Tu vuò fà l'americano
Tu vuò fà l'americano ( Neapolitan for: “You want to play the American” or more idiomatic “You are a wannabe American”) is a song by the Italian singer Renato Carosone .
Background and content
Carosone wrote the song in 1956 with Nicola "Nisa" Salerno . By combining swing and jazz , he created one of his most famous songs. Commissioned by Ricordi director Mariano Rapetti for a radio competition , Carosone wrote the piece of music in a very short time after reading Nisa's text; he knew immediately that the song was going to be a great success.
The text is about an Italian who imitates the contemporary American lifestyle and acts like a Yankee . He drinks whiskey and soda , dances rock 'n' roll , plays baseball and smokes Camel cigarettes, but is constantly dependent on his mother's wallet. The song was primarily conceived as a satire on the process of Americanization that took place during the first post-war years, when southern Italy was still very much rural and traditional.
Carosone himself wrote that his songs are based on the American dream , while he interpreted jazz and its derivatives as a symbol of the rich and prosperous America in parodies of its customs and habits, but always preserved the style of Neapolitan folk music . According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica , “Tu vuò fa l'americano” marked the culmination of Carosone's creative output, who retired from the music industry in 1960, just four years after the song was published.
Cinematic use
The song was first sung by Sophia Loren in Melville Shavelson's 1960 film It Started in Naples . Fiorello also sang him in the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley . It was also used as background music during a café scene in the 2010 film The American with George Clooney .
Cover versions and samples
- The French rapper Akhenaton , whose parents are from Naples , covered this song under the same name, but in French . In it, he describes the story of his fascination with America as a child and his disappointment after visiting America as an adult.
- Lou Bega made a cover version of the song entitled You Wanna Be Americano .
- The Brian Setzer Orchestra covered the song with their song Americano. This song appeared on their album VaVoom.
- The song was sampled in 2010 by Australian duo Yolanda Be Cool and producer DCUP in their international hit We No Speak Americano . It was subsequently re-recorded by Marco Calliari .
- Don Omar : We No Speak Americano (Remix)
- Tonino Carotone : In the album Mondo Difficile (2003)
- The Puppini Sisters recorded the song in 2007 for their album Betcha Bottom Dollar .
- Pitbull : Bon Bon (We No Speak Americano) (2010)
- In 2002 the Chilean rock band Pettinellis set a cover version entitled Americano as part of their debut album. The song was sung by the keyboardist Camilo Salinas (Chilean-Italian musician, born in Rome during the exile of his father, the musician Horacio Salinas ).
- Joe Penna , a well-known YouTuber aka MysteryGuitarMan, filmed a video cover of this song in 2010 using traditional musical instruments from Bali .
- Elliot Kevin & The Broken released the song on their album Damage of this Day.
- Rita Chiarelli released this song on her album Italian Sessions.
- Also used as an autoblow soundtrack.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c ITALICA - La Canzone d'Autore Italiana - Renato Carosone - Tu vuo 'fa l'americano ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Lyrics (Italian)
- ↑ Luciano Cheles, Lucio Sponza: The art of persuasion: political communication in Italy from 1945 to the 1990s . Books.google.ch
- ↑ www.renatocarosone.it News about Renato Carosone
- ^ Addio Carosone, maestro della musica italiana . La Repubblica / Spettacoli
- ↑ Americano on YouTube (English)
