Eh, Cumpari!

"Eh, Cumpari!" is a novelty song. It was adapted from a traditional Italian song by Julius La Rosa and Archie Bleyer in 1953, and sung by La Rosa with Bleyer's orchestra as backing on a recording that year.

The song reached #1 on the Cash Box charts and #2 on the Billboard charts in 1953. As a result, the song was also featured in a performance by Dennis Day on The Jack Benny Program on CBS Radio.

Another popular version was recorded in the mid-1970s by The Gaylords, in middle of which a comical letter from someone in "the old country" is read, culminating with a joke about Alitalia Airlines.

The song also appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's film The Godfather III as sung by Talia Shire, who played Connie Corleone. (See The Godfather Part III (soundtrack)).

Washington D.C. radio shock jock "The Greaseman" regularly used the song as one of his "bits" during the 1980s.

The song is a cumulative song, in which each verse contains all of the previous verse as well. It is sung in Southern Calabrian dialect and is about the sounds of musical instruments.

A rough translation reads as follows:

Hey buddy, [music] is playing.

What is playing? The whistle.

And what does it sound like—the whistle?

[vocalized instrument sound] the whistle, [nonsense rhythm words]

etc.

• u friscalettu = whistle [small flute]
• a saxofona = saxophone
• u mandolinu = mandolin
• u viulinu = violin
• a trumbetta = trumpet
• a trombona = trombone