I'll Follow the Sun

Beatles '65.  This is an album wanted by many, yet difficult to find.

A family friend at church found out yesterday about my record collection (I am almost at 200) and today brought me his copy of the number one hit.  Another one for the collection woohoo!!!

November 23, 1964 was the day the vinyl hit stores through their label, Capitol.  In America, the album went from the number 98 spot to number one.  The Beatles had their release at that position for eight extra weeks.  The track list goes as follows:

1. No Reply
2. I'm a Loser
3. Baby's in Black
4. Rock and Roll Music (written by Chuck Berry)
5. I'll Follow the Sun
6. Mr. Moonlight (written by Roy Lee Johnson)
7. Honey Don't (writeen by Carl Perkins)
8. I'll Be Back
9. She's a Woman
10. I Feel Fine
11. Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby (written by Carl Perkins)

It was released in both mono and stereo versions and holds eight out of fourteen songs from Beatles for Sale.  It also includes the song "I'll Be Back," which I believe is from A Hard Day's Night, and singles "I Feel Fine" and "She's a Woman" which were released as singles in November 1964, a month before the album was released.

'O Sole Mio

"'O Sole Mio" was composed by Eduardo Di Capua in 1898 and is referred to as a Neapolitan song.  Neapolitan songs were written for the Festival of Piedigrotta in Naples, Italy.  Di Capua set the music to the poem by Giovanni Capurro.

One of the most popular versions of the song is "It's Now or Never" by Elvis Presley.

Here are the Neapolitan Italian lyrics:

Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole,

n'aria serena doppo na tempesta!

Pe' ll'aria fresca pare già na festa...

Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole.

Ma n'atu sole

cchiù bello, oje ne'.

O sole mio

sta 'nfronte a te!

O sole

O sole mio

sta 'nfronte a te!

sta 'nfronte a te!

Quanna fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne

me vene quase 'na malincunia;

sotto 'a fenesta toia restarria

quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne.

Ma n'atu sole

cchiù bello, oje ne'.

O sole mio

sta 'nfronte a te!

O sole

O sole mio

sta 'nfronte a te!

sta 'nfronte a te!

I know that it is probably not easy to read, but that's because the Neapolitan dialect is a little...informal.  Also, some of the words are definitely a little different from regular Italian.  For instance, in lines 1 and 4, the word "jurnata" is really "giornata."  In the Italian language, there is no "j" in the alphabet.  

Anyway, here is an English translation:

What a wonderful thing a sunny day

The serene air after a thunderstorm

The fresh air, and a party is already going on...

What a wonderful thing a sunny day.

But another sun,

that's brighter still

It's my own sun

that's in your face!

The sun, my own sun

It's in your face!

It's in your face!

When night comes and the sun has gone down,

I start feeling blue;

I'd stay below your window

When night comes and the sun has gone down.

But another sun,

that's brighter still

It's my own sun

that's in your face!

The sun, my own sun

It's in your face!

It's in your face!

The song was really made popular by Luciano Pavarotti, a famous Italian opera singer.  The Italian tenor pop group Il Volo recorded a cover of the song two years ago.

[Source: IlVoloVevo on YouTube]

It's a beautiful song, isn't it?  If you search for it on iTunes, so many different versions appear.  Andrea Bocelli, Bryan Adams, Luciano Pavarotti...the list is endless!