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LUNA MEZZO MARE < previous next >
| (Paolo Citorello) |
| (o): | Paolo Citarella (1927) | label: Italian Book Company/Brunswick |
| | Sicilian singing seaman. Risqué song about a girl telling her mother how the moon over the sea makes her long for a husband. Follows a list of candidates, all of a different trade (butcher, baker, shoemaker, farmer, carpenter, gardener, fisherman, policeman, fireman), parading their most typical attribute. |
| (c): | Paolo Citarella (1929) [on Okeh as Mamma A Cer Maddari], Paolo Dones (1930s) [as A Luna Mmenzu 'u Mari], Rosina Gioiora Trubia (1930s) [as Mi Vogghiu Maritari], Silvia Coruzzolo (1930s) [as A Luna Mezzo O' Mare], I Diavoli (1930s) [as La Luna In Mezzo Al Mare], Rudy Vallee (1938) [as Oh! Ma-Ma! (The Butcher Boy); credits go to Vallee, Citorello and Lew Brown, writer of Beer Barrel Polka and Life Is But A Bowl Of Cherries], Andrews Sisters (1938) [as Oh! Ma-Ma!], Glenn Miller (1938) [idem], Trio Lescano (1940) [as La Luna In Mezzo Al Mare], Louis Prima (1951) [as Zuma Zuma Barca La], Dean Martin (1951) , Lou Monte (1958) [as Lazy Mary in his typical 'Eyetalian' accent and two chorus in 'British'], Mills Brothers (1960) [as Oh! Ma-Ma!], Pete Seeger (1967) [as C'e La Luna (The Butcher Boy)], Louis Prima (1972) [as Che La Luna], cast of The Godfather I (1972) [during Sicilian wedding shots], Frank Simms (1999) [in Hugh Grant film Mickey Blue Eyes], |
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| Slightly inspired by Rossini's La Danza, a Neapolitan tarantella with opening line: "Già la luna in mezzo al mare, mamma mia". |
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