Other than playing the harmonica, I have no musical abilities. However, listening to music is an important part of my life. I have an eclectic musical interest that includes classic country, classic rock, 50s music, 90s hair bands, heavy metal, classical-romantic-baroque eras, selective rap, movie soundtracks, and opera.
Consequently, when I read Linda’s today’s #JusJoJan word prompt, ‘solo’, courtesy of Dar, my first connection was to the operatic song, O Sole Mio. Granted, ‘sole’ and ‘solo’ are spelled differently and have different meanings, but that’s what I thought of, so here we are. As my father-in-law used to say to my mother-in-law: “It’s good enough for the girls I go with.” Then she’d smack his arm, and he laugh delightedly.
Here’s a little trivia about this song from the Songfacts website.
- O Sole Mio translated from an Italian-based language means ‘my sun’ or ‘sunshine. (So, it’s an English rendition of the American folksong You are My Sunshine.)
- Its origin is traced back to the 1890s.
- Litigation over ownership of the song wasn’t settled until 2002.
- Luciano Pavarotti won a Grammy for Best Vocal Classical Performance in 1980 with this song.
- Elvis Presley’s It’s Now or Never is a rendition of this song.
Here is my favorite operatic tenor, Rolando Villazon, singing O Sole Mio over the scenery in this video.
Until next time,
Kaye Spencer
writing through history one romance upon a time
Diatonic or chromatic?
Diatonic–single and double reed, preferably key of C. I’ve never attempted a chromatic harmonica. And when I say I play the harmonica, I mean I can puff out recognizable old folk tunes and some old country tunes that are good enough for my grandkids’ enjoyment. haha