Two little Italians
Two little Italians is a hit that was composed by Christian Bruhn and written by Georg Buschor . The singer of the original version from 1962 is Conny Froboess .
background
history
The title was recorded on November 28, 1961 together with the title Hallo, Hallo, Hallo (text and music: Horst Dempwolff) in the Electrola studio in Cologne. Both titles, along with 22 other hits, were selected by a jury from over 200 suggestions in order to participate in the preliminary decisions for the 1962 German Schlager Festival in January and February 1962 . Two little Italians qualified for the final and won the competition on February 17, 1962. In Germany, Conny Froboess' single with the B-side Hallo, hallo, hallo stayed at number 1 in the charts from March 16 to April 19, 1962 .
In 1962, victory at the Festival was combined with qualification for the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne 1962 , which was held on March 18, 1962 in Luxembourg . As one of a total of 16 participants, the title remained in the upper midfield and reached sixth place. In April 1962 Froboess was again in the Cologne studio of Electrola to record the song in an Italian (Un bacio all'italiana) and a Dutch version (Twee kleine Italianen) . On April 8th, the English version (Gino) was recorded in the EMI studio in London on a playback by Norrie Paramor's orchestra .
Especially in the Benelux countries, where Froboess had already been successful, the singer also achieved commercial success. In addition, performers from other countries recorded the title in different languages and some of them achieved sales successes there. While the single, published in July 1962, sold over 500,000 copies in Germany by December 1962, a total of 1,225,000 singles went over the counter in Europe.
As was customary at the time, immediately after the first release by Columbia ( EMI ), other record companies released their own versions of the hit. With the exception of the version by the Danish vocal duo Jan & Kjeld , which was published by Ariola , the competition did not manage to match the success of the original. However, the large number of versions can be considered an indication of the song's popularity. Froboess also sang the song in 1962 in the Austrian feature film Mariandls Heimkehr .
Newer cover versions come from Roger Cicero , who sang this title in the German preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in swing style, and the group Wind and the musical actor Bruno Grassini . André Rieu and Mirusia Louwerse also sang the piece.
text
Two little Italians is considered the first song that took up the theme of the so-called guest workers at the time . While the hit texts of the time otherwise exaggerated reality with a lyrically wistful unreality, Two Little Italians hit the nerve of the time. On the one hand, Italian guest workers were part of normal everyday life, on the other hand, the Germans had long since discovered Italy as a travel destination.
music
The text refrain "O Tina, o Marina ..." is musically an almost literal, but rhythmically smoothed quote from Les Preludes by Franz Liszt .
Discography (selection)
Conny Froboess singles
(A side / B side)
- Conny Froboess: Two little Italians / Hello, hello, hello (1962; Columbia )
- Conny Froboess: Un bacio al'italiana / Hallo, hallo, hallo (Italian version) (1962; Columbia)
- Conny: Twee kleine Italianen / Hallo, hallo, hallo (Dutch version) (1962; His Master's Voice)
- Conny: Gino / Midi-Midinette (English version) (1962; Columbia)
More German-speaking singles and EPs
- Romy Baumner & Bob Gerry: Two Little Italians / Money Like Hay (1962; Discofoon)
- Blue Capris: Two little Italians / On the quay of great longing (1962; Polydor )
- Betty Franken: Two little Italians / Dance with me in the morning (1962; Expo)
- Gitta & Alexander Gordon: Two little Italians / You play a great role / A rose from Santa Monica / Happy Birthday, Josefine (1962; Tip)
- Bruno Grassini : Un bacio all'italiana / Tra cieleo e mare (2010; Nordstern Musik)
- Jan & Kjeld : Two little Italians / Come to Copenhagen (1962; Ariola )
- Charlotte Marian : Two Little Italians / Elisabeth Serenade (1962; Tempo)
- Mary Roos : Two little Italians / I look after the white clouds (1962; world melody)
- The Sunnies and the Cornel-Trio: Two Little Italians / A Rose from Santa Monica (1962; Telefunken )
- Ines Taddio : Two Little Italians (1963; Qualiton)
More foreign language singles and EPs
- Monika Aspelund: Tina Ja Marina / Hallo, Hallo, Hallo (Finnish) (1962; Parlophone)
- Colette Deréal : Sonne, sonne donc / Cheveux fous et lèvres roses / Un moral de plomb / Puisque l'on s'aimera (French) (1962; Polydor)
- De Gema's: Twee kleine Italiaantjes / Doe Eens Mee (Bring Her Out Again) (Dutch) (1962; CNR)
- Lars Lönndahl : Midnatts-Tango / Tina och Marina / Tipi-Tii / Regnet kommer snart (Swedish) (1962; RCA )
Instrumental versions
- Will Glahé's Bohème Ballhouse Band - Two Little Italians (1962; Decca )
Others
- At the Eurovision Song Contest, the title didn't get a single point from Italy .
- The Dutch version of the song is a translation of the German text. The English version is about a love story, the Italian and French versions are about different types of kisses.
- Two little Italians was Cornelia Froboess' first single, which was released under the name Conny Froboess . On the previous singles she called herself Conny from 1958 and previously Die kleine Cornelia .
- In the radio comedy show Frühstyxradio on the Lower Saxony private broadcaster Radio ffn , the title is a signature melody of a series of sketches of the same name, which is about two Italians who run a pizzeria in Lower Saxony and where no cliché about Italian men is left out.
- The hit appeared in the movie Mariandls Heimkehr (Premiere: October 11, 1962).
Web links
- Song lexicon: "Zwei Kleine Italiener" , accessed on May 21, 2012
- Two small Italians at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Italian version
- ↑ Dutch version
- ↑ English version
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records, 1985, p. 163
- ↑ Complete text of the song
- ↑ Cf. the YouTube recording of "Les Préludes" from minute 4:09, in the score from bar 69 (performance description "espressivo ma tranquillo")
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
|
I'll see you again once from Lale Andersen |
 Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 1962 |
Marcel by Heidi Brühl |