Ta pedia tou Pirea
| Ta pedia tou Pirea | |
|---|---|
| Melina Mercouri | |
| publication | October 1, 1960 |
| length | 3:30 |
| Genre (s) | Bat |
| Author (s) | Manos Hadjidakis |
| Label | United Artists Records |
| Award (s) | Oscar / Best Movie Song |
| album | Soundtrack album for Sundays ... never! |
Ta pedia tou Pirea ( Greek Τα παιδιά του Πειραιά , English title Never on Sunday ) is a hit by Manos Hadjidakis . In addition to an orchestral version, the song was featured in the film Sundays ... Never! also sung by Melina Mercouri . The song won in 1961 the Oscar as best film song and was the first foreign-language song ever to win an Oscar.
Origin background
Manos Hadjidakis wrote the song in Greek with the title Ta pedia tou Pirea (Eng. "The Children of Piraeus" ). The version used in the film was sung by Melina Mercouri. In the film, she sings to a record with the instrumental version in her room . Both the original text and some of the later foreign language versions tell the story of Illya, the film's protagonist. Illya is an " easy girl " who earns her money as a prostitute , but still enjoys life. She loves her hometown Piraeus and its people. She secretly hopes for a better life with a man who could share her love of life.
When an instrumental version of Don Costa reached number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 27 on the UK singles chart in 1960 , it was decided to write an English version of the song under the original film title, which was eventually written by Billy Towne . The Chordettes had a top 20 hit with the song in 1961.
In 2005 the original version of the song was used for Munich .
Cover versions
Numerous cover versions have been published in various languages. The list is only a selection.
- instrumental: Herb Alpert
- Greek: Nana Mouskouri and Pink Martini
- English: Bing Crosby , The Four Seasons , Lena Horne , Doris Day , Andy Williams , Trini Lopez , Connie Francis , Julie London , Eartha Kitt , Petula Clark and Lale Andersen
- German: the first version under the title A ship will come by Lale Andersen was a number one hit in 1960 . In 1982, as part of the Neue Deutsche Welle , the band Der moderne Man published a homosexual version of the song under the title “Blaue Sailors” , that is, with the same text, but sung by a man.
- Italian as Uno A Te, Uno A Me by Dalida , Milva and Isabella Fedeli .
- French by Melina Mercouri, Darío Moreno and Dalida
Individual evidence
- ^ A b David Roberts: British Hit Singles & Albums , 19th. Edition, Guinness World Records Limited, London 2006, ISBN 1-904994-10-5 , p. 135.
- ^ Emanuel Levy: All about Oscar: the history and politics of the Academy Awards . Continuum International Publishing Group, January 14, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8264-1452-6 , p. 210 (Retrieved July 27, 2010).
- ^ Gary Trust: Oscar Winners On The Hot 100 - Chart Beat . In: Billboard . March 9, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
- ^ Nielsen Business Media, Inc .: Billboard . Nielsen Business Media, Inc., May 29, 1961, p. 13 (Retrieved July 27, 2010).
- ↑ Müller, P .: City history of Bremerhaven: Lale Andersen ( Memento of August 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) , accessed: July 27, 2010.