"Eh, Cumpari!" is a

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wit ...

. It was adapted from a traditional Italian song by

Julius La Rosa Julius La Rosa (January 2, 1930 – May 12, 2016) was an American traditional popular music singer, who worked in both radio and television beginning in the 1950s. Early years La Rosa was born of Italian-immigrant parents in the Brooklyn borough ...

and

Archie Bleyer Archibald Martin Bleyer (June 12, 1909 – March 20, 1989) was an American song arranger, bandleader, and record company executive. Early life Bleyer was born in the Corona section of the New York City borough of Queens. His father was a well-kn ...

in 1953 and sung by La Rosa with Bleyer's orchestra as backing on a recording that year. The song reached #1 on the '' Cash Box'' chart and #2 on the '' Billboard'' chart in 1953. As a result, the song was also featured in a performance by

Dennis Day Dennis Day (born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty; May 21, 1916 – June 22, 1988) was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He was of Irish descent. Early life Day was born and raised in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, New York City, the ...

on ''

The Jack Benny Program ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and televis ...

'' on CBS Radio. In the mid-1970s The Gaylords recorded another popular version for an Alitalia Airlines commercial, in the middle of which a comical letter from someone in "the old country" culminating with a joke about Alitalia is read. The song also appeared in the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

to Francis Ford Coppola's film ''

The Godfather Part III ''The Godfather Part III'' is a 1990 American crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from the screenplay co-written with Mario Puzo. The film stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy García, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegn ...

'', sung by

Talia Shire Talia Rose Shire ( née Coppola; born April 25, 1946) is an American actress who played roles as Connie Corleone in ''The Godfather'' films and Adrian Balboa in the ''Rocky'' series. For her work in ''The Godfather Part II'' and ''Rocky'', Shir ...

Connie Corleone Constanzia "Connie" Corleone is a fictional character in ''The Godfather'', a 1969 novel by Mario Puzo, and the 1972 film ''The Godfather''. In the film, Connie is portrayed by Talia Shire, the sister of the director Francis Ford Coppola. Shire ...

. Washington D.C. radio

shock jock A shock jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor and/or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience. The term is used pejoratively to describe provocative o ...

" The Greaseman" regularly used the song as one of his "bits" during the 1980s. The rock group

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

referred to "Eh, Cumpari!" in some performances of the song " Saturday in the Park" with the line: :''...a man selling ice cream, singing Italian songs, Eh, Cumpari! si vo sunari, can you dig it? yes I can!'' The song was also used and credited in the 2022 surfing short film 'Gravity' featuring John John Florence. The song is a

cumulative song A cumulative song is a song with a simple verse structure modified by progressive addition so that each verse is longer than the verse before. Cumulative songs are popular for group singing, in part because they require relatively little memoriza ...

, in which each verse contains all of the previous verses as well. It is sung in Sicilian and is about the sounds of musical instruments. A rough translation reads as follows: :Hey buddy, usicis playing. :What is playing? The whistle. :And what does it sound like—the whistle? : ocalized instrument soundthe whistle, onsense rhythm words:etc. *u friscalettu = whistle mall flute*u saxofona =

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

*u mandulinu = mandolin *u viulinu =

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

*la trumbetta =

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

*la trombona =

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

References

{{Authority control Songs about musical instruments 1953 songs 1953 singles Cadence Records singles Italian songs Novelty songs Cumulative songs