Carosone in 1995 | |
Background information | |
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Birth name | Renato Carusone |
Born | 3 January 1920 Naples, Kingdom of Italy |
Died | 20 May 2001 (aged 81) Rome, Italy |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | |
Instruments | |
Years active | 1935–2001 |
Labels |
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Jan 31, 2005 Listen to Maruzzellaby Renato Carosone on Slacker Radio, where you can also create personalized internet radio stations based on your favorite albums, artists and songs. Listen to Renato Carosoneby Renato Carosone on Slacker Radio, where you can also create personalized internet radio stations based on your favorite albums, artists and songs.
Renato Carosone ([reˈnaːto karoˈzoːne]; 3 January 1920 – 20 May 2001), born Renato Carusone, was an Italian musician. He was a prominent figure of the Italian music scene in the second half of the 20th century. He was also a modern performer of the so-called canzone napoletana, Naples' song tradition.
- 1Biography
Biography[edit]
Beginnings[edit]
Carosone, first of three siblings, was born in Naples. He studied piano at the Naples Conservatory and obtained his diploma in 1937, when he was just 17. Soon after he signed a contract as a band leader for a tour of Africa, which resulted in him working in Addis Ababa as a pianist. Here he would become a prominent figure of the music scene, performing with his band on several occasions. He returned to Italy only in 1946, after the end of World War II.
Despite his success abroad, Carosone was a stranger to Italian audiences. He had to start his career afresh, playing the piano for small dance-hall bands. These new performances were strongly influenced by the new rhythms and music styles he had encountered during his ten years' absence from the Italian music scene.
Success[edit]
In 1949 he was asked to put together a group for a club's opening night. After some auditions, he signed the Dutch guitaristPeter van Houten and the Neapolitan drummerGegè Di Giacomo: the Trio Carosone was born. The trio became a quartet with the addition of the Hungarian Gypsy musician Elek Bacsik on bass, guitar and violin.
Afterwards Van Houten and Bacsik left the group to pursue solo careers. Gegè Di Giacomo remained with Carosone, who contacted other musicians to finally form a real band.
During the 1950s Carosone became more and more popular, his orchestra was in great demand both in Italy and abroad, and records sales were soaring high.
His song 'Torero', was a bestseller in the United States in the summer of 1958. Torero was translated into 12 languages and no fewer than thirty cover versions were recorded in the United States alone. On 5 January 1957 Carosone and his band started off a successful American tour with a concert in Cuba. This tour concluded with a triumphant performance at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Retirement[edit]
At the height of his career, Carosone announced his retirement from music in 1960: I'd rather retire now on the crest of the wave, than being tormented later by the doubt that yè-yè fashion and new armies wearing blue-jeans may wipe away all that I have achieved in so many years of work and worries. His decision caused an uproar. Some even suspected obscure criminal threats. Away from the spotlight, Carosone turned to other interests, mainly painting.
Comeback[edit]
On 9 August 1975 Carosone made his comeback in a televised concert. He then resumed his musical debut with live concerts, performances at the Sanremo Music Festival and TV appearances until the late 1990s.
Repertoire[edit]
Several of his hits were the result of his long and fruitful collaboration with the lyricistNicola Salerno, who used the pseudonym Nisa. They could understand each other perfectly: just one hint by Carosone, and Nisa wrote a funny, witty little story about it. 'O suspiro', 'Torero', 'Tu vuò fà l'americano', 'Mambo Italiano', 'Caravan Petrol', 'Pigliate 'na pastiglia','O Sarracino' were among their greatest hits.
A few famous songs in Carosone's repertoire were not written by Nisa: '...E la barca tornò sola' (a lively parody of a song performed by Gino Latilla at Sanremo Music Festival in 1954), 'Tre numeri al lotto', 'Maruzzella' (dedicated to his wife), 'O russo e 'a rossa'
He made four albums with Capitol Records, Honeymoon in Rome T-10031, 'Renato Carosone!' T-10163, 'Carnevale Carosone' T-10204 and Blue Italian Skies T-10147.
Death[edit]
Carosone died on 20 May 2001 at the age of 81 in Rome, Italy.
See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- Scuderi, Antonio. 'Okay Napulitan!: Social Change and Cultural Identity in the Songs of Renato Carosone.' Italica, Vol. 87. No. 4 (2010) : 619-36.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Renato_Carosone&oldid=924115549'
(Redirected from Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano)
'Tu vuò fà l'americano' | |
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Song by Renato Carosone | |
Released | 1956 |
Recorded | 1956 |
Genre | Swing, jazz |
Songwriter(s) | Renato Carosone |
'Tu vuò fà l'americano' (pronounced [ˈtu ˌvwo ˈfa llameriˈkɑːnə]; 'You Want to Be American')[1] is a Neapolitan language song by Italian singer Renato Carosone.
Carosone wrote the song in collaboration with Nicola 'Nisa' Salerno in 1956. Combining swing and jazz, it became one of his best-known songs.[2] Commissioned by Ricordi director Rapetti for a radio contest, the music was composed by Carosone in a very short time after reading Nisa's lyrics; he immediately believed the song would become a great success.
