Text and meaning of Foreigner Of Bianca d'Apontefinalist song at Tenco 2026 license plates in the Best Single Song category. Behind this nomination there is a story that needs to be told even before the lyrics, because it makes the recognition something more than a musical award.
Who was Bianca d'Aponte?
Bianca d'Aponte she was a singer-songwriter from Aversa who passed away in 2003, at just 23 years old, just as she was working on her first studio album, after signing a contract with BMG Ricordi. She left a small and precious heritage of songs written and performed by her: some little more than sketches recorded on cassette, others already arranged and ready for publication.
His father, Gaetano d'Aponte, dedicated the following years to making sure that voice was not lost. From that desire was born the Bianca d'Aponte Awardthe Aversa competition reserved for singer-songwriters, now in its twenty-second edition, created together with the late guitarist and artistic director Fausto Mesolella. As Gaetano himself said, the idea was simple and poignant: find a way to make her continue singing.
Foreigner: the meaning of the song
Foreigner it is one of the most intense songs in the repertoire of Bianca d'Aponte: an essential and visionary writing, capable of transforming disorientation and desire into an intimate and universal story. At the center there is an encounter, perhaps real, perhaps imagined, with an unknown figure who becomes a mirror and traveling companion.
The song opens on a precise and daily memory: the first time on a train at rush hour, the suffocating crowd, and in the midst of all this a distracted and proud stranger, with his strange dog called Nero. From that image a bond is born made up of glances and possibilities: the stranger has “the eyes of someone who believes and hopes”, of someone who imagines that with every star that falls a new one is born. It is not a love song in the classic sense, but the story of an attraction towards what is unknown, towards the journey, towards the stories that the other brings with them.
The refrain is a request to stay and leave at the same time: “Stranger, stay a while with me, I won't ask you your name”. The stranger must not be possessed or deciphered, he must be followed in his world, because he is the key to exploring what the protagonist feels inside herself. There is a stubborn form of trust, a hope that resists even when the days and months pass and the meeting remains suspended between dream and reality.
Read today, in light of the story of whoever wrote it, the song takes on a further depth: that interrupted journey, that shooting star expected “this evening”, speak to the present with a rare sincerity.
Straniero's video-lyric
The song, rearranged by Bungarois taken from the album Ensemble for Bianca d'Apontethe posthumous album that collects ten songs by the singer-songwriter, restored and entrusted to the musicians of the Ensemble, each free to choose their own sound color to enhance Bianca's original voice and intentions. Bungaro's arrangement slows down the pace of the piece and brings out its most intimate meaning, putting the words at the centre.
The video-lyric uses a single still image taken from the album booklet, a graphic portrait of Bianca created by the illustrator Clelia Bove, aka Clelia Le Boeuf, while the overall graphic project is signed by Rita Zunno. The image accompanies the text without overpowering it, letting Bianca's voice emerge.
The text of Straniero
Below is the text of the song, reported in the context of the analysis.
I remember the first time on the train
it was rush hour
and it didn't seem real
people suffocated me
It didn't seem full
you stood there distracted and proud
together with your strange dog that you call black
and you smiled thinking about what
I wondered
You have the eyes of someone
believe it and hope
that for every star that falls
then a new one is born
Meanwhile the days pass and I
I still think about it
Foreigner
stay with me for a while
I won't ask you your name
I won't ask you
foreigner
take me with you
on your journey through stories
guide me into the world that exists
in me
It happened one day by chance I was walking slowly
and there you were on the road
right there with you
a coin, you laughed
like I was a child
The dark mood was already far away
then an out of tune guitar
and I also missed the train
I still don't know if I dreamed of you or if you're real
You have the eyes of someone who believes and hopes
than its shooting star
come down this evening
Meanwhile the months pass and I
I still think of you
Foreigner
I'll stay with you for a while
I won't ask you your name
I won't ask you
foreigner
I'm coming with you
on your journey through stories
guide me into the world that exists
in me
Foreigner at the 2026 Tenco Plates
The candidacy of Foreigner among the finalists for Best Single Song is one of the most touching elements of the 2026 edition of the Targhe Tenco. The piece is in a list of five which for an ex aequo has six titles, together with Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi, Ditonellapiaga, Moni Ovadia with Giovanna Famulari and Michele Gazich, Tosca and Emma Nolde with Cosa must be will. The winners will be announced at the Ariston Theater in Sanremo, where the Tenco Prize will be held from 22 to 24 October.
See the name of Bianca d'Aponte in that five years, over twenty years after his death, it is the confirmation that the gesture of care started by his family worked: his voice continues to speak in the present, and to be listened to.
Copyright Note: the cited texts are used for information, analysis and criticism purposes pursuant to art. 70 L. 633/1941. The rights remain with those entitled. For any reports you can contact the editorial team at redazione@allmusicitalia.it.
