Amore : the story of Italian American song

__Amore__ is Mark Rotella's celebration of the "Italian decade"—the years after the war and before the Beatles when Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, and Tony Bennett, among others, won the hearts of the American public with a smooth, stylish, classy brand of pop. In Rotella's vivid telling, the stories behind forty Italian American classics (from "O Sole Mio," "Night and Day," and "Mack the Knife" to "Volare" and "I Wonder Why") show how a glorious musical tradition became the sound track of postwar America and the expression of a sense of style that we still cherish. Rotella follows the music from the opera houses and piazzas of southern Italy, to the barrooms of the Bronx and Hoboken, to the Copacabana, the Paramount Theatre, and the Vegas Strip. He shows us the hardworking musicians whose voices were to become ubiquitous on jukeboxes and the radio and whose names—some anglicized, some not—have become bywords for Italian American success, even as they were dogged by stereotypes and prejudice. __Amore__ is the personal Top 40 of one proud son of Italy; it is also a love song to Italian American culture and an evocation of an age that belongs to us all. Tells Of The Story Of How Italians Integrated Into America In The 1950s In Part Through The Music Of Such Singers As Enrico Caruso, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, And Others. The Old Country. I Have But One Heart (o Marenariello) : Frank Sinatra And Vic Damone ; Vesti La Giubba : Enrico Caruso ; Core 'ngrato : Eduardo Migliaccio And Gilda Mignonette ; O Sole Mio : Enrico Caruso ; Tip-toe Through The Tulips : Nick Lucas ; You Call It Madness (but I Call It Love) : Russ Columbo ; Sing, Sing, Sing : Louis Prima ; All Or Nothing At All : Frank Sinatra ; Night And Day : Frank Sinatra ; Angelina : Louis Prima ; I'm Gonna Love That Gal (like She's Never Been Loved Before) : Perry Como ; Prisoner Of Love : Perry Como ; Mam'selle : Frank Sinatra -- The Italian Decade, The 1950s. You're Breaking My Heart : Vic Damone ; That Lucky Old Sun : Frankie Laine ; Be My Love : Mario Lanza ; Here In My Heart : Al Martino ; Because Of You : Tony Bennett ; Your Cheatin' Heart : Joni James ; That's Amore : Dean Martin ; Eh, Cumpari! : Julius La Rosa ; Darktown Strutters' Ball (italian-style) : Lou Monte ; (the Gang That Sang) Heart Of My Heart : Don Cornell And Johnny Desmond ; Sweet And Gentle : Alan Dale ; I've Got The World On A String : Frank Sinatra ; Just A Gigolo : Louis Prima ; Innamorata : Jerry Vale ; Volare : Dean Martin ; Mama : Connie Francis ; Dream Lover : Bobby Darin ; Lightnin' Strikes : Lou Christie ; I Wonder Why : Dion And The Belmonts ; Sixteen Candles : Johnny Maestro And The Crests ; Mack The Knife : Bobby Darin ; It's Now Or Never : Elvis Presley ; The Wanderer : Dion ; Walk Like A Man : Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons -- Las Vegas. Nice 'n' Easy : Frank Sinatra And The Rat Pack ; Bye Bye Blackbird : Sammy Davis Jr. ; Fly Me To The Moon : Frank Sinatra ; Fly Me To The Moon (reprise) : Tony Bennett, September 2001. Mark Rotella. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [277]-283) And Index.

Amore is Mark Rotella's celebration of the "Italian decade"—the years after the war and before the Beatles when Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, and Tony Bennett, among others, won the hearts of the American public with a smooth, stylish, classy brand of pop. In Rotella's vivid telling, the stories behind forty Italian American classics (from "O Sole Mio," "Night and Day," and "Mack the Knife" to "Volare" and "I Wonder Why") show how a glorious musical tradition became the sound track of postwar America and the expression of a sense of style that we still cherish.

Rotella follows the music from the opera houses and piazzas of southern Italy, to the barrooms of the Bronx and Hoboken, to the Copacabana, the Paramount Theatre, and the Vegas Strip. He shows us the hardworking musicians whose voices were to become ubiquitous on jukeboxes and the radio and whose names—some anglicized, some not—have become bywords for Italian American success, even as they were dogged by stereotypes and prejudice.

Amore is the personal Top 40 of one proud son of Italy; it is also a love song to Italian American culture and an evocation of an age that belongs to us all.

A tribute to the pop music decade between World War II and the advent of the Beatles shares the stories behind 40 Italian-American classics, citing the influence of key performers and cultural barriers. "A celebration of the 'Italian decade'-- the years after the World War II and before the Beatles."--From publisher description