What it's about

The singer looks at the world and counts it: things in a theater, stars, trips, houses in the neighborhood, birds in the sky. Counting becomes a game and a rhythm to share with everyone: Questo ritmo è per ciascuno. In the bridge, the music stops and the singer ironically admits that maybe they are «dando i numeri», but they want to keep counting wherever they go.

Useful words and expressions

  • Cardinal numbers: uno, due, tre, quattro… venti, cinquanta, cento, mille, un milione. Note: you say mille, but un milione di (with di before the noun): un milione di paesaggi.
  • Ordinal numbers: il primo, il secondo.
  • Quantities: pochi, tanti, un po', un bel po' (= quite a lot), una metà, il doppio, zero.
  • Uno a uno: one after another, without skipping any.
  • Non manca nessuno: everyone is there, no one is missing.
  • Sommare: to sum up, to add. Somma tutto = put everything together.
  • Un bel botto: in colloquial Italian, un botto means «a whole lot». Un botto is also a loud bang, an explosion.
  • Dare i numeri: an idiomatic expression meaning «to say strange things, to act crazy». Here it is a play on words, because the song is actually about numbers.
  • Lassù: high up, up there.

Grammar

  • Imperative: Conta il mondo, Somma tutto, Vieni con me are invitations addressed to «tu». Conta il mondo can also be read as «il mondo conta», meaning it is important.
  • Present tense: conto, misuriamo, so, voglio contare.
  • Stare + gerund: sto dando indicates an action in progress right now.
  • Subjunctive after «ovunque»: ovunque io vada. After ovunque, the subjunctive is used.
  • Adjective agreement: pochi, tanti, grandi e belli are masculine plural.

Watch out for the rhymes

  • Mentre i numeri io copio: to rhyme with doppio, the subject io is placed before the verb. Normally you say mentre copio i numeri.
  • Quantità che ora io so: here too, the word order is forced for the rhyme. Usually, sapere does not take a noun like quantità. In normal speech, you would say le quantità che ora conosco or ora so contare le quantità.
  • Cinquanta sogni nel bicchiere and un bel botto are poetic images chosen for the rhyme, not phrases to use in everyday life.