Funiculì, Funiculà

"Funiculì, Funiculà" was composed in 1880 by Luigi Denza in his hometown of Castellammare di Stabia with lyrics 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 funicularonMount Vesuvius in that year.^[2][a] The song was sung for the first time in the Quisisana Hotel^[b] 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 Joseph Schmidt, 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, Rodney Dangerfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Wiggles, Larry Groce, VeggieTales, 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 that became a minor hit.^[10]

Music publishers Spear & Dehnhoff of New York City published sheet music for a song titled "Tra-la-la-lee" in 1884, subtitled "A popular dancing song, adapted and arranged by W. T. Harris." It contains English lyrics set to Denza's "Funiculì, Funiculà" melody, and contains no attribution to Denza.^[11]

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.^[12] Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov also mistook "Funiculì, Funiculà" for a traditional folk song and used it in his 1907 "Neapolitanskaya pesenka" (Neapolitan Song).^[13]

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.^{[dubious – discuss]} Modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg arranged a version for the ensemble in 1921.^[14]

In Turco's original lyrics, a young man compares his sweetheart to a volcano, and invites her to join him in a romantic trip to the summit.

Edward Oxenford, a lyricist and translator of librettos,^[16] wrote lyrics, with scant relationship to those of the original version, that became traditional in English-speaking countries.^[6] His version of the song often appears with the title "A Merry Life".

• In 1933, Arthur Fields and Fred Hall published a parody of『Funiculì, funiculà』titled "My High Silk Hat".^[17] This parody has been republished several times, including in the 1957 Gilwell Camp Fire Book.^[18]
• In the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of the 1947 Disney film Fun and Fancy Free, Goofy and Donald Duck sing a song to the tune of『Funiculì, Funiculà』called "Eat Until I Die", detailing all of the food they want to eat.
• In 1966, comedian Christine Nelson wrote and recorded a parody of the song with lyrics inspired by the English version, titled "Marvin." Nelson portrays the aggrieved mother of a constantly misbehaving son. It was produced by Lou Busch and released on Nelson's Reprise Records album, Did'ja Come To Play Cards Or To Talk?[1]
• In the 1996 live action fantasy movie The Adventures of Pinocchio, there is a Luigi's Welcome song parodied to the tune of "Funiculi, Funicula."
• Between 1977 and 1989, the song was performed more than 20 times by the Grateful Dead during tunings.^[19] A brief recording opens their live album Dick's Picks Volume 3.
• The VeggieTales episode Lyle the Kindly Viking features the song in its Silly Songs with Larry segment, entitled "Larry's High Silk Hat"; heavily inspired by the 1933 parody, "My High Silk Hat".
• The song is used in the 2004 video game Spider-Man 2, a tie-in to Sam Raimi's film of the same name. In the movie and in the game, Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker has a job delivering pizzas. In the game, the player must deliver pizzas to various places throughout New York City before a shortened accordion and flute version of "Funiculì, Funiculà" finishes playing. As the game version of the song progresses, the tempo increases and the key shifts progressively higher, indicating that the song is nearing its end. This caused the song to be highly associated with pizza. Today, it is now known as an internet meme.^[20]
  • The song is used again in Insomniac Games' 2023 game, Spider-Man 2. It plays outside a pizzeria in Queens, likely referencing its prior usage in the 2004 game.
• The song title is used in the novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, as the name of the coffee shop in which the story is set. The song is referenced in the second short story. (Book originally published in Japanese - 2015, translated into English and released 2019).
• An arrangement of the song is playable in the 2022 video game Trombone Champ.
• The tune can be heard in the track "Funiculi Holiday" during the tutorial stage of the 2023 indie game Pizza Tower. In demos of the game, a direct cover of "Funiculi Funicula" was used, before being replaced by "Funiculi Holiday" for the final release.
• At the 2023 Mark Twain Prize honoring Adam Sandler, Idina Menzel sang the song "Funiculi, Funicula" She dressed as Sandler's Saturday Night Live character from Opera Man to Opera Woman cape, looking like a Dracula-esque.
• The game Vampire Survivors features a remix of this song known as "Vempair Survaivors", which plays in the Il Molise bonus stage and also serves as the game's credits theme.

Informational notes

Bibliography

•   Media related to Funiculì funiculà at Wikimedia Commons
• "Funiculì, Funiculà" (Denza): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• 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 University of California, Santa Barbara
• Performance by The Grateful Dead at Winterland Arena on 1977-06-09