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When the moon hits your eye like a big-a pizza pie
That's amore
When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine
That's amore
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I hate to write in cliche, but they don't write songs like this anymore. (I've posted here on another great classic song from bygone years.)
I always thought Frank Sinatra, the quintessential Italian American performer, who really is the quintessential American performer, sang "That's Amore." He did. But it is the signature song of another great crooner, Dean Martin. But, here is something about Dean Martin I didn't know (or I vaguely knew, otherwise I wouldn't have tried to confirm it via Wikipedia):
Dean Martin (June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995), born Dino Paul Crocett...Martin was born in Steubenville, Ohio, to Italian parents, Gaetano and Angela Crocetti (née Barra). His father was from Abruzzo, Italy, and his mother was an Italian of part Neapolitan and part Sicilian ancestry.There you have it, another (Italian) crooner.
The song was composed by Harry Warren in 1953. Wait, another musical Italian:
Warren was born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna, one of eleven children of Italian immigrants Antonio (a bootmaker) and Rachel De Luca Guaragna, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. His father changed the family name to Warren when Harry was a child. Although his parents could not afford music lessons, Warren had an early interest in music and taught himself to play his father's accordion."That's Amore" plays during the opening and closing credits of Moonstruck ("when the moon hits your eye..."), which stars Cher - no Italian she, but as fiery as any stereotype - and Nicholas Cage (born Nicolas Kim Coppola , yes, that Coppola family). The supporting actors are also mostly Italian, except for Olympia Dukakis, whose background is Greek, but that is close enough to Italian.
The only gripe I have is that Cage ends up sounding sub-intelligent (a little like Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire - perhaps that is who he was channeling), but all the others, with their mild melodramas, are perfect. Cher transforms into a real beauty at the end, when she meets Cage to go to the Lincoln Center - yes, Italians and opera - unlike her recent, unfortunate plastic surgery make-over.
Harry Warren has a long list of film song credits, including winning three Oscars, many Broadway hits and dozens of #1 hits of popular songs.