From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"
Never on Sunday
", also known by its original Greek title "
Ta Pedia tou Pirea
" ("Τα Παιδι? του Πειραι?", The Children of Piraeus), is a popular song written by
Manos Hatzidakis
[1]
and first sung by
Melina Mercouri
in the film of the
same name
, directed by
Jules Dassin
and starring Mercouri.
[1]
The song won the
Academy Award for Best Original Song
in 1960, a first for a foreign-language picture.
[3]
The
film score
was first released on 1 October 1960 by
United Artists Records
.
[2]
The song has since been recorded by numerous artists, and has gained various degrees of success throughout the world. The opening of the song bears some resemblance to that of
Poinciana
.
[
citation needed
]
Background
[
edit
]
"Never on Sunday" was written by Manos Hadjidakis as "Ta Pedia tou Pirea" (The Children of Piraeus). His original Greek lyrics, along with the foreign translations in German, French, Italian and Spanish do not mention "Never on Sunday" (as found in the English lyrics), but rather tell the story of the main female character of the film, Illya (Mercouri).
[
citation needed
]
Illya is a jolly woman who sings of her joyful life in her port town of
Piraeus
("If I search the world over/I'll find no other port/Which has the magic/Of my Port Piraeus").
[
citation needed
]
Although she earns her money as a prostitute, she longs to meet a man someday who is just as full of
joie de vivre
as she is herself.
[
citation needed
]
In 1960, the song won the
Academy Award for Best Original Song
, a first for a foreign-language picture since the Academy began to recognize achievements in this category in 1934.
[3]
Recordings
[
edit
]
The song has been recorded in a number of languages since its release:
- Greek (as "Τα Παιδι? του Πειραι?") by
Melina Mercouri
,
Nana Mouskouri
, and
Pink Martini
.
[
citation needed
]
- English: An orchestral version recorded by
Don Costa
reached number 19 on the
Billboard
Hot 100
in 1960, then returned to the
Billboard
Top 40 when reissued in 1961.
[4]
His version also peaked at #27 in the
UK Singles Chart
.
[1]
Following the success of the orchestral version as well as the Oscar win,
[5]
an
English language
version of the song was commissioned to be written especially to match the title of the film. The lyrics to the English version of the song were written by Billy Towne. A vocal of the song by
The Chordettes
reached number 13 on the
Billboard
Hot 100
chart in 1961, making it their final Top 40 hit in the United States.
[6]
It was also recorded by
Billy Eckstine
,
Bing Crosby
,
Lena Horne
,
Doris Day
,
Andy Williams
,
Trini Lopez
,
The 4 Seasons
,
Connie Francis
,
Julie London
,
Eartha Kitt
,
Petula Clark
,
Lale Andersen
,
Ann-Margret
, and
the New Christy Minstrels
, plus as an instrumental by
Herb Alpert
and the Tijuana Brass and
James Last
.
The Ventures
released a version on their 1963
Dolton
album
The Ventures Play Telstar and the Lonely Bull
, as did
The Baskerville Hounds
on their 1967
Dot Records
album
The Baskerville Hounds ? Featuring Space Rock, Part 2
.
- In the United Kingdom, there were five versions in the
UK Singles Chart
. They were Don Costa, reached number 27;
Chaquito
(actually Johnny Gregory), reached number 50;
Lynn Cornell
with the only vocal version in the UK chart, reached number 30; Makadopulos and his Greek Serenaders, reached number 36; and Manuel and his Music of The Mountains (actually
Geoff Love
), which peaked at number 29.
[7]
- Italian (as "Uno a te, uno a me") by
Dalida
,
Milva
,
Nilla Pizzi
, Isabella Fedeli.
[
citation needed
]
- French (as "Les enfants du Piree") by
Dalida
,
Melina Mercouri
,
Dario Moreno
. Dalida's French version of this song topped
French singles chart in 1960
.
[
citation needed
]
- Spanish (as "Los ninos del Pireo") by
Dalida
. "Nunca en Domingo" by
Xiomara Alfaro
.
[
citation needed
]
- German:
Lale Andersen
scored a number one hit in 1960 with the German-language version of the song titled "Ein Schiff wird kommen".
[8]
It was also covered by
Dalida
,
Caterina Valente
,
Lys Assia
,
Nana Mouskouri
, Helmuth Brandenburg and Melina Mercouri. In 1982 the
Neue Deutsche Welle
band Der Moderne Man recorded a
gay
themed
new wave
version named "Blaue Matrosen" with the same German lyrics of Lale Andersen's version, but sung by a man.
[9]
- Dutch (as "Nooit op zondag") by
Mieke Telkamp
, based on the melody.
- Yiddish (as "Nisht oyf zintuk") by
The Barry Sisters
.
- Polish (as "Dzieci Pireusu") by Maria Koterbska and duo of actors
Hanna ?leszy?ska
& Jacek Wojcicki.
- Czech (as "D?ti z Pirea", 1962) by Milan Chladil & Yvetta Simonova.
- Serbian (as "Деца Пире?а") by Lola Novakovi? and Ljiljana Petrovi?.
- Croatian (as "Nikad nedjeljom") by Ksenia Prohaska.
- Slovenian (as "Otroci Pireja") by Helena Blagne.
- Cantonese (as "兩仔爺") by
Cheng Gwan-min
(
鄭君綿
),
Tang Kee-chan
(
鄧寄塵
), and Cheng Pik Ying (
鄭碧影
) in 1962. Another cover version was sung by
Andy Lau
(
劉德華
),
Anita Mui
(
梅?芳
),
Sandra Ng
(
吳君如
),
Ronald Cheng
(
鄭中基
),
Gordon Lam
(
林家棟
), Suzanne Chung (鍾依澄),
Cherrie Ying
(
應采兒
) and
Lam Chi-chung
(
林子聰
) in the 2001 film
Dance of a Dream
(
愛君如夢
). The song title roughly translates as "Father and Son".
- Mandarin (as "別在星期天") by
Teresa Teng
(
鄧麗君
). The title translates as "Never on Sunday". It was additionally covered by Rebecca Pan (潘迪華) in 1961 and Ouyang Fei Fei (歐陽菲菲) in 1968.
- Portuguese (as "As criancas do Pireu") by Paula Ribas.
- Hindi (as "???? ? ????") by
Usha Uthup
on the album "Dekha Dekhi"
- Finnish (as "Ei koskaan sunnuntaisin") by Four Cats, Vieno Kekkonen and Kaarina Heikkinen among others.
- Sinhala (as "??? ??? ??? ???????") by Chandu de Silva (a.k.a. Jolly Seeya).
- Hebrew (as "??? ???? ??", that is, "And What Do I Have Left?") by the Givatron.
- Swedish (as "Aldrig pa en sondag") by Ann-Louise Hanson and Siw Malmkvist.
- Danish (as "Aldrig Om Søndagen") by Grethe Ingmann.
- Catalan (as "Els minyons del Pireu") by Jose Guardiola (1960), and (as "Els nens del Pireu") by Ara va de bo.
Other appearances
[
edit
]
References
[
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]
External links
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]
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Singles
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