Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: GUEST,BBerrettini
Date: 15 Jul 23 - 05:09 AM

My mother used to sing me this song! I’m so glad to find it! Thank you!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: GUEST,GUEST
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 02:51 AM

Here's my best guess at the Italian and English lyrics based on this thread and the help of google translate.  I'm not terribly confident sorting through the dialect, but sometimes it's helpful to see phonetics on paper. It's really a lovely lullaby - I will add it to the rotation immediately!

Ti ri ni, ti ri na
Bella figlia che tiene mamaE la mamma non compra piùFigli belli come sei tuDormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi

What a beautiful baby daughter mamma has.
Mamma will not have any more
Daughters as beautiful as you

Quando la mamma la mette a dormire
L'angeleddi la stan a guardare
E tutti insieme se mettan a dire
Bella figlia che tiene mammaE quando cresce sta bella figliola
Du[l]ci con una caramellaCerto chi mamma la manda la scuolaPoi ci torno ci canta così

When mamma puts her baby to bed
All the angels will protect her
All together they will say
What a beautiful baby daughter mamma has.
And when she grows up she has her own beautiful daughterThere with a candyWith which mom sends her to schoolThen she comes back and sings like this.

Ti ri ni, ti ri na
Bella figlia che tiene mama
E la mamma non compra piùFigli belli come sei tu
Dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi

Dopo che scuola sta figlia finisce
Certo una bella picciotta [ranesce]
Canta la mamma che tutto capisce
Bella figlia che tiene a mamma
Quando sta figlia ta pronta sposare
Veni marchese por d'un cavaliere
O che gran peste si devi fare
Mentre la mamma ci canta cosi

After daughter's school is ended
Certainly a nice little [frog]
Sings the mother who understands all
Beautiful daughter held onto mom.
When the daughter is ready to marry
Come Marquise for a Knight (Italian nobleman honorifics)
Oh what a big pest you must be
While mamna sings like this.

Ti ri ni, ti ri na
Bella figlia che tiene mama
E la mamma non compra più
Figli belli come sei tu
Dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi

Dopo la figlia sposare diventa
La canzone [ma chi ero] non canta
Come la mamma contava contenta
Bella figlia che tiene a mamma
E allora parlo [mari e] ci dici
Tu siamo felici come quando cantava mamma
Voglio cantare di gioia felici 
Come quando cantava mamma

After the daughter gets married
But does not yet sing the song
As mother sang contentedly
Til she holds her beautiful daughter
And then how she tells us 
She is as happy as when her mama sang:
"I want to sing with joyful happiness
As happy as when my mother sang"

Ti ri ni, ti ri na
Bella figlia che tiene mama
E la mamma non compra più
Figli belli come sei tu
Dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: GUEST,Tonilock49
Date: 14 Nov 17 - 02:00 PM

Check this out. I found it by accident. It's a lovely version by a group called The Interior Castle located in Pittsburgh. Available on their website. I remember my mother singing this too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suJ2Dy9Cw3Q

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: GUEST
Date: 23 May 16 - 12:22 PM

Here is a link to my FAVORITE (BY FAR) version of this song (sorry for the few scratches - it's quite old)

https://clyp.it/user/42ebzvum

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: GUEST,Forever Grateful
Date: 25 Jan 14 - 09:17 AM

My Nonna sang this to me as a child and I have been searching for years to find this little piece of my history. I had been unsuccessful until now and beginning to wonder if this song might be lost forever. Thank you for bringing it back to me!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Dec 12 - 04:20 AM

The song "Dormi Dormi" by the Gaylords is on the Gaylords CD entitled "The Gaylords Greatest Hits." The picture on the front of the CD shows two of them at a much older age than the prime of the group. I have the 45 single of "Dormi Dormi" by the Gaylords. It is on the Time label #1071. The flip side is "Try to Remember" which is from the Broadway musical "The Fantastiks." The year of "Try to Remember's"popularity was 1965, so it's a pretty fair bet that the record came out then. Eydie Gorme recorded a song entitled "Dormi Dormi Dormi" in 1958. It was the flip side of her big hit "You Need Hands"...I'm pretty sure it's the same song. Good luck in finding the song, and hope that helps you at least a little bit. Best--Al

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: Monique
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 04:03 AM

I've just listened to the YouTube and they say "mamma" and "figli belli".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: Monique
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 02:48 AM

You're right about the comma Genie though grammaticaly "più" goes with "compra" (literally: Mommy doesn't buy any more beautiful children -or a beautiful girl- as you are). Note that "figlia bella come sei tu" is "beautiful daughter as you are" but "figli belli come sei tu" is masculine so it means "beautiful children as you are" here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: Genie
Date: 22 Nov 11 - 10:58 PM

Thanks, V.
Reposting with line breaks -- and to remove the comma after "piu," because the lyric is " ... la mama non compra piu figlie belli come sei tu," I think -- i.e., "Mama can't buy a daughter more beautiful than you." (If my translation is wrong, please let me know, but I think the "piu" goes with "bella," doesn't it?)

