Mental Health Break

This time of year, I sure do miss the bright sun. The snow’s been coming down often enough I’m running out of places to pile it next to the driveway. This past snow was about a foot, and heavy. I had to give it a good heave to get it behind the current pile. Perhaps for this reason I’ve had this song stuck in my head:

Below are the lyrics, both in the original Neapolitan language, and the English translation.

Neapolitan lyrics

Che bella cosa e’ na jurnata ‘e sole
n’aria serena doppo na tempesta!
Pe’ ll’aria fresca pare già na festa
Che bella cosa e’ na jurnata ‘e sole

Ma n’atu sole,
cchiù bello, oje ne’
‘O sole mio
sta ‘nfronte a te!
‘O sole, ‘o sole mio
sta ‘nfronte a te!
sta ‘nfronte a te!

Quanno fa notte e ‘o sole se ne scenne,
me vene quase ‘na malincunia;
sotto ‘a fenesta toia restarria
quanno fa notte e ‘o sole se ne scenne.

Ma n’atu sole,
cchiù bello, oje ne’
‘O sole mio
sta ‘nfronte a te!
‘O sole, ‘o sole mio
sta ‘nfronte a te!
sta ‘nfronte a te!

English translation

What a beautiful thing is a sunny day,
The air is serene after a storm
The air’s so fresh it already feels like a celebration
What a beautiful thing is a sunny day

But another sun,
that’s brighter still
It’s my own sun
that’s upon your face!
The sun, my own sun
It’s upon your face!
It’s upon your face!

When night comes and the sun has gone down,
I almost start feeling melancholy;
I’d stay below your window
When night comes and the sun has gone down.

But another sun,
that’s brighter still
It’s my own sun
that’s upon your face!
The sun, my own sun
It’s upon your face!
It’s upon your face!

2 thoughts on “Mental Health Break”

  1. Sebastian, thanks for these classical interludes, like your earlier piece on the Hallelujah flash-mob at Wanamaker’s. These interludes are fun, ease the tension of the tense times in which we live, and maybe show that opera and classical music are not the exclusive property of the anti-RKBA Manhattan “elites.”

  2. Nothing better than Pavarotti! …Except maybe some Beethoven. Or Dvorak.

Comments are closed.