O sole mio (It’s Now or Never) (Song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“‘O sole mio” (Neapolitan pronunciation: [o ˈsoːlə ˈmiːə]) is a well-known Neapolitan song written in 1898. Its Neapolitan-language lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro and the music was composed by Eduardo di Capua (1865–1917) and Alfredo Mazzucchi (1878–1972). The title translates literally as “my sun” or “my sunshine”. The lyrics have been translated to other languages.

Lyrics

Recordings

“‘O sole mio” has been performed and covered by many artists, including Luciano Pavarotti, Luciano Pavarotti won the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance for his rendition of “‘O sole mio”.

Bryan Adams & Luciano Pavarotti 

The 3 Tenors

Katherine Jenkins

Hvorostovsky & Kaufmann

Dalida

Enrico Caruso,

Rosa Ponselle and her sister Carmella,

Andrea Bocelli,

Beniamino Gigli,

Paul Mauriat

• Hauser

• David Bay

• Frank Chacksfield

• Jerry Vale

Richard Tucker

and Mario Lanza.

Sergio Franchi recorded this song on his 1962 RCA Victor Red Seal debut album Romantic Italian Songs.

Authorship and copyright

For nearly 75 years after its publication, the music of “‘O sole mio” had generally been attributed to Eduardo di Capua alone. According to the traditional account, di Capua had composed it in April 1898 in Odessa, while touring with his father’s band. It has turned out, however, that the melody was an elaboration of one of 23 which di Capua had bought from another musician, Alfredo Mazzucchi, in the preceding year.

In November 1972, shortly after her father’s death, Mazzucchi’s daughter lodged a declaration with Italy’s Office of Literary, Artistic and Scientific Property, which sought to have her father recognised as a co-composer of 18 of di Capua’s songs, including “‘O sole mio”. In October 2002, Maria Alvau, a judge in Turin, upheld the declaration, ruling that Mazzucchi had indeed been a legitimate co-composer of the 18 songs, because they included melodies he had composed and then sold to di Capua in June 1897, with a written authorisation for the latter to make free use of them. At the time of the decision, therefore, the melody of “‘O sole mio” had not yet—as had been widely supposed—entered into the public domain in any country that was a party to the Berne Convention during the relevant period. In most countries where copyright in a work lasts for 70 years after any of its authors’ deaths, the melody will remain under copyright until 2042.

English versions

In 1915, Charles W. Harrison recorded the first English translation of “‘O sole mio”.

In 1921, William E. Booth-Clibborn wrote lyrics for a hymn using the music, entitled “Down from His Glory”.

In 1949 U.S. singer Tony Martin recorded “There’s No Tomorrow” with lyrics by Al Hoffman, Leo Corday, and Leon Carr, which used the melody of “‘O sole mio”.

Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album 101 Gang Songs (1961).

Actor John Schneider also had a hit with it in 1981. It was on the Billboard Pop charts at number 14 and the Country charts at number 4. About ten years later, while stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, Elvis Presley heard the recording and put to tape a private version of the song.

Upon his discharge, he requested that new lyrics be written especially for him, a job that was undertaken by the songwriting duo of Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold, with a demo by David Hill. The rewritten version was entitled “It’s Now or Never” and was a worldwide hit for Presley. When performing it in concert in the mid-1970s, Elvis would explain the origin of “It’s Now Or Never” and have singer Sherrill Nielsen perform a few lines of the original Neapolitan version before commencing with his version.

Legacy

At the opening ceremony of the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, “‘O sole mio” was played in place of the Italian national anthem, whose sheet music had not been delivered to the band.

A series of television commercials for Cornetto ice cream, broadcast regularly in Britain during the 1980s, used a jingle (“Just One Cornetto …”) set to the melody of “‘O sole mio”. The jingle was widely reported as having been performed by Renato Pagliari, but after Pagliari’s death in 2009, his son denied this.

1981 Wall’s Cornetto Advert 2 (Just one Cornetto)

In January 2025 Mark Steyn profiled the song, including its origins, in his Song of the Week series.

It’s Now or Never (Song)

“It’s Now or Never” is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and released as a single in 1960. The song is Presley’s biggest hit, with 20 million copies sold worldwide, it is one of the best-selling singles of all time. It was recorded by Bill Porter at RCA Studio B in Nashville. It is written in E major and has a tempo of 80 BPM.

In 1960, “It’s Now or Never” was a number-one record in the U.S. for Elvis Presley, spending five weeks at number one and the UK, where it spent eight weeks at the top in 1960 and an additional week at number one in 2005 as a re-issue, and numerous other countries, selling in excess of 20 million physical copies worldwide, Elvis Presley’s biggest international single ever. Its British release was delayed for some time because of rights issues, allowing the song to build up massive advance orders and to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one, a very rare occurrence at the time. “It’s Now or Never” peaked at number seven on the R&B charts.

Background

“It’s Now or Never” is one of two popular songs based on the Italian song of the Neapolitan language, “‘O Sole mio” (music by Eduardo di Capua); the other is “There’s No Tomorrow“, recorded by U.S. singer Tony Martin in 1949, which inspired Presley’s version. The lyrics were written by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold. The song was published by Elvis Presley’s company Gladys Music, Inc.

