Then in the spaces below my colored Italian lyrics, I write in finer ink the translation, grammatical notes, etc. (i.e. “avevi” being imperfect indicative of avere as in “Avevi ragione” – “you were right” in Riccardo Cocciante's “Cheleste Nostalgia”).

I shocked myself last night as I used this for at least 3 songs a week, and was singing the entire “Col Nome Giusto” by Carmen Consoli (slow, easy to pick out the words) while cleaning my kitchen – somehow I learned the words, the meanings, the translations, the rhythm, the intended emotions – and believe this will take my conversational Italian to the next level.

I hope this works for others!

Pero' vai piano con le canzoni…proceed cautiously with learning the language through songs…as with poetry there are a lot of creative liberties taken, and they don't always follow normal grammar structures and with artistic flights of fantasy they can lead to confusion. But if you are a poet at heart…then go for it!

I remember doing this for Felicità too (I was not really deliberately trying to learn Italian and I was only interested in the song (although I have tried to learn some Italian before)).

You could try it Felicità. It's a nice old Italian song with not too difficult lyrics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs8r-8EJ4c8