"Come prima" (English: "As Before") is an Italian song, with

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

Mario Panzeri Mario Panzeri (11 October 1911 – 19 May 1991) was an Italian lyricist and composer. He is well known for his composed songs that include "Maramao perché sei morto?" "Pippo non lo sa", "Lettera a Pinocchio", and "Grazie dei fior", which won t ...

and music by Vincenzo Di Paola and Sandro Taccani. First made popular by

Tony Dallara Antonio Lardera (born 30 June 1936), better known by his stage name Tony Dallara, is an Italian former singer, actor and television personality. Biography Dallara was born in Campobasso in southern Italy, but grew up in Milan. After working as ba ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

, a version by the Marino Marini Quartet was a hit in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 1958.

Versions

The first and most popular version of "Come prima" in

was released by

(Antonio Lardera) in

. "Come prima" was Tony Dallara's first and breakthrough single. Although it was rejected for admission to the

Sanremo Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian culture, Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longes ...

, it was an instant success and sold 300,000 copies, becoming the biggest selling single in Italy up to that point. In 1958

Tony Renis Tony Renis (born 13 May 1938), stage name of Elio Cesari, is an Italian singer, composer, music producer and film actor. Life and career Renis was born in Milan. In the mid-1950s he met with Adriano Celentano, and the two started performing an i ...

and the Combos also recorded the 45 rpm piece (Combo Record, 5057), also published in Germany, as a soloist (

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

, 23 815). In 1958, a version of the song recorded by the Marino Marini Quartet made the

charts. That same year, the song was also recorded by

Domenico Modugno Domenico Modugno (; 9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu (song), Nel blu dipinto di blu", ...

Nicola Arigliano Nicola Arigliano (6 December 1923 – 30 March 2010) was an Italian jazz singer, musician, and occasional actor. Born in Squinzano, Province of Lecce, at young age he ran away from home because of the humiliations received even by family members d ...

and

Armando Trovajoli Armando Trovajoli (also Trovaioli, 2 September 1917 – 28 February 2013) was an Italian film composer and pianist with over 300 credits as composer and/or conductor, many of them jazz scores for exploitation films of the Commedia all'italiana ...

's orchestra with singer Miranda Martino. The following year, the song was a hit for

Dalida Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian-French singer and actress born in Egypt. She sang in eleven languages and sold millions of records internationally. Her best known son ...

under the same song title, but with lyrics sung in French. Besides being translated in English, "Come prima" ended up being translated to Croatian and was released as ''"Kao prije"'' in 1958 as a solo record by

Ivo Robić Ivo Robić (28 January 1923 – 9 March 2000) was a Croatian singer-songwriter. Domestic career Robić began his career as a soloist with the Radio Zagreb Orchestra, while studying at the same time in Zagreb. He performed during World War II o ...

. The song's music also served as the basis of an

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

song, "More Than Ever", with lyrics by Mary Bond, recorded in the

Malcolm Vaughan Malcolm Vaughan (22 March 1929 – 9 February 2010) was a Welsh traditional pop music singer and actor. Known for his distinctive tenor voice, he had a number of chart hits in the United Kingdom during the 1950s. Biography Born Malcolm James ...

with the Michael Sammes Singers (

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

catalogue number POP 538) (14 weeks on the UK chart, peaking at #5),

Robert Earl Robert Earl (born 29 May 1951) is an English-American businessman who is the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood, Chairman of the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and host of ''Robert Earl's Be My Guest'' television program whic ...

(4 weeks on the UK chart, peaking at #26),

Eve Boswell Eve Boswell (born Éva Keleti; 11 May 1922 – 14 August 1998, was a Hungarian pop singer. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Eva's family moved to South Africa, where they worked with the Boswell Circus. After a few years in South Afric ...

, and others. Another English language lyric version of the song under the title "For the First Time", by

Buck Ram Samuel "Buck" Ram (November 21, 1907 – January 1, 1991) was an American songwriter, and popular music producer and arranger. He was one of BMI's top five songwriters/air play in its first 50 years, alongside Paul Simon, Kris Kristofferson, Ji ...

, was recorded in the United States by

Polly Bergen Polly Bergen (born Nellie Paulina Burgin; July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014) was an American actress, singer, television host, writer and entrepreneur. She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan in ''The Helen Mo ...

in 1958 (

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

catalog number 41275). This version was also performed by

Mario Lanza Mario Lanza (, ; born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza ; January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor and actor. He was a Hollywood film star popular in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Lanza began studying to be a professional singer at ...

in his last film, '' For the First Time'' (1959). Other performers who recorded versions of the song were

The Platters The Platters was an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The ac ...

(1958),

Willy Alberti Willy Alberti (born Carel Verbrugge; 14 October 1926 – 18 February 1985) was a Dutch singer, who sang in Dutch and Italian. He was also an actor and a radio and TV personality. Alberti was born in Amsterdam as the third of eight children to Ja ...

(1958),

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

, Muslim Magomayev (

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

), Tony Reno & the Sherwoods (

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

), and

Golpes Bajos Golpes Bajos was a 1980s pop group in Spain, a part of the so-called ''"Edad de Oro del Pop Español"'', i.e. "The Golden Age of Spanish Pop Music". They were active in 1982–1986, with a final reunion tour in 1997–1998. History ''Golpes Bajo ...

(

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

). Cliff Richard sang it in Italian on his album '' When In Rome'' (1965). In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, Hong Kong actress

Gloria Yip Gloria Yip Wan-Yee (, born January 13, 1973, in Hong Kong, the elder of two sisters and daughter of prominent businessman Yip Shao) is a Hong Kong actress and singer, best known for her four films with director Lam Ngai Kai, and to Western audie ...

recorded a cover version of the song in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, Belgian singer Frank Galan recorded a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

version of the song, entitled ''Valentina'', which he included on his album ''Mooier dan woorden''. Brazilian superstar

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo, which encomp ...

sang "Come prima" on his recorded concert ''Omaggio a Federico e Giulietta'' (a tribute to

Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...

and

Giulietta Masina Giulia Anna "Giulietta" Masina (22 February 1921 – 23 March 1994) was an Italian film actress best known for her performances as Gelsomina in ''La Strada'' (1954) and Cabiria in ''Nights of Cabiria'' (1957), for which she won the Cannes Film F ...

) in 1997, performed it live at the Italian

in 2013, and included the song in his world tour with

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration ...

in 2015 (live album in 2016). In 2017, Dallara's recording was used in both a UK

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

commercial and a Fiat 500 commercial.

References

Italian songs Dalida songs Songs written by Mario Panzeri {{1950s-pop-song-stub