music.wikisort.org - Composition

"Moon Over Naples" is a 1965 instrumental composed and recorded by German bandleader Bert Kaempfert. The instrumental version reached No. 6 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. It won a BMI Award in 1968.

Vocal versions of the song have been recorded as "Spanish Eyes" with lyrics by Eddie Snyder and Charles Singleton. The most notable of these was released by Al Martino, which topped Billboard's Easy Listening chart for 4 weeks in 1966.[1][2] It is one of most recorded songs with over 500 versions released in various languages.[3]

Background

"Moon Over Naples" was composed by Bert Kaempfert. It was the first track on his album, The Magic Music of Far Away Places for Decca Records. In 1968, "Moon Over Naples" earned Kaempfert one of five BMI Awards that year; the other awards were for his compositions "Lady", "Sweet Maria", "Strangers in the Night" and "The World We Knew (Over and Over)" with a posthumous BMI Award given September 16, 2003.[4]

Two different set of lyrics were added to the song by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder. "Moon Over Naples" was written as a Neapolitan song, and Sergio Franchi recorded the vocal version of this song in 1965, but the song did not chart. In another set of lyrics it became a song about a Mexican girl and the song title was then changed to "Spanish Eyes".[5] Both lyricists are credited in these two versions.[6][7]

Charts

Moon Over Naples

Chart (1965–1966)	Peak position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[8]	2
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[9]	4
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[10]	15
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[11]	18
US Billboard Hot 100[12]	59
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[13]	6
West Germany (Official German Charts)[14]	18

"Spanish Eyes"

The Austrian singer Freddy Quinn, a friend of Kaempfert who involved in Quinn's hit song "Die Gitarre und das Meer", first recorded "Spanish Eyes" in 1965 with English lyrics written by Eddie Snyder. It was released in the United States by Polydor, and as it was rising in the regional charts, the single was pulled from the market due to a dispute over the rights to the song between Polydor and Kaempfert's label Decca.[15][3]

Al Martino version

"Spanish Eyes"
Single by Al Martino
from the album Spanish Eyes
B-side	"Melody Of Love"
Recorded	1965
Length	2:45
Label	Capitol Records
Producer(s)	Tom Morgan

"Spanish Eyes" was recorded by Al Martino and it became a hit single in 1966. (All subsequent English versions used this title, with Singleton and Snyder among the credits.) Released in late 1965 in the United States, this recording reached number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100[2] and spent four weeks atop the Billboard Easy Listening chart[16] in early 1966. This vocal version was also a hit in Europe, where it sold an estimated 800,000 copies in Germany[16] and made the UK Singles Chart twice, peaking at number 49 in 1970 and then reaching number five in August 1973.[17]

Charts

Chart (1965–66)	Peak position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[18]	3
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[19]	1
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[20]	47
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[21]	13
UK Singles (OCC)[22]	49
US Billboard Hot 100[23]	15
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[24]	1
West Germany (Official German Charts)[25]	3

Other versions

• As "Spanish Eyes", the song would go on to be performed by diverse artists, among them: Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Wayne Newton, Andy Williams (in his 1967 album, Born Free), and Faith No More.[26]
• A cover by Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1988.[27]
• Little Willie Littlefield recorded a version for his 1990 album Singalong with Little Willie Littlefield.
• In 2013, vocal group Il Divo recorded a duet with British singer Engelbert Humperdinck.[28] Produced by Alberto Quintero, it was included in the album Engelbert Calling released September 30, 2014.[29]

Other language versions

• Ivo Robić recorded a German version titled "Rot ist der Wein", which reached No. 14 on the West German chart in 1966.[30] Robić also recorded a version in Serbo-Croat.[3]
• The song has been recorded in French as "Tes yeux" (Luis Mariano), "Tous ces voyages" (Lucky Blondo), and "Vivre au soleil" (Nana Mouskouri). It was recorded as "Occhi spagnoli" in Italian, and "Spanska Ögon" in Swedish.[3]

Popular culture

• The song was sung by Homer Simpson in The Simpsons episode "Homer vs. Dignity".
• The song was sung, initially by Geoffrey Hutchings and Sheila Reid as the characters of Mel and Madge in the finale to the third season of the British TV sitcom Benidorm.

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1966 (U.S.)

References

External links

• Example of the original Kaempfert recording at Youtube.com

На других языках

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[de] Moon over Naples

Moon over Naples ist ein von Bert Kaempfert geschriebener Popsong, der 1966 unter dem Titel Spanish Eyes von Al Martino gesungen zum internationalen Hit wurde.

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- [en] Moon Over Naples

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