Don Corleone’s Favorite Songs

I can think of only one thing that me and Don Vito Corleone might have in common, and that would be a love for Italian music. For although it’s never stated in the movies, I’m a firm completely convinced, Vito loved music and Italian music in particular. It reminds him of home.

I also imagines that he likes to sing a long to songs, when he’s alone, sipping his whiskey.

I can usually not sing along. I don’t speak Italian. But I am a HUGE fan of Italian music and I made a challenge for myself, in trying to compose a playlist that I think Vito Corleone might like.

Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra?

There was also a few rules. All of the songs had to be completely or partly sung in Italian. Since I didn’t want it to be a best of Dino. That means that all songs about Italy sung in other languages are excluded.

Dino did record a lot of Anglofied Italian classics but, none of them are on the playlist so far. Vito thinks they are a bit too cheesy – he prefers Frank Sinatra, he says.

But is there a song where Frank sings entirely in Italian?! Nothing came to mind…

So I used my friend Google and found an article. It explained:

Frank was never as comfortable with the language as other singers such as Dean. In the early years, when he recorded for Columbia, he did one Italian standard, “Come Back to Sorrento,” entirely in Italian, and he also sang a portion of “I Have But One Heart” in Italian. Later on he planned to record an album of Italian love songs for Reprise, but that never came to be. He also sang a chorus of “Santa Lucia” in Italian, along with Perry Como and the president of Italy, in a concert given at the White House in 1982 which was televised by PBS.

Atlanticweekly.com

I listened to these songs and quickly discovered that his version of ”Torna A Surriento” was sung in appalling Italian, even for my Swedish ears. Frank is much more successful with his Italian in ”I Have But One Heart”. So I included that one.

Vito does like ”Torna A Surriento”, a song recorded by more artists than I can mention. I picked Al Martinos bombastic version. Al was also an Italian-American Crooner.

Italian Opera

Yes, Vito is of course a fan of the classics. Rumor has is that Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli and Giuseppe Di Stefano are the only people who can make old Vito cry. He likes the big voices and sentimental songs. And I wouldn’t wanna say no to Don Corleone.

Italian songs about food and funny songs

One might not think it, but Don Vito actually has a sense of humor. He also likes to dance when he feels like it. Then he likes the sing-along-type of songs and checky stuff. That everyone can sway along to.

He also likes songs about Italian food, since he likes food. This includes oranges!

Contribute

Is there any song you think Vito might like? Include it in a reply to this post and I’ll ask him. If it’s good, I might include it on the playlist.

Here’s the playlist with Don Vito Corleone’s favorites

I can think of only one thing that me and Don Vito Corleone might have in common, and that would be a love for Italian music. For although it’s never stated in the movies, I’m a firm completely convinced, Vito loved music and Italian music in particular. It reminds him of home. I also imagines…

I can think of only one thing that me and Don Vito Corleone might have in common, and that would be a love for Italian music. For although it’s never stated in the movies, I’m a firm completely convinced, Vito loved music and Italian music in particular. It reminds him of home. I also imagines…