Carosone's original version of the song was performed by him in the film Totò, Peppino e le fanatiche (directed by Mario Mattoli, 1958). The song was featured in the 1960 Melville Shavelson film It Started in Naples, in which it was sung by Sophia Loren. It was also performed by Rosario Fiorello in the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley.[2]
The lyrics are about an Italian who affects a contemporary American lifestyle, drinking whisky and soda, dancing to rock 'n roll, playing baseball and smoking Camel cigarettes, but who still depends on his parents for money.[2] The song is generally considered to be a satire of the Americanization that occurred in the early years after World War II, when southern Italy was still a rural, traditional society.[3] According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, 'Tu vuò fa l'americano' is the definitive hit single of Carosone's artistic career, as he retired from music in 1960, just four years after releasing the song.[4]
Covers and sampling[edit]
- Boris Vian adapted it in French under the name 'Tout fonctionne à l'italiano' ('Everything goes italiano') to parodize the then French craving for Italian things. The song was created in 1957 by Freddy Balta on its humoristic EP Fredo Minablo et sa pizza musicale (Fredo Minablo and its musical pizza).[5]
- Lou Bega made a cover of the song entitled 'You Wanna Be Americano'.
- The Brian Setzer Orchestra covered this song with their song, 'Americano.' This song appeared on their album Vavoom!.
- The song was covered by the Gisella Cozzo and Ray Gelato Giants in 1998, with their version of the track used for a worldwide television commercial for Levi's. It had a wide exposure and appeared on two of their albums, The Men from Uncle (1998), and Live in Italy (2000).[6]
- The song was sampled in 2010 by the Australian duo Yolanda Be Cool and producer DCUP in their song 'We No Speak Americano' that became an international hit. It was subsequently re-recorded by Marco Calliari.
- Don Omar - 'We No Speak Americano (Remix)'
- This was used as one of the demo songs for the singing synthesizer software Vocaloid Tonio and featured both him and another Vocaloid 'Big Al' singing the song.
- The Puppini Sisters recorded this on their album Betcha Bottom Dollar in 2007.
- Pitbull (2010)- 'Bon Bon (We No Speak Americano)', sample.
- In 2002 the Chilean rock band Pettinellis recorded a cover entitled 'Americano' as part of their debut album.
- Rita Chiarelli released this song on her album Italian Sessions.
- Korean band LPG made an adaptation to their track Angry.
- Darren Criss covered the song at a charity show at Yale University in 2011, and on his 2013 'Listen Up' tour in Huntington, NY.
- A half-Greek, half-Italian version was recorded in 2011 by Lavrentis Machairitsas and Tonino Carotone.
- In 2012 the band The Gypsy Queens features this song in their album The Gypsy Queens, with the title L'Americano. Mark Francis 'Made In Chelsea' 2012.
- Dany Brillant recorded the song in Neapolitan language and released his cover version on his album 'Dolce Vita' in 2001.
- Patrizio Buanne's rendition of the song with lyrics in English was released on his album 'Patrizio' in 2009 with the name 'Americano (Tu Vuo' Fa L' Americano)'.
- Gigi D'Alessio released a cover of the song with Christian De Sica on his third live album 'Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano - Live In New York' in 2011.
- Dominic Halpin & The Honey B's covered the song as 'Americano' on their 2016 album Cha Cha Boom.
Uses in popular culture[edit]
- Matt Damon, Jude Law and Rosario Fiorello sing the song in a jazz club in The Talented Mr. Ripley. In a subversion of the subject of the song, Law's character is a spoiled American heir living in Mongibello, Italy, where he revels in the Italian culture while living off a generous allowance from his wealthy American parents back home.
- Carosone's version appears on the soundtrack for the movie The American, 2010. In the movie, the song plays in a cafe visited by George Clooney's character, an American assassin seeking refuge in a small Italian town.
- The same version is part of the soundtrack for the animated movie Sammy's Great Escape, 2012.
- The song can be heard in episode 4 of Catch-22 (miniseries) during a sequence in which Yossarian helps Milo with his business ventures throughout the Mediterranean (however, the song was written long after the timeframe of this series).
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Tu vuo fa l'americano (You Want to Be American) - Single'. iTunes. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- ^ abc'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on January 17, 2011. Retrieved October 27, 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^(ed), Luciano Chelos; (ed), Lucio Sponza (1 January 2001). 'The Art of Persuasion: Political Communication in Italy from 1945 to the 1990s'. Manchester University Press. Retrieved 9 June 2016 – via Google Books.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- ^'la Repubblica/spettacoli: Addio Carosone, maestro della musica italiana'. Repubblica.it. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^(in French)Tout fonctionne à l'italiano, Encyclopedisque.
- ^'History - Ray Gelato'. Raygelato.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
External links[edit]
- Renato Carosone sings 'Tu vuò fà l’americano' on YouTube.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tu_Vuò_Fà_L%27Americano&oldid=937501217'