Celebration · Love song · 1880 · Europe
Funiculì, Funiculà
Funiculì, funiculà
A cheerful Neapolitan song from 1880, written for the new funicular railway that carried people up the volcano Vesuvius.
- Words
- Peppino Turco
- Music
- Luigi Denza
- Culture
- Neapolitan
- Language
- Neapolitan
- Place
- Castellammare di Stabia, Italy
- Date
- 1880
- Type
- Celebration · Love song
- The words
- Public domain (words by Peppino Turco, published by Ricordi in 1880; music by Luigi Denza (d. 1922), in the public domain since 1993)
The story
"Funiculì, Funiculà" is a Neapolitan song composed in 1880 by Luigi Denza in his home town of Castellammare di Stabia, with words by the journalist Peppino Turco. It celebrated the opening that year of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius, and it was Turco who prompted Denza to write it, perhaps as a joke. It was first sung at the Quisisana Hotel in Castellammare di Stabia and then presented by Turco and Denza at the Piedigrotta festival the same year. It became immensely popular in Italy and abroad: Casa Ricordi published the sheet music, which sold more than a million copies within a year.
The song was soon taken for a folk song. In 1884 the New York publishers Spear & Dehnhoff printed it with English words as "Tra-la-la-lee", "adapted and arranged by W. T. Harris", without naming Denza. Richard Strauss heard it on a tour of Italy six years after it was written, thought it a traditional Neapolitan tune and used it in his tone poem Aus Italien; Denza sued him and won, and Strauss had to pay him a royalty. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov made the same mistake in his "Neapolitan Song" of 1907. Herman Bellstedt wrote a theme and variations on it, Napoli, and Arnold Schoenberg arranged it for ensemble in 1921.
In English-speaking countries it is often sung with words by Edward Oxenford, a lyricist and translator of librettos, whose version, often titled "A Merry Life", has little to do with the original. Singers from Beniamino Gigli and Mario Lanza to Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli have recorded it, and it has been sung in German and Japanese; in 1960 Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman wrote new English words to the tune as "Dream Boy", which Annette Funicello released as a single. The melody has lived on in parodies, films, cartoons and video games, and since a children's parody of 1991 it has been linked with pizza and is often played in pizzerias. Denza died in 1922, and the song has been in the public domain since 1 January 1993.
What it says
A young man compares his sweetheart to a volcano and invites her to ride up with him to the top of Vesuvius on the new railway. The mood is high-spirited and teasing, a song of a day out and of courtship.
The words
Aisséra, oje Nanniné, me ne sagliette,Last night, oh Nannina, I went up,
tu saje addó, tu saje addóyou know where, you know where,
Addó 'stu core 'ngrato cchiù dispiettowhere this ungrateful heart can spite me
farme nun pò! (Farme nun pò)no more! (No more)
Addó lu fuoco coce, ma si fujeWhere the fire burns, but if you flee
te lassa sta! (Te lassa sta!)it leaves you be! (It leaves you be!)
E nun te corre appriesso, nun te strujeAnd it does not run after you, it does not wear you away
sulo a guardà (sulo a guardà).just by looking (just by looking).
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,Let's go, let's go up, let's go, come on,
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,Let's go, let's go up, let's go, come on,
funiculì, funiculà!funiculì, funiculà!
funiculì, funiculà!funiculì, funiculà!
'ncoppa, jamme jà,up, let's go, come on,
funiculì, funiculà!funiculì, funiculà!
Né, jamme da la terra a la muntagna!Girl, let's go from the land to the mountain!
Nu passo nc'è! Nu passo nc'è!It is only a step! It is only a step!
Se vede Francia, Proceta e la Spagna...One sees France, Procida and Spain...
Io veco a tte! Io veco a tte!I see you! I see you!
Tirato co la fune, ditto 'nfatto,Pulled by the rope, no sooner said than done,
'ncielo se va, 'ncielo se va.up to the sky one goes, up to the sky one goes.
Se va comm' 'a lu viento a l'intrasatto,One goes like the wind, all of a sudden,
guè, saglie, sà!hey, up it climbs, up [?]!
