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Goodnight everyone and have a weekend magnifico!

Posted by Kevin Fischer on July 20, 2012

Nostalgia

“A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority.”
Samuel Johnson


It's Friday night. Time to unwind with our regular Friday night feature on This Just In.

The weekend has finally arrived.

The sun has set.

The evening sky has erupted. 

Let's put controversy and provocative blogs aside for the rest of this work week and smooth our way into Saturday and Sunday.

Tonight...





The music of Italy.

At the Henry Maier Festival Grounds on Milwaukee’s fabulous lakefront, the ethnic festival season is in full swing. The oldest of them all, and what some consider the best is taking place this weekend, Festa Italiana.

This week, we have some plain old unadulterated Italian fun.

We begin with my favorite artist. Reportedly, this was, out of all his recordings, his favorite. It is based on an Italian classic, O Sole Mio.

From www.italymag.co.uk:

"Written by Giovanni Capurro and Eduardo Di Capua in 1898,  (O Sole Mio)  was first recorded by Giuseppe Aselmi in 1907 and popularised by Mario Lanza. The first English translation - ‘There’s No Tomorrow’ - had previously been a hit in the US by Tony Martin – which Presley had apparently practised along to as a soldier. When discharged from the army – also in the wake of Lanza’s death and in memory of Caruso’s song, a childhood favourite - Elvis personally commissioned a brand new version. Songwriters Wally Gold and Aaron Schroeder obliged – it was the biggest of 17 hits for Elvis that Schroeder penned. Presley’s joyful take showing off his baritone to tenor end range, made number 1 in the US and the UK. Arguably the best selling single of all time, it shifted 30 million copies worldwide. So impacting was it that on hearing it in 1960 while serving time in prison for stealing, Barry White had a conversion to become a famous singer – helped by Schroeder."

Listen to that incredible voice, from 1960.


  







Elvis’ favorite singer, by some accounts, if it wasn't Mario Lanza was Dean Martin.

On this, my mom’s birthday, one of her favorites, especially after my dear dad went to heaven.
 









Next up, in the late 1960’s, if you knew you had a hit movie on your hands, you went to Andy Williams to record the theme song. Williams has been performing, incredibly, for 75 years. Ever since I first heard this recording, I have been blown away by how he phenomenally holds that last note.

Now for one of the greatest Italian songs ever.

It was recorded in 1958, and recorded many, many times thereafter. It won a Grammy for Domenico Modugno.
 

That’s it for this week for this week.

Sleep well.

Have a great weekend.

We close with a Friday night favorite, Andre Rieu from beautiful Tuscany.

Goodnight, and God bless the Italians!