Funiculì, Funiculà

The Mount Vesuvius funicular in the 19th century

"Funiculì, Funiculà" was composed in 1880 in Castellammare di Stabia, the home town of the song's composer, Luigi Denza; the lyrics were contributed by journalist Peppino Turco.[1] It was Turco who prompted Denza to compose it, perhaps as a joke,[1] to commemorate the opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius in that year.[2][lower-alpha 1] The song was sung for the first time in the Quisisana Hotel[lower-alpha 2] in Castellammare di Stabia. It was presented by Turco and Denza at the Piedigrotta festival during the same year and became immensely popular in Italy and abroad.[5] Published by Casa Ricordi, the sheet music sold over a million copies in a year.[1]

Over the years the song has been performed by many artists including Erna Sack, Anna German, Mario Lanza, Beniamino Gigli, The Mills Brothers, Connie Francis, Haruomi Hosono (with lyrics translated into Japanese), Fischer-Chöre (with lyrics translated into German), The Grateful Dead,[6] Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Il Volo.

In 1960, Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman wrote a new set of English lyrics to the melody of "Funiculì, Funiculà" with the title "Dream Boy".[7][8][9] Annette Funicello included the song on her album of Italian songs titled Italiannette and also released it as a single, which became a minor hit.[10]

German composer Richard Strauss heard the song while on a tour of Italy six years after it was written. He thought that it was a traditional Neapolitan folk song and incorporated it into his Aus Italien tone poem. Denza filed a lawsuit against him and won, and Strauss was forced to pay him a royalty fee.[11] Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov also mistook "Funiculì, Funiculà" for a traditional folk song and used it in his 1907 "Neapolitanskaya pesenka" (Neapolitan Song).[12]

Cornettist Herman Bellstedt used it as the basis for a theme and variations titled Napoli; a transcription for euphonium is also popular among many performers. Modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg arranged a version for ensemble in 1921.[13]

In 1933 Arthur Fields and Fred Hall published a parody of "Funiculì, funiculà" titled "My High Silk Hat". [14] This parody has been republished several times, including in the 1957 Gilwell Camp Fire Book.[15]

In 1964, song parodist Allan Sherman's album For Swingin' Livers Only! included "America's a Nice Italian Name" which uses the melody.

“Funiculì, Funiculà” is whistled by the Barbra Streisand character in the 1972 film What's Up, Doc? as she crosses the street following the pizza delivery guy into the Bristol Hotel before the first hotel-lobby scene.

During the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of the Disney film Fun and Fancy Free, Donald Duck and Goofy sing "Eat Until I Die," a song expressing their longing for food, set to the melody of "Funiculì, Funiculà."

In the series premiere of "The Flintstones" titled "The Flintstone Flyer", Fred and Barney sing the song when Betty and Wilma prepare to go to the opera as well as returning to the Flintstones' home before their wives find them.

In an episode of Hi-De-Hi, Su Pollard is singing "Funiculi, Funicula" with made-up lyrics for the chorus: "Macaroni, spaghetti Bolognese..."

Rodney Dangerfield sings the song in his 1983 hit comedy film Easy Money.

The melody is used in 1996 film The Adventures of Pinocchio of Steve Barron.

Composer Alan Silvestri used the melody in 1993 film Super Mario Bros. as the main theme for Italian-American protagonists Mario and Luigi.[18]

In 2001 a video parody of the song was released by VeggieTales as "Larry's High Silk Hat" based on the 1933 parody as part of the Silly Song (or in this case "Classy Song") part of the 2001 episode "Lyle the Kindly Viking".

The 2004 video game Spider-Man 2 features a humorous instrumental version that plays during pizza delivery missions; this has become an internet meme.[19] The 2018 video game Spider-Man has an orchestral rendition playing outside of a pizzeria as a reference to this.[20]

In 2005 Patrizio Buanne sang an English version titled Home to Mamma, lyrics by Christian Seitz and Patrizio Buanne, for his album The Italian (album).

The Grateful Dead would occasionally begin live sets with a short, instrumental version of the song as a “warm-up”/tuning number.

In the anime series Girls und Panzer, it is used as the main theme of the Italian-themed Anzio Girls' High School.

The Japanese broadcaster NHK frequently uses a version of the song with comic lyrics, called "鬼のパンツ" (The Demon's Underwear) in its children's programing.

The anime series Sound! Euphonium features an arrangement of the piece for wind band.

In episode 2[21] of the first season of the anime Hozuki no Reitetsu, one of the young characters sings a version of the song with Japanese lyrics, believing it's "a sales jingle for demon underwear." The main character Hozuki gives a lecture on the song's actual origins, telling them: "…that song was originally a canzone from Southern Italy."; "The 'Funiculi Funicula' you speak of are rhythmic shouts."; "Apparently it was a promotional song for the Mountain Railway." A picture of a train on a mountain track is shown with Super Mario as the train conductor.

The melody was used in commercials for the board game The Grape Escape, which aired in the US in 1992.[22]

In Sesame Street, "The Telephone Opera" is set to the tune of the song.

'Feeling Hungry' recorded by The Wiggles on their album Wiggle House (2014) is set to the tune of the song.

• Free scores of Funiculì, Funiculà in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• "Funiculi, funicula" 1904 Victor recording by Ferruccio Giannini in Discography of American Historical Recordings at UC Santa Barbara