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"Funiculì, Funiculà" is a famous song written by Italian journalist Peppino Turco and set to music by Italian composer Luigi Denza in 1880. It was composed to commemorate the opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius, which was destroyed by the eruption of 1944. It was sung for the first time in the Quisisana Hotel in Castellammare di Stabia and met with huge success. It was presented by Turco and Denza at the Piedigrotta festival during the same year. Edward Oxenford, an English songwriter and translator of libretti, published a version which became somewhat traditional in English-speaking countries.

Unintentional plagiarism

Six years after Funiculì, Funiculà was composed, German composer Richard Strauss heard the song while on a tour of Italy. Thinking that it was a traditional Italian folk song, he later incorporated it into his Aus Italien symphony. Denza filed a lawsuit against Strauss and eventually won. Strauss was forced to pay him a royalty fee every time the Aus Italien was performed in public.

Original Neapolitan lyrics

notes^{[1] [2]}

English translation

With some help from the Storia di Napoli online dictionary [1]

Traditional English lyrics

The English version of the song is subtitled "A Merry Life".^[3]

References in popular culture

• "Funiculì, Funiculà" without lyrics was played as the theme music of the radio comedy soap opera Lorenzo Jones and his wife Belle which ran from 1937-1955 on various networks.

• A spoof was once made replacing the traditional lyrics with disparaging lyrics about school food.

• "Funiculì, Funiculà" was a popular hit song performed by Mario Lanza in the 1950s. The melody is the same as the 1800s version, but the lyrics are in English and also changed to have a different theme, i.e. "Love is everywhere, funiculì, funiculà".

• The 1947 Disney cartoon "Mickey and the Beanstalk" uses the melody from "Funiculì, Funiculà" when Goofy and Donald Duck sing a song about food, including the words "I wanna eat 'n eat, 'n eat, 'n eat, 'n eat until I die" as the last line of the chorus.

• In 1974 Japanese anime cartoon "Little Meg Witch Girl/Majokko megu chan" by Toei Animation, Meg, his sister and his brother sing Funiculì Funiculà in Japanese language, when travelling with rack railway in the episode featuring a school mountain picnic.

• The Gipsy Kings song, "Que Sí, Que No" from their 1997 album Compas, uses the melody of "Funiculì, Funiculà".

• "Funiculì, Funiculà" is featured in the 1976 film, The Bad News Bears, along with songs from the opera Carmen.

• "Funiculì, Funiculà" is played by David Helfgott (Geoffrey Rush) in the 1996 film Shine.

• "Funiculì, Funiculà" is played during the closing credits of the 1998 film, Relax...It's Just Sex.

• In the 1983 film Easy Money, Rodney Dangerfield sings "Funiculì, Funiculà" (the English version) at his daughter's backyard wedding reception.

• In the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures, directed by Peter Jackson, the characters Pauline and Juliet are fans of Mario Lanza. In one scene, Pauline is making love to John the lodger and has a bizarre daydream to escape the moment. "Funiculì, Funiculà" is playing in the background.

• In Steve Barron's 1996 film, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Jerry Hadley performs the song with new lyrics as "Luigi's Welcome." The adaptation was written by Spencer Proffer, David Goldsmith, and Lee Holdridge.

• "Funiculì, Funiculà" can be heard in the "Puppy Love" levels of Earthworm Jim 2, a successful video game first released in 1995.

• The VeggieTales Classy Songs with Larry "Larry's High Silk Hat" uses the melody from "Funiculì, Funiculà". In the song, Larry the Cucumber sings about his two prized possessions: his top hat, and a box of chocolate candy from the two (2001) VeggieTales videos Lyle the Kindly Viking and The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown.

• The Decemberists' "Song for Myla Goldberg" from Her Majesty The Decemberists contains the lyrics: "Funiculì, funiculà, finiculì, finiculà. Funiculì, funiculà, funiculì, funiculà."

• The Ten Tenors erroneously attribute the song to Giuseppe Verdi on their album Tenology, as did an episode of Seinfeld.

• In the first episode of the animated series The Flintstones, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble sing "Funiculì, Funiculà" in the Flintstone Flyer on their way back home from the opera.

• The song is used as the introduction theme to Ren and Stimpy episode "Rubber Nipple Salesmen"

• "Funiculì, Funiculà" was Uncle Joe's (Edgar Buchanan) favorite song on the TV show Petticoat Junction (mentioned in at least two episodes).

• Topo Gigio and his entire family performed the song on an eisode of The Ed Sullivan Show.

• In a two-part "Disneyland" TV movie called Escapade in Florence, Annette Funicello sang a song called "Dream Boy" set to the "Funiculì, Funiculà" tune.

• Noel Coward's song "In a Bar on the Piccola Marina" includes the lines, "Funiculi, just fancy me, Funicula!" and "Funicula, Funiculi, funic yourself."

• A version called "City Till I Die (Funiculi Funicula)" by Jon Christos is on an album of Manchester City Football Club songs (2005, Sanctuary Records).

• Elaine and "The Maestro" sing "Funiculì, Funiculà" while driving in the Maestro's convertible in the 1995 episode of Seinfeld titled "The Maestro".

• Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead often played the easily recognizable notes to "Funiculì, Funiculà" during equipment problems at their shows beginning sometime in the mid-Seventies. A fine example of the tune can be found at Internet Archive

• A toy made by Fisher-Price called Pizza Party Elmo played the song used the melody from "Funiculì, Funiculà"[2]

• "Home To Mamma" sung by Patrizio Buanne used the melody from "Funiculì, Funiculà." It is included in his album The Italian.

• Folk music duo Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, joined by Texas polka/rock group Brave Combo, recorded the song on their 2001 album "All Wound Up: A Family Music Party."

• The traditional Japanese children's song "Oni no Pantsu" also uses the melody from "Funiculì, Funiculà." [3]

• A parody of the song entitled "The Telephone of Brazil," in which Placido Flamingo sang of his love for his telephone, appeared on Sesame Street in the 1970s. [4] The opera was performed as part of the "Live from the Nestropolitan Opera" series, hosted by Phil Harmonic.

• A rendition of the song was performed for The Grape Escape Game by Parker Brothers as a television selling strategy in 1992.

• A jingle for Doodle Dome in 1992 used the melody of the song.

• It is sung in Golden Boy (1939) by Lee J. Cobb, a young William Holden (his first role), Barbara Stanwyck, Sam Levene, Beatrice Blinn, & William H. Strauss at around 55 minutes into the film.

References

1. ^ *Italian Vesuvius website with original Italian lyrics and English translation
2. ^ Sheet music for Funiculì Funiculà (Italian and English lyrics only.)
3. ^ *National Institutes of Heath page with traditional English lyrics