("The Water Flea") is an album by Italian singer-songwriter

Angelo Branduardi Angelo Branduardi (born 12 February 1950) is an Italian folk music, folk/folk rock singer-songwriter and composer who scored relative success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Greece. Early and ...

. It was released in 1977 by

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

. A French edition, entitled , was released in 1979; an English edition, entitled ''Fables and Fantasies'' and with lyrics written by

Peter Sinfield Peter John Sinfield (27 December 1943 – 14 November 2024) was an English poet and songwriter. He was best known as a co-founder and lyricist of King Crimson. Their debut album '' In the Court of the Crimson King'' is considered one of the fi ...

, was released in 1980. The title track, "" is based on a Native American legend reported and adapted by

Jaime de Angulo Jaime de Angulo (1887–1950) was a linguist, novelist, and ethnomusicologist in the western United States. He was born in Paris of Spanish parents. He came to America in 1905 to become a cowboy, and eventually arrived in San Francisco on the eve ...

about a man falling ill because his shadow has been stolen by a water flea. "" ("Dance in F-sharp minor") is based on

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

's ''

The Seventh Seal ''The Seventh Seal'' () is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in Sweden during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) and a game of chess he plays with the p ...

'' in which a man defies the personification of Death (lyrics are taken from an inscription of a ''

danse macabre The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory from the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of death, summoning represen ...

'' depiction at

Clusone Clusone (Bergamasque: ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. Located in the Val Seriana, it received the honorary title of city on 15 May 1957 with a presidential decree which ratified a Napoleon Bonaparte ...

, near

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

); the melody is inspired by "Schiarazula Marazula", a medieval northern Italian theme which accompanied exorcism rites and which was collected by

Giorgio Mainerio Giorgio Mainerio (c. 1530s – 3 or 4 May 1582) was an Italian musician, composer, and occultist. He started his career as a presbyter and would only later start his musical career in the 1560s. Most of the songs he composed were in the 1570s ...

in his (1578). "" ("The cherry tree") is based on the English traditional song "

The Cherry Tree Carol "The Cherry-Tree Carol" ( Roud 453) is a ballad with the rare distinction of being both a Christmas carol and one of the Child Ballads (no. 54). The song itself is very old, reportedly sung in some form at the Feast of Corpus Christi in the early ...

". "" ("The court poet"), featuring parts by Luigi Lai, is partially based on "" by Aragonese Baroque composer

Gaspar Sanz Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (April 4, 1640 ( baptized) – 1710), better known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer, guitarist, and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the comarca of Bajo Aragón, Spain. He studied music, theo ...

. "" ("The hare in the Moon") is inspired by a Buddhist legend of the

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. "" ("The beautiful merciless dame") recalls a poem by

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

, in turn based on a composition by

Alain Chartier Alain Chartier (1430) was a French poet and political writer. Life Alain Chartier was born in Bayeux to a family marked by considerable ability. His eldest brother Guillaume became bishop of Paris; and Thomas Chartier became notary to the kin ...

. "" ("The stolen bride"), finally, retakes a Breton song entitled "" ("Satan's fiancée"), included in the anthology.

Track listing

*Lyrics by Luisa and Angelo Branduardi. Music by Angelo Branduardi. Copyright Luna Music S.A.S. #"" – 7:02 #"" – 4:15 #"" – 4:12 #"" – 3:49 #"" – 4:07 #"" – 4:44 #"" – 4:01 #"" – 5:02 #"" – 6:40 1977 albums Angelo Branduardi albums Polydor Records albums {{1970s-folk-album-stub