Berlusconi's love lyrics revealed

Will the Italian Prime Minister sing on the album?

Love lyrics written by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi have been published in an Italian newspaper.

The media magnate and former cruise ship singer has been working on seven songs for a CD with guitarist Mariano Apicella.

Il Libero newspaper published the lyrics to Col Cuore In Gola (With Your Heart in Your Throat) on Wednesday.

They include the lines: "I feel that life is bent on dividing us/And I am frightened of being left without you."

Mr Berlusconi is well-known for bursting into song, once serenading Russian President Vladimir Putin during talks.

The Italian PM follows in the footsteps of Japanese Prime Minster, Junichiro Koizumi, a renowned Elvis Presley fan who is famed for his impersonations of the King.

Cherie Blair also sang a light-hearted rendition of Beatles track, When I'm 64, to a group of students during a recent trip to Beijing.

Plaintive

The song ends on a more determined note: "I know perhaps you'll make me suffer/But I'll not let you go/Even if I have to fight/For I'll love you to the end."

Publication of the lyrics coincides with speculation surrounding Berlusconi's marriage to Veronica Lario.

The couple are now rarely seen together in public.

Earlier this summer, Berlusconi told an interviewer he was too busy working on the CD to take notice of a row between the government and opposition supporters over his companies' right to immunity from investigation by prosecutors.

The release of the album, titled Meglio 'na Canzone (Better A Song), has been postponed several times and was originally due to come out last year.