Crooner Culture

Okay, so here’s proof that I’m a weirdo in having been a fan of this stuff since I was a kid. It also goes to show you how music can unite people in the most wonderful of ways. Grab an espresso and relax, this one’s cute.

When I was 15, I was a foreign exchange student to Italy for the summer. It was without a doubt the best ever summer of my entire life, even up until now. I lived with a fabulous family in Ancona and Marcelli Beach (yep, they owned a beach house) that took me all over the country to show me as much as they possibly could in my short stay.

Now you might not be aware of this, but in Europe, the folks there are HUGE fans of the band Queen. I mean, Freddy Mercury could be heard everywhere you went, and one of the favorites at that time was “We Are The Champions”. There was seriously nothing more adorable than hearing a bunch of Italians singing this song with their accents, getting all proud and teary (over what, I can’t imagine, other than football (soccer) wins).

While my host sister Laura had a decent grasp on English, my host father and mother and little sister did not. Well, one night the girls and I had the giggles and their father kept coming upstairs to tell us “Chiuda e vada dormire!” (“Shut up and go to sleep!”) Which basically just made us laugh harder when he would close the door…

Well I couldn’t take it anymore and just decided to keep it rolling so I began to sing. Yep, I sang LOUDLY, and it wasn’t anything by Queen, it was “Volare” by Dean Martin. (Sketchy translations in parenthesis added by me – these words are NOT in the actual song, and I did not sing them that night.)

Volare (To fly), oh oh
Cantare (To sing), oh oh oh oh
Let’s fly way up to the clouds
Away from the maddening crowds
We can sing in the glow of a star that I know of
Where lovers enjoy peace of mind
Let us leave the confusion and all disillusion behind
Just like bird of a feather, a rainbow together we’ll find

Volare, oh oh
E contare, oh oh oh oh
No wonder my happy heart sings
Your love has given me wings
Penso che un sogno cosi non ritorni mai piu
(I think that’s a dream that never returns ever again)
Mi dipingevo le mani e la faccia di blu
(I painted the hands and the face of the blue)
Poi d’improvviso venivo dal vento rapito
(Then suddenly I came from the kidnapped wind)
E incominciavo a volare nel cielo infinito
(And I began to fly in the infinite sky)

Volare, oh oh
E contare, oh oh oh oh
Nel blu, dipinto di blu
(In the blue, the painting of blue)
Felice di stare lassu
(Happy for being with you)
E volavo, volavo felice piu in alto del sole ed ancora piu su
(And I flew, I flew up happy beyond the sun and still further on)
Mentre il mondo pian piano spariva lontano laggiu
(While the world disappeared far away)
Una musica dolce suonava soltanto per me
(A sweet music only played for me)

Volare, oh oh
E cantare, oh oh oh oh
No wonder my happy heart sings
Your love has given me wings
Nel blu, dipinto di blu
Felice di stare lassu

I also did a little rendition of “That’s Amore” too, but given that “Volare” had more Italian in it, I stuck with that. My host father kept coming into the room with his hand raised like he was going to smack us but he couldn’t stop laughing long enough to do so! Yes, this is one of my most cherished and loved memories – and I owe it all to Dino.

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