In the late 1950s, while stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, Presley heard Martin’s recording. It is also likely that he was inspired to record this because of his fondness for Mario Lanza who had first popularized “‘O Sole Mio” to American audiences and who had died the year before “It’s Now or Never” was recorded. According to The New York Times, quoting from the 1986 book Behind the Hits, “he told the idea to his music publisher, Freddy Bienstock, who was visiting him in Germany… Mr. Bienstock, who many times found songwriters for Presley, returned to his New York City office, where he found songwriters, Mr. [Aaron] Schroeder and Wally Gold, the only people in that day. The two wrote lyrics in half an hour. Selling more than 5 million records, the song became number one in countries all around and was Presley’s best selling single ever… a song [they] finished in 20 minutes to a half hour was the biggest song of [their] career.”

Barry White credited this song as his inspiration for changing his life and becoming a singer following his release from prison. In the promotional video for the Beatles‘ 1968 single “Hey Jude“, the members of the band jokingly perform a few lines of the song.

Versions

A live version featuring “‘O Sole mio” is available on the 1977 live album Elvis in Concert. “‘O Sole mio” is sung by tenor Sherrill Nielsen, who was in The Imperials and later one of the collaborators of Elvis Presley.

In early 2005, the song was re-released along with the other Presley singles in the UK, and again reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart for the week of 5 February 2005. The re-release held the record for the lowest selling number-one single in UK chart history until Orson‘s “No Tomorrow” in 2006.

The song also appears in the TV miniseries Elvis, a 2005 CBS special.

In 2015, a new version of the song was recorded accompanied by new orchestral arrangement by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and was released on their album of that year If I Can Dream.

Chart performance

United States

“It’s Now or Never” entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at No. 44 on July 18, 1960. After climbing to No. 14 and then a two-week stay at No. 3, the song climbed to No. 1 for a five-week stay, beginning August 15. In that same week, the B-side to the single, “A Mess of Blues“, peaked at No. 32 independently.

During its run at the top of the US charts, “It’s Now or Never” kept “Walk, Don’t Run” by the Ventures at No. 2

before succumbing to “The Twist” by Chubby Checker on September 19.

Presley fell to No. 3, spending a further seven weeks inside the top 40 before dropping out on November 14 (the same week that his follow-up, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?“, debuted on the chart).

As an A-side, Presley’s former bass player’s group Bill Black Combo charted with their version of “Don’t Be Cruel” around the same time.

United Kingdom

In the UK, the single gained an eventual release in late October 1960, following copyright discussions. It became the first song to enter the new Record Retailer charts at No. 1—later adopted as the UK Singles Chart. During an eight-week run at the top, Presley was held off strong competition from Shirley Bassey (“As Long As He Needs Me“)

and the Drifters (“Save the Last Dance for Me“) before claiming the coveted Christmas number one for 1960.

A week later, he was deposed by Cliff Richard and the Shadows‘ “I Love You“.

Presley dropped to No. 2 and would leave the top 10 as “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” began its ascent to No. 1. After 18 weeks, “It’s Now or Never” left the UK top 40 on 15 March 1961. Due to the single’s delayed UK release, “A Mess of Blues” had already attained A-side status and peaked at No. 2 on 21 September 1960.

“It’s Now or Never” would be one of several songs to return to the UK top 40 in the wake of Presley’s death, reaching No. 39 on 3 August 1977.

On 5 February 2005, the song returned to the top of the UK charts for one more week as part of a week-by-week reissue series of his former chart-toppers. This gave Presley his 21st UK number one single, his fourth of the new millennium. Overall, “It’s Now or Never” has managed 22 weeks in the UK top 40.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Sales and certifications

John Schneider version

American country music singer and actor John Schneider released in 1981 a cover of the song as his first single and the title track of his debut album It’s Now or Never. Schneider’s version was a top five hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Chart performance

Uses in popular culture

• An instrumental version is used in a scene from Masahiro Shinoda‘s 1964 film Pale Flower.

• At the 20th anniversary concert of the Suntory Hall in Japan in 2006, Italian tenors Vincenzo La Scola and Giuseppe Sabbatini and American tenor Neil Shicoff sang a bilingual version of the song together. For their respective solo parts, the two Italians sang the original Neapolitan lyrics, while Shicoff sang two segments of “It’s Now or Never”; and all three joined for the final chorus with the Neapolitan lyrics.

• Josh Groban covered the song for his 2020 album Harmony.

• It also featured on the soundtrack of the 2009 feature film The Hangover, performed by El Vez.

• Jose Feliciano – It’s now or never 

• Angelina Jordan – It’s Now or Never (Allsang på grensen 2017)

• It’s Now or never cover on guitar by Eric

• Latin Jazz Relaxing Music Quartet – It’s now or never

• It’s Now or Never – Cover on Yamaha PSR S970

• It’s Now or Never – Violin Cover by Susan Holloway

• Cha Cha It’s Now Or Never

• Renée & Renato – It’s now or never

• Al Martino- It’s now or never-O sole mio

• It’s Now Or Never by Rock N Blues Ballad

• MEZZO Kazakhstan
  

• Mandy Barnett – It’s Now Or Never

• Jason Frybergh’s – It’s Now Or Never

• Butch Baldassari And Jack Jezzro

Comments