Show all 42 lines
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,Let's go, let's go up, let's go, come on,
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,Let's go, let's go up, let's go, come on,
funiculì, funiculà!funiculì, funiculà!
funiculì, funiculà!funiculì, funiculà!
'ncoppa, jamme jà,up, let's go, come on,
funiculì, funiculà!funiculì, funiculà!
Se n'è sagliuta, oje né, se n'è sagliuta,It has gone up, oh girl, it has gone up,
la capa già! (La capa già!)my head already! (My head already!)
È gghiuta, po' è turnata, po' è venuta,It went, then it turned back, then it came,
sta sempe ccà! (Sta sempe ccà!)it is always here! (It is always here!)
La capa vota, vota, attuorno, attuorno,My head turns, turns, around, around,
attuorno a tte! Attuorno a tte!around you! Around you!
Stu core canta sempe 'nt'o taluorno:This heart always sings the same old refrain:
Spusamme, oje né! Spusamme, oje né!Let's get married, oh girl! Let's get married, oh girl!
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,Let's go, let's go up, let's go, come on,
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,Let's go, let's go up, let's go, come on,
funiculì, funiculà!funiculì, funiculà!
funiculì, funiculà!funiculì, funiculà!
'ncoppa, jamme jà,up, let's go, come on,
funiculì, funiculà!funiculì, funiculà!
Original: Peppino Turco (1880), the Neapolitan text as quoted on Italian Wikipedia. Text from Wikipedia; public domain.
The English is the Institute’s own translation, made from the original for this page.
Notes on the translation (10)
- Funiculì, funiculà plays on funicolare, the funicular railway; the words are kept as they are.
- Line 1.1: Nanninè, a pet form of Anna (Nannina); aisséra, 'yesterday evening'. Lines 3.1, 5.1 and 5.8: né, oje né, short for Nennè or Nanninè: 'girl', 'dear'.
- Lines 1.3-1.4: literally 'where this ungrateful heart can do me no more spite'.
- Line 1.5: the fire is the volcano's, on the mountain the funicular climbs.
- Line 1.7: nun te struje, 'it does not consume (destroy) you'.
- Refrain: jamme jà, 'let's go, come on'; 'ncoppa, 'up', 'to the top'.
- Line 3.6: 'ncielo, 'to heaven' or 'into the sky'.
- Line 3.8: guè is 'hey'; saglie, 'it climbs' or 'climb!'; sà is uncertain, perhaps a clipped repetition of saglie.
- Lines 5.1-5.2: 'it has gone up, my head', i.e. the singer's head is in a whirl; capa, 'head'.
- Line 5.7: 'nt'o taluorno, 'in the taluorno': a Neapolitan word for a tiresome, endless repetition or lament.
Listen
On YouTube, from the channel Luciano Pavarotti. Pressing play loads YouTube’s player. Watch on YouTube
What it inspired
- Tra-la-la-lee 1884English words to the melody, printed without naming Denza
- Aus Italien (Richard Strauss)uses the melody, taken for a folk song
- Neapolitanskaya pesenka (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) 1907uses the melody, taken for a folk song
- Napoli (Herman Bellstedt)theme and variations
- A Merry Life (Edward Oxenford)English words, loosely based
- Dream Boy 1960new English words by Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman
- My High Silk Hat 1933parody by Arthur Fields and Fred Hall
- Eat Until I Die 1947tune adapted in the film Fun and Fancy Free
- Pizza Song 1991parody by Franciscus Henri
People, places and events
Sources
- Wikipedia, "Funiculì, Funiculà", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funicul%C3%AC,_Funicul%C3%A0
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Funiculì, Funiculà. In Songs in History. https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/funiculi-funicula
- MLA
- “Funiculì, Funiculà.” Songs in History, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/funiculi-funicula. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Funiculì, Funiculà.” Songs in History. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/funiculi-funicula.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Funiculì, Funiculà’, Songs in History. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/funiculi-funicula (Accessed: ).