"Cc'è la luna n menzu ô mari" (
Sicilian for 'There's the moon amid the sea'), mostly known in the English-speaking world as "C'è la luna mezzo mare", "Luna mezz'o mare" and other similar titles, is a comic
Sicilian song with worldwide popularity, traditionally styled as a brisk 6 8tarantella. The song portrays a mother-daughter "coming of age" exchange consisting of various comic, and sometimes sexual, innuendos. It is frequently performed at
Italian-American wedding receptions and other festive occasions. Hit versions have included "Oh! Ma-Ma! (The Butcher Boy)" by
Rudy Vallée and "Lazy Mary (Luna Mezzo Mare)" by
Lou Monte.
Origin
Related music and lyrics appeared as early as 1835, in the art song "La Danza" (tarantella napoletana) by
Gioachino Rossini and
Carlo Pepoli. By 1871 in
Italy, bawdier versions were circulating. In 1927,
New York City's Italian Book Company arranged and recorded a version by Sicilian sailor Paolo Citorello (sometimes spelled Citarella), and an American court upheld their copyright in 1928.[1][2]
Popularity
Since the first recording in 1927, the song has proliferated with different titles and lyrics, both in English and in several
southern Italian dialects.[2][3] Hit recordings in the
United States have included "Oh! Ma-Ma!" by Rudy Vallée (1938, peaked at No. 8)[4] and "Lazy Mary" by Lou Monte (1958, peaked at No. 12).[5] Monte's version was initially
banned from British broadcasts for undesirable innuendo,[6] but has been played to a family-filled baseball stadium during the
seventh-inning stretch at almost every
New York Mets home game since the mid-1990s, as the result of a fan survey.[7] The humorous lyrics center around a young woman wondering about marriage with various tradesmen (butcher, fisherman, fireman, etc.), ensuring the song's sustained popularity at Italian wedding receptions, including the opening scene of The Godfather (1972).[2][3] The song was also included in the 2010 videogame
Mafia II, as part of the fictional radio station Empire Classic. In early 2022 the song was used as part of a popular
TikTok trend where creators would use the song showing things in their home that "just make sense" while making a stereotypical Italian hand gesture to the beat of the song.
Notable recordings
The song has been notably recorded with the following performers and titles:[2][3][8]
1927: Paolo Citarella, "Luna mezzomare (Moonlight at Sea)" (
Brunswick Records – 58042)
1928: Rosina Gioiosa, "Mi vogghiu maritari (I Want to Get Married)" (
Brunswick Records – 58073)
1929: Paolo Citorello, "Mamma a cu m'addari"
1930: Paolo Citorello, "Mi vulissi maritari (I Want to Get Married)"
1930s: Silvia Coruzzolo, "A luna mezzo o mare"
1930s: I Diavoli, "La luna in mezzo al mare (A luna mmezzu 'u mari)"
1938: Gail Reese and
Glenn Miller Orchestra, "Oh! Ma-Ma! (The Butcher Boy)", 2001 album The Complete Sustaining Broadcasts: Volume 3 - On the Sentimental Side (
Jazz Band Records – EBCD 2180/81-2)
1939: Paolo Dones, "'A luna 'mmenzu 'u mari!" (
Columbia Records – 14359-F)
1960:
The Mills Brothers, "Oh! Ma-Ma! (The Butcher Boy)" (
Dot Records – 45-16049); 1974 album The Best of The Mills Brothers Volume II (Famous Twinsets – PAS-2-1027)
1961: Marianne, "Oh! Ma-Ma!" (
Sonet Records – T 8109)