Many times we see a motion-picture and it is the music that sticks with us. Here is one scene from "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999) based on the book by Patricia Highsmith. The song "Tu Vuo' Fa l'Americano" literally means 'You Pretend to be an American' OR 'You're an American Wannabe'.
The mood in this film clip just makes one want to have FUN. I think that's why I liked it so much. It is a Neopolitan language song that was first sung by Italian singer Renato Carosone. Carosone wrote the song in collaboration with Nicola "Nisa" Salerno in 1956. Combining swing and jazz, it became one of his best known songs. The song was featured in the 1960 Melville Shavelson film It Started in Naples, in which it was sung by Sofia Loren.
The lyrics are about an Italian who imitates the contemporary American lifestyle and acts like a Yankee, drinking whisky and soda, dancing to rock 'n roll, playing baseball and smoking Camel cigarettes, but still depends on his parents for money. The song is generally considered a satire on the process of Americanisation that occurred in the early post-war years, when southern Italy was still a rural, traditional society.
Carosone himself wrote that his songs "were deeply based on the American dream, interpreting jazz and its derivatives as a symbol of an America, lively land of progress and well-being, but always Neapolitan-style, folding that symbol in a sly parody of its customs". According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, "Tu vuò fa l'americano" is the symbol of Carosone's artistic parabola, as he retired from music in 1960, just four years after releasing the song.
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Blotterhead: I must place these here as an honorable mentions!
Yolanda Be Cool - We No Speak Americano (2010)
Renato Carosone - Tu Vu Fa L' Americano (1956)
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