'O Sole Mio
"'O sole mio" is a globally known Neapolitan song written in 1898. The lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro and the melody was composed by Eduardo di Capua. Though there are versions in other languages, "'O sole mio" is usually sung in the original Neapolitan language. 'O sole mio is the Neapolitan equivalent of standard Italian Il sole mio and translates literally as "my sun" (not "Oh, my sun", as it would be in standard Italian).
Lyrics
- Napolitanian lyrics
- Che bella cosa e' na giornata 'e sole
- n'aria serena dopo na tempesta!
- Pe' ll'aria fresca pare già na festa
- Che bella cosa e' na giornata 'e sole.
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- Ma n'atu sole,
- cchiù bello, oje ne'
- 'O sole mio
- sta 'nfronte a te!
- 'O sole, 'o sole mio,
- sta 'nfronte a te!
- sta 'nfronte a te!
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- Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne,
- me vene quase 'na malincunia;
- sotto 'a fenesta toia restarria
- quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne.
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- Ma n'atu sole,
- cchiù bello, oje ne'
- 'O sole mio
- sta 'nfronte a te!
- 'O sole, 'o sole mio
- sta 'nfronte a te!
- sta 'nfronte a te!
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- English translation
- What a beautiful thing is a sunny day!
- The air is serene after a storm,
- The air is so fresh that it already feels like a celebration.
- What a beautiful thing is a sunny day!
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- But another sun,
- that's brighter still,
- It's my own sun
- that's upon your face!
- The sun, my own sun,
- It's upon your face!
- It's upon your face!
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- When night comes and the sun has gone down,
- I almost start feeling melancholy;
- I'd stay below your window
- When night comes and the sun has gone down.
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- But another sun,
- that's brighter still,
- It's my own sun
- that's upon your face!
- The sun, my own sun,
- It's upon your face!
- It's upon your face!
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Recordings
"'O Sole Mio" has been performed and covered by many artists, including such stalwarts of opera as Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Mario Lanza,Andrea Bocelli, The Canadian Tenors and The Three Tenors. It has also been performed by the Il Volo, a trio of Italian operatic pop teenage singers, consisting of Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto, and Gianluca Ginoble. It has also been performed by rock/pop artists such as Dalida, Anna Oxa, Bryan Adams, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Vitas (who sings it in a high countertenor range), Al Bano, Elvis Presley ("It's Now or Never") and most recently Erasure's Andy Bell in TV show Popstar to Operastar. Sergio Franchi recorded this song on his 1962 RCA Victor Red Seal debut album, Romantic Italian Songs.[1] Luciano Pavarotti won the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance for his rendition of "'O Sole Mio."
English versions
In 1915, Charles W. Harrison recorded the first English translation of "'O sole mio." In 1921, William E. Booth-Clibborn wrote lyrics for a hymn using the music, titled "Down from His Glory."
In 1949 U.S. singer Tony Martin recorded "There's No Tomorrow," which used the melody of "'O sole mio." About ten years later, while stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, Elvis Presley heard the recording and put to tape a private version of the song. Upon his discharge, he requested that new lyrics be written especially for him, a job that was undertaken by the songwriting duo of Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold, with a demo by David Hill. The rewritten version was titled "It's Now or Never" and was a worldwide hit for Presley.
In 1998, Christopher Lee and Rhapsody of Fire recorded an English-Italian version.
The Montreal-based Canadian band Men without Hats also recorded a different version of 'O Sole Mio', lyrics written by Ivan Doroschuk and produced by Stefan Doroschuk. The song is featured on their 1987 album "Pop Goes the World".
Copyright
In October 2002 a judge in Turin declared that Alfredo Mazzucchi (1878–1972), previously considered to be only a music transcriber, was actually a legitimate third author.[2][3][4] The song has been removed from the public domain and is now protected by copyright until 2042.
In popular culture
- At the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp "'O sole mio" was played when the music to the Italian national anthem could not be found.[5]
- Because the song is so well-known, invoking in many the beauty and romanticism of Italian culture, many hotels and restaurants have been named after it.
- The song is sung with harp accompaniment in the 1931 Marx Brothers movie Monkey Business.
- A version of the song ("Just One Cornetto ...") supposedly performed by Renato Pagliari (although this is disputed by Pagliari's son, Remo[6]) was used for a decade on British television to advertise Cornetto ice cream. In the ads, it is usually sung by a Venetian gondolier, despite the fact that Venice is hundreds of miles from Naples.
- The song is sung in the 1962 Danish movie Han, Hun, Dirch og Dario by Italian-Danish actor Dario Campeotto.
- The song is commonly heard playing from ice cream vans all over Europe.
- It has been used several times in the round called "One Song to the Tune of Another" in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on BBC Radio 4.
- Ernie from Sesame Street sang this song in one skit in order to wake someone up to tell him what time it was. (It was 3:00 AM.)
- On a SpongeBob SquarePants episode, SpongeBob sang this song to slow Squidward down and to stop him from performing his grand solo.
- This song is the overture to a VeggieTales Silly Song - "Larry's High Silk Hat" from "Lyle The Kindly Viking."
- A recording by Beniamino Gigli features in the film The Addams Family (1991).
- An Easter egg in the video game Riven shows the character of Gehn singing this tune. John Keston, who portrayed Gehn, was singing between takes.
- A remix of "'O sole mio," created by Namco, is featured in many of the Taiko no Tatsujin games. The song also appears in Pastagames' Maestro! Jump in Music.
- The band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes cover this song on their album Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah.
- The song's melody is used in a Australian commercial for Bankwest, with the lyrics changed to promote their "Happy Banking" campaign.
- Vincenzo Thoma recorded this song on the CD Sognero released in 1998 in Canada.
- The song is sung in episode three of The Alvin Show, where the chipmunks also sing their own version "Oh, Gondaliero."
- A bathhouse customer in the Chinese film Shower often sings the song while bathing, though he suffers from stage fright whenever he attempts to perform.
- The Italian trio Il Volo performed the song live on the American Idol stage on May 19, 2011. The performance helped send their debut album to the top of the Amazon and iTunes sales charts.
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