In his youth, Prima played trumpet with Irving Fazola, his brother's band, and the pit band of the Saenger Theater. In 1933 he began his busy recording career, as part of the David Rose orchestra at station WGN, Chicago; he was also part of the small recording group The Hotcha Trio, with Rose on piano and Norman Gast on violin. In 1934 Prima moved to New York, working regularly on 52nd Street with old New Orleans friends like Eddie Miller (tenor sax and clarinet) and George Brunies (trombone), and also new acquaintances like Pee Wee Russell (clarinet). Prima's informal jazz group was known as Louis Prima and His New Orleans Gang, and this band recorded prolifically for Brunswick through 1936, and then for Vocalion and Decca.
Prima's 1936 composition, "Sing Sing Sing", which he had released with the New Orleans Gang in March, 1936 as a Brunswick 78, Brunswick 7628, with "It's Been So Long" as the B side, became one of his biggest hits and one of the most covered standards of the swing era; Benny Goodman's performance of the song at Carnegie Hall with a featured performance by Gene Krupa on drums has become iconic.
Louis Prima and His Band
Prima moved to Los Angeles to headline at the Famous Door nightclub. He appeared in several Hollywood movies, including a featured performance with Bing Crosby in the 1936 film Rhythm on the Range. Prima and his Dixieland Gang continued to play club dates across the nation, including a 1939 stint at New York's Hickory House.
Big bands were big business then, and Prima apparently bowed to pressure from booking agents and formed a conventional big band in 1940. He exploited a distinctive, shuffling beat (which he called "Gleeby Rhythm"); this trademark Prima shuffle remained part of his repertoire for two decades. Prima sang most of the band vocals, with Lily Ann Carol as the "girl singer." Prima's high-powered drummer at this time was Jimmy Vincent, an energetic teenager who remained with the Prima band for many years.
In 1947 he added singer Cathy Ricciardi, who recorded under the name Cathy Allen. She was succeeded in 1949 by Keely Smith (who was to become his fourth wife), and the band concentrated on novelty songs like "Civilization (Bongo Bongo Bongo)" and "All Right, Louis, Drop the Gun." Prima's big band continued into the early 1950s, with a series of novelty recordings supervised (sometimes heavy-handedly) by record producer Mitch Miller.
Vegas years
The popularity of the big-band sound started to wane, and Prima began losing money, just as he needed it to support the pregnant Smith. Prima found work with Smith in small venues all over the East Coast. Eventually he called up his friend Bill Miller, who was then entertainment director of The Sahara nightclub and casino in Las Vegas, and asked for a job. His friend Cab Calloway warned him against the cramped Sahara lounge, but the financial pressure was too great. Prima telephoned saxophonist Sam Butera and instructed him to pick up a few musicians and go to Las Vegas in time for Prima's debut.
Prima acknowledged his new musicians for the opening-night crowd, and spontaneously asked Butera what the name of the band was. Butera ad-libbed, "The Witnesses!" From then on, Sam Butera and the Witnesses backed Prima and Smith on stage and records.
Prima and Smith worked hard throughout the 1950s, performing multiple shows a night and finishing at 6 a.m. Their efforts were rewarded with a resurgence in their popularity, and they were at least partly responsible for making the lounge at The Sahara a hotspot. On stage, Prima insisted on Smith adopting a humorless, poker-faced character that would play straight to Prima's zany ad libs. Smith actually had a fine sense of comedy that is often audible on the team's recordings; no matter how much the incorrigible Prima tried to disrupt her vocals, Smith would often come back with a funny remark of her own.
Louis Prima and Keely Smith were very much the model for Sonny & Cher: the exuberant Italian musician and the serious, exotic female singer, Smith and Cher both being of Cherokee descent (although Cher's heritage is primarily Armenian). Similarly, echoes of the stage banter between Prima and Butera would be heard years later in the early performances of the E Street Band and the interplay between Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons.
In 1959, Prima and Smith won the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus for "That Old Black Magic."
In 1956 the Prima ensemble performed at the Sahara Hotel and Casino to record tracks for the album The Wildest!. It was an attempt by Capitol Records to capture the essence of the Vegas act. Over the next nine years, Prima and Smith raised two children, while he made scores of records, owned racehorses, appeared on television, and even opened a golf course. They outgrew the lounge and were promoted to the big room. They appeared in a few quickie musical films, including Senior Prom and Hey Boy! Hey Girl! Prima co-produced the feature Twist All Night, in which his band also appeared.
During this whirlwind of activity, according to Smith, the couple drifted farther and farther apart. One night, he refused to conduct for one of Smith's performances, delegating to Butera instead. A few days later they were in court, petitioning for divorce.
Later years
Following the divorce, he began dating Gia Maione. Maione was a long-time fan of Prima's, was already familiar with all the arrangements to his songs, and even kept a signed photo of him in her purse. She eventually became Prima's fifth and final wife, and was with the band right up until 1975. By this point, the band was putting out a markedly different and more contemporary sound, with electric organs and synthesizers, even dabbling in progressive rock.
In 1967 Prima's distinctive voice and jazzy delivery landed him a role in Walt Disney's animated feature The Jungle Book, as the raucous orangutan King Louie. He performed the hit song "I Wanna Be Like You" on the soundtrack, leading to the recording of two albums with Phil Harris: The Jungle Book and More Jungle Book, on Disneyland Records. He can also be heard on the soundtrack of another cartoon feature, The Man Called Flintstone.
He suffered a mild heart attack in 1973. In 1975, following headaches and episodes of memory loss, Louis Prima sought medical attention, and found out he had a stem brain tumor. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and went into a coma following surgery to remove the tumor. He never recovered, and died three years later, having been moved back to New Orleans. He was buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans; his gray marble crypt is topped by a figure of Gabriel, the trumpeter-angel. The inscription on the crypt's door quote the lyrics from one of his hits: "When the end comes, I know, they'll all say 'just a gigolo' as life goes on without me. Lovingly, your little family..."
Angelina Zooma Zooma
Louis Prima Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just because she is so nice
Angelina
Angelina
The waitress at the pizzeria
I eat zuppa and minestrone
Just to be with her alone
Angelina
The waitress at the pizzeria
Ti voglio bene
Angelina I adore you
Ti voglio bene
Angelina I live for you
E un passione
You have set my heart on fire
But Angelina
Never listens to my song
I eat antipasta twice
Just because she is so nice
Angelina
Angelina
The waitress at the pizzeria
If she'll be a my cara mia
Then I'll join in matrimony
With a girl who serves spumoni
And Angelina will be mine
C'e' la luna 'n mezzo 'o mare
Mamma mia m'ho maritari
Figghia mia a cu t' ho dare
Mamma mia pensaci tu
S'iddu nun e' lu musicante
Iddu vai, iddu vene
Sempe lu strumento a mano tene
Se ci piglia 'a fantasia
Lu strumento figlia mia
Oh, mamma zooma zooma baccala'
Oh, mamma zooma zooma baccala'
Oh, mamma zooma zooma baccala'
Zooma zooma, zooma zooma
Zooma baccala'
C'e' la luna in miezz'o mare
Mamma mia m' ho maritari
Figlia mia a cu t' ho dare
Mamma mia pensaci tu
Se ti piglia lu pisciaiolo
Iddu va, iddu viene
Sempre baccala' a manu tiene
Se ci piglia 'a fantasia
Baccala' a manu tiene
Oh oh oh oh mamma', bilibibop