Ti Di Ni, ti di na
Che bella figlia che tiene mama.
E la mama non compra piu
figli belli come sei tu.

Dormi, dormi,
dormi, dormi,
dormi, dormi.

Close your eyes. little darling of mine,
and the angels will sing you to sleep.
Oh the sweetest of dreams you will find,
Dreams that only a baby can keep .
All too soon you'll be baby no more
And your mother will silently weep
Till the joy of a dream that's in store
when you sing your own baby to sleep.

Ti di ni, ti di na.
Che bella figlia che tiene mama,
E la mama non compra piu
figli belli come sei tu.

Dormi, dormi,
dormi, dormi,
dormi, dormi.
Dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: GUEST,V
Date: 22 Nov 11 - 05:15 PM

Ti Di Ni, ti di na.. Che bella figlia che tiene mama. E la mama non compra piu, figli belli come sei tu. Dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi,dormi, dormi.
Close your eyes little darling of mine and the angels will sing you to sleep, oh the sweetest of dreams youwill find. Dreams that only a baby can keep . All too soon you'll be baby no more. And your mother will silently weep. Till the joy of a dream that's in store when you sing your own baby to sleep. Ti di ni, ti di na. Che bella figlia che tiene mama. E la mama non compra piu, figli belli come sei tu. Dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi.
Dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi, dormi.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Nov 09 - 05:55 PM

falalana fanto lino

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: Genie
Date: 05 Oct 09 - 11:04 PM

Oh, thank you, Jim!

It's great to have the original Italian song (or at least a fully Italian version).

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Oct 09 - 10:09 PM

I think this may be the original:

From a Italian Americans in a Multicultural Society: Proceedings of the Symposium of the American Italian Historical Society held at St. John's University, 11 - 13 November 1993 (New York: Forum Italicum, 1994), page 102:

For example, the lovely lullaby, "Dormi, Dormi" (Sleep, Sleep) can stimulate discussion of related topics such as familial relationships, the changing roles of women, and the significance of religion:

Tirini, Tirina
Che bella figlia che tenn' mamma
La mamma non compra piu
Figlia bella come sei tu.
Quando la mamma la mette a dormire
L'angeleddi la stan a guardare.
Tutti insieme se mettan a dire
Che bella figlia che tenn' mamma
Tirini, Tirina

(What a beautiful baby daughter mamma has.
Mamma will not have any more
Daughters as beautiful as you
When mamma puts her baby to bed,
All the angels will protect her.
All together they will say
What a beautiful baby daughter mamma has.)

Here, Paone shows the immigrant reliance upon oral communication. Indeed, he was inspired to write this song in Argentina upon receiving news of his own father's death from a visiting friend.

*
Here's an obituary of Nicola Paone from The New York Times.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: Ep' Eric
Date: 03 Oct 09 - 06:26 AM

I too remember the Dormi lullaby from wayback , at least one version of it. I can hear the chorus plainly in my memory so perhaps I have it in my collection of Italian tenors. I will take a look but it could take some days to find it,if I have it. I must have heard it many times to remember it so well .
                                           EP

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: Genie
Date: 02 Oct 09 - 04:18 PM

Jim, I have that same Gaylords album (the one with the cover you see on YouTube) - or at least I used to (not sure I still have it. That's where I learned (what I could of) the song, years ago.   It's nice to hear it again, now that I can speak and understand enough Italian to know what they're singing.

And you're so right about how hard it is to research the song, because so many other songs use that phrase. I do appreciate your finding and posting the info you came up with.

