights, especially if you are lovesick, as in this song dated 1953 in which a woman roams restlessly around the house, waiting for the lover who has seduced her and disappeared without a word.

Blur, Coffee and TV

If you feel floored by an indifferent world that cares nothing about you, if you have suffered because of cruel words spoken by those who think they know it all, then get away for a while, like Damon Albarn, and have a coffee with someone you love. Everything will look different.

Cesare Cremonini, “Dicono di me” (What people say about me)

Those who think one coffee is the same as another are making a big mistake, just like those who judge the artist superficially. They all criticize him, they say he’s a snake, a witch or a liar without knowing that, deep inside, he is full of love “for the woman whose name is a flower”.  .

Fiorella Mannoia, “Caffé Nero Bollente” (Hot black coffee)

Also in this song, coffee – the hot black variety – is the only consolation for an unhappy love story. Mannoia describes the restless hours spent at home, a lover that never arrives and the days she whiles away waiting for him. She hates this inactivity, trapped by her own desire which becomes a torture. One day, she says, she will leave because, after all, she needs no one. But, in the meantime, she’ll have another cup of coffee.

Raphael Gualazzi, “Follia d’amore” (Folly of love)

Gualazzi sees love as madness: you need to be prepared to split up and make up, with the lightness of this same melody in which coffee become sheer sound for singing and enjoying.  

Rolling Stones, “Look what the cat dragged in”

Even for a creature of the night like Mick Jagger, coffee offers a moment of peace and quiet. And he is not at all happy when his friend arrives home after breakfast with a face shattered by a night on the tiles. Coffee is sacred, even for a rock star.

Tiziano Ferro, “Sere Nere” (Black evenings)

Coffee becomes a bitter sweet recollection, the symbol of lost complicity and a love story that has now faded, in this hit by Tiziano Ferro who, with a broken heart, is dazed by the gossip of those around  him, but seeks consolation by thinking “They say it will help me/ If it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger”.

Prince, “Starfish and coffee”

This song is a childhood memory, the portrait of a special child, who was able to see things differently.  And while all of her classmates stood neatly in line, inside she had a world full of colours and imagination. And if you asked her what she had eaten for breakfast, she would answer “Starfish and coffee”.