I love those now familiar Neapolitan songs. They have become like old friends to me. Some make me smile. How adorably lovesick he is as he tells of losing sleep over Maria, Mari. "Oi vita, oi vita mia ("Oh life, oh my life") set to a march-like beat in O Surdato 'Namurato is fun, and equally so, is Comme Facette Mammeta! I love his chuckle after, "Nu panaro chino, chino, Tutt' e fravule 'e ciardino!." He is listing all the things that make his lover so sweet.
We hear the wistful homesickness in Santa Lucia Luntana. Oh, then there are those that make you want to weep buckets of tears along with Mario. Voce 'e Notte, Fenesta Che Lucive, 'Na Sera 'e Maggio, Tu Ca Nun Chiagne with its exclamatory "Voglio a te!" ("I need you!").The last song, Passione, punctuates the collection perfectly: "Te voglio! Te penzo! Te chiammo! Te veco! Te sento! Te sonno!" ("I want you, think of you, call you, I see you, hear you, dream of you!"). Such total longing and devotion surely cannot be real, but coming from Mario's throat, we believe. Oh, how we believe!
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