Currently, I'm at The Snowball in Stockholm Sweden and I'm one of the main DJs here. Most of the times, I'm DJ'ing for Balboa dancers.
This song is quite new in my library and always when I spin it, a few dancers wanna know the details about it.
I'm more than happy to share it in my weekly series. My thanks go to David Knoll, a swing and tango dancer in Zürich, who brought this tune to my attention.
Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano
About the song, taken from Wikipedia:
“Tu vuò fà l'americano” (English: “You want to do American”, or more idiomatically, “You're an American wannabe”) 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. 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 Sofia Loren. It was also performed by Rosario Fiorello in the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley.
The lyrics are about an Italian who imitates the contemporary American lifestyle and acts like a Yankee, drinking whisky and soda, dancing to rock ‘n roll, playing baseball and smoking Camel cigarettes, but who still depends on his parents for money. The song is generally considered to be a satire on the process of Americanization that occurred in the early post-war years, when southern Italy was still a rural, traditional society.
Well, the lyrics you have to find somewhere else since this version by the German Jazz and World Music quartet Quadro Nuevo (founded in 1996) is an instrumental one.
Title: Tu Vuo' Fa' L'americano
Artist: Quadro Nuevo
Recorded: 2002
Album: Canzone Della Strada
Tempo: 194 bpm
Dance: Balboa
Click the link to download the song at
iTunes EU ･ iTunes US ･ Amazon DE ･ Amazon US ･ Amazon UK
What do you think about this version? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
[catalyst_hook_box name=”adboxsotwbottom”]
Every Monday, I post a new “Song of the Week“.
You can find the songs also on my Spotify playlist or on 8tracks.
Related Songs:
Song of the Week #147: “Mele Kalikimaka” by The Puppini Sisters
Song of the Week #146: “Four Or Five Times” by Muggsy Spanier feat. Sidney Bechet
Song of the Week #145: “Organ Grinder's Swing” by The Mills Brothers
Song of the Week #144: “Swingin' In The Promised Land” by Edgar Hayes
Song of the Week #143: “Splanky” by George Gee Swing Orchestra
