Cowboy boots and a white fur. Bang bang, my baby shot me down.

Did you know that long before the Trilogy of the Dollar, Ennio Morricone had already composed the soundtrack for a Spaghetti Western? Duello nel Texas, 1961. The theme was sung by Peter Tevis, with a voice somewhere between crooner and country.

Ennio Morricone, in fact, before being an Oscar-winning soundtrack composer, was an arranger of pop music, for Mina, Gianni Morandi, Dino, and many others. His pop soul, but for this reason never prone to simplism, has also (and above all) seduced directors, from the most experimental B-movies to auteur films such as those of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

The sonic and atmospheric mood can vary quite distinctively, from the western breaks of ‘A gringo like me’ to the glamorous bourgeois seduction of ‘Metti una sera a cena’, in the rare version sung by Florinda Bolkan. But Fabrizio Vatieri captures all the facets of the Maestro’s vocal repertoire and his Morricone Segreto Songbook, in an exclusive photo series.