(If I can find my Gaylords LP it probably has the songwriter attribution on the label, but that would not answer the question of its early origins. I mean, I have lots of sheet music and recordings that list modern songwriters for songs that I know are derived from old "tradidtional" folk music or from classical composers (or both).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Oct 09 - 01:11 PM

I should have added: I'm aware that this doesn't answer the question of whether this version of DORMI DORMI was adapted from an Italian pop song or perhaps a traditional Italian folk song. I suspect it was, but tracing it will be difficult, since searching for "Dormi Dormi" brings up lots of unrelated (but interesting) stuff, and especially, it leads into web sites and books that are completely in Italian, which I don't understand. I enjoy the challenge though, and will continue when I have time, which might not be until next week.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Oct 09 - 12:53 PM

This is a difficult song to research, because there seem to be several songs with the same title, or very similar titles. While doing my research, I got sidetracked on some other songs which are interesting in their own right.

Allmusic.com and Wikipedia both have some information about The Gaylords.

From them I learned that the Gaylords originally consisted of
    * Don Rea
    * Burt Bonaldi (who later took the name Burt Holiday)
    * Ronnie Fredianelli (who later took the name Ron Gaylord)
The latter two also performed under the name Gaylord & Holiday.
Burt Holiday & Ron Gaylord, Jr. (son of the original member) are now performing again as The Gaylords—see their official web site.

There is also a fan's web page: http://home.earthlink.net/~v1tiger/gaylords.html

I can't find any evidence of DORMI DORMI being released as a single by "The Gaylords" as such; however "Gaylord & Holiday" did release a single of DORMI DORMI b/w TRY TO REMEMBER. I suspect this is the recording that was later included in a couple of compilation albums attributed to "The Gaylords" namely:
"Greatest Hits" AEM CD 25841, 1993
"20 Italian Songs of Love" Hallmark CD 30573, 1996
I suspect these are both out of print.

By the way, there is a recording of DORMI DORMI attributed to "The Gaylords" at YouTube. The sound quality is poor, and the person who constructed the video says it came from an LP that she bought on eBay.

BMI.com lists a song called DORMI DORMI (along with several others of the same title) attributed to: Ronald Fredianelli, Nicola Paone, and "Public Domain Writer Share" (whatever that means). It lists Rodian Music Corporation as the publisher. This must be the song you want.

Subject: Lyric Add: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullaby)
From: Genie
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 04:45 PM

DORMI, DORMI
(recorded by The Gaylords ca. 1954)

Cho.:
Dormi, dormi,
Dormi, dormi,
Dormi, do-o-o-o-or-mi.

Close your eyes, little darling of mine,
And your mother will sing you to sleep.
Oh, the sweetest of dreams you will find,
Dreams that only a baby can keep.
All too soon you'll be baby no more,
And your mother will silently weep
Till the joy of a dream that's in store
When you sing your own baby to sleep.

Ti di ni, Ti di na,
Che bella figlia che tieni Mama.
Bella mama non compra piu
Figlia bella come sei tu.

Dormi, Dormi, ...

Subject: Lyr Req: Dormi, Dormi (Italian lullabye
From: Genie
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 04:01 PM

I am trying to find the full lyrics to a beautiful Italian lullabye that I heard on an album by The Gaylords back in the 1950s or early 1960s and learned (to the extent that I could without having any background in Italian at the time).   
I mentioned the song and posted what I could recall of the lyrics in a "Favorite Lullabyes" thread here .

One of our anonymous "Guest" posters (bless him or her) posted some of the missing lyrics here.

However, the words posted by "Guest" sound a little different from my auditory memory of the song. In particular, I heard "tieni," not "tenga," and I heard more syllables in the last two lines.

I've done quite a bit of internet searching but I can't find the song so far. I'd like to know if the origin (e.g., songwriters) is known, etc.


Here is what I've been able to piece together so far:

DORMI, DORMI
(recorded by The Gaylords ca. 1954)

Cho.:
Dormi, dormi,
Dormi, dormi,
Dormi, do-o-o-o-or-mi.

Close your eyes, little baby of mine,
And your mother will sing you to sleep.
Oh, the sweetest of dreams you will find,
Dreams that only a baby can keep.
All too soon you'll be baby no more,
And your mother will silently weep
Till the joy of a dream that's in store
When you rock your own baby to sleep.

Ti di ni, ti di na,
Che bella figlia che tieni Mama,
Y la mama non compra piu
bella figlia come tu,

Dormi, dormi, ...


As I translate it (in my imperfect Italian), the lyrics say:

Ti di ni, ti di na (tra la la or hey nonny nonny or sha na na)
Che bella figlia che tieni Mama (What a beautiful daughter* Mama holds!)
Y la mama non compra piu bella figlia come tu (And mama coudn't buy a more beautiful daughter than you).


*or "son" if you sing "figlio"




So if anyone has corrections or additions, I would really appreciate them.

Genie