We Speak no Americano feat. bowlback

[Frankdolin]

I came across this yesterday. It's probably been posted but a tough search. Know nothing about the band but their musicianship is excellent and the mandolin is well represented. Not sure what it's about as I speak no Italiano.:mandosmiley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30HsgKTkQ68&t=0s&index=2&list=LLavQyDVYAP5ryMlAbFq2KAg

[JEStanek]

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/we-no-speak-americano-we-no-speak-americano.html

How can the one
How can the one
How can the one who loves you understand you
If you're speaking half American
When you're making love under the moon
How will you say :"I love you?"

We don't speak American
We don't speak American
We don't speak American

You want to be American

We don't speak American
You want to be American

Whiskey soda and rock and roll
Whiskey soda and rock and roll
Whiskey soda and rock and roll

These are the lyrics in English for one version.

[Farace]

The song is "Tu Vuo Fa l'Americano," covered innumerable times, but this is the original by Renato Carosone. The translation given is faulty; there is much more going on here. The original Italian (napoletan dialect):

Puorte 'e cazune cu nu stemma arreto
Na cuppulella cu 'a visiera aizata
Passa scampanianno pe' Tuleto
Comm'a nuguappo, pe' se fa' guarda'
Tu vuo' fa' ll'americano
Mericano, mericano
Sient'a mme chi t' 'o ffa fa'?
Tu vuoi vivere alla moda,
Ma se bevi "whisky and soda"
Po' te siente 'e disturba'
Tu abball' o' rocchenroll
Tu giochi a baisiboll
Ma e solde p' e' Ccamel
Chi te li da
La borsetta di mamma'
Tu vuo' fa' ll'americano
Mericano, mericano
Ma si' nato in Italy
Sient' a mme, nun ce sta niente 'a fa'
Ok, napulitan
Tu vuo' fa' ll'american
Tu vuo' fa' ll'american
Come te po' capi' chi te vo' bbene
Si tu lle parle miezo americano?
Quanno se fa ll'ammore sott' 'a luna
Comme te vene 'ncapa 'e di' "I love you"?
Tu vuo' fa' ll'americano
Mericano, mericano
Sient'a mme chi t' 'o ffa fa'?
Tu vuoi vivere alla moda
Ma se bevi "whisky and soda"
Po' te siente 'e disturba'
Tu abball' o' rocchenroll
Tu giochi a baisiboll
Ma e solde p' e' Ccamel
Chi te li da
La borsetta di mamma'
Tu vuo' fa' ll'americano
Mericano, mericano
Ma si' nato in Italy
Sient' a mme, nun ce sta niente 'a fa'
Ok, napulitan
Tu vuo' fa' ll'american
Tu vuo' fa' ll'american
Tu vuo' fa' ll'americano
Mericano, mericano
Ma si' nato in Italy
Sient' a mme, nun ce sta niente 'a fa'
Ok, napulitan
Tu vuo' fa' ll'american
Tu vuo' fa' ll'american
(Whisky and soda e rocchenroll
Whisky and soda e rocchenroll
Whisky and soda e rocchenroll)
Songwriters: Nicola Salerno / Renato Carosone

I can't find the translation I like right now (and this iPad is having fits at the moment; nothing but trouble), but my favorite part is basically "You dance rock and roll, you play baseball, but the money for your Camels, who gives it to you? Your mama's purse." The whole song is ridiculing someone who is acting like they want to be American, but is Napoletano.

[Rdeane]

Well I know it's not the Four Seasons because there are 5 of them, but dang if it doesn't look like Franki Valli!!

[MikeZito]

My Italian is not that great (especially in certain dialects), but I don't think the English translation above is very accurate. Someone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Cool song nonetheless . . . .

[Jeff Mando]

Fun stuff! Song was also featured in The Talented Mr. Ripley movie.

[V70416]

Cool.

Not often one hears a slammin ocarina solo!

[brunello97]

My Italian is not that great (especially in certain dialects), but I don't think the English translation above is very accurate. Someone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Cool song nonetheless . . . .

You're right, Michele, that's not really a "translation" but a whole set of lyrics in English, which unfortunately neutralized (or neutered) a broad array of great Italian songs from the 20th C from "Funiculi" to "Volare".

Our friend Sheri Mignano might have un molto piu forte term than "neutered".

I speak Italian fairly well, but I'm from Texas so my English is suspect (as of course is my understanding of Neapolitan dialect.)

But "Tu Vuo Fa l'Americano" is something more on the order of "you want to be an American" or more precisely "You want to make like an American" which I think fits the nature of the lyrics much better.

I can make a stab at Sig. Farace's great relay of the lyrics, but I think I'll wait around a bit and see if someone who really knows what they're talking about weighs in first.

Great song, nonetheless...

Mick

[Charles E.]

Cool.

Not often one hears a slammin ocarina solo!

Or a chewing gum bass line from a drummer!

[Farace]

I speak Italian fairly well, but I'm from Texas so my English is suspect (as of course is my understanding of Neapolitan dialect.)


I had three years of Italian in high school, but that ended forty years ago. My dad was Italian, but his parents made a point to only speak English in the house, so the only Italian Dad learned growing up was what the women upstairs screamed across the alley at each other, which was dialect but none of which was suitable for polite conversation, and none of which Dad would translate for me. I had fun with it in high school, though; my Italian teacher was a native Roman, and I came into class one day, acting very innocent, and asked, "Mr. Bascetta, what does [word I won't repeat here] mean?" He nearly had a brain hemorrhage and forbade me from ever saying it again.

[Frankdolin]

My Grandma was Calebrese, spelled wrong, and Grandpa was Sicilian. They only fought in there respective languages and I was brought up to never repeat a"anywords" they shouted.

[MikeZito]

the only Italian Dad learned growing up was what the women upstairs screamed across the alley at each other . . . which was (not) suitable for polite conversation, and none of which Dad would translate for me . . . my Italian teacher was a native Roman, and I came into class one day, acting very innocent, and asked, "Mr. Bascetta, what does [word I won't repeat here] mean?" He nearly had a brain hemorrhage and forbade me from ever saying it again.

(laugh) Yeah, I have made that 'translate this' mistake myself a couple of times - most recently with my Italian-born 82-year old mother . . . I thought the poor lady was going to collapse, right on the spot.

[brunello97]

(laugh) Yeah, I have made that 'translate this' mistake myself a couple of times - most recently with my Italian-born 82-year old mother . . . I thought the poor lady was going to collapse, right on the spot.

Funny stuff.

I'm Irish, or Texan, actually, but my parents were immigrants who boarded with an Italian family (from Padua) on arrival. Miei padrini were Italian, of course, and we grew up hearing as much Italian as Spanish. Didn't take much motivation to learn to speak both.

I still suffer from unintentional crossover. I met the father of one of my students this summer--who is from Jalisco, and his father has an orange grove that they both go back home to work at. I was going on and on with him about how much I enjoyed my travels down that way and he kept nodding his head with a raised eyebrow. I realized I had switched inadvertently to Italian mid-blab. Doh!
We both were breaking up laughing.

Now if I could only learn to communicate better in English...;)

Mick

[MikeZito]

I still suffer from unintentional crossover. I met the father of one of my students this summer--I was going on and on with him about how much I enjoyed my travels down that way and he kept nodding his head with a raised eyebrow. I realized I had switched inadvertently to Italian mid-blab.

I guess that if you are not 100% fluent in either language, that is a crossover that is easy to make. My mother once told some friends that I speak part Sicilian, part Italian, part Spanish, and part some language she has never heard before!

[Bogle]

VERY entertaining, though....particularly the drummer's "bass riff"!

[maudlin mandolin]

The only recording I can think of to feature a mandolin and ocarina duet and then clarinet and saxophone played simultaneously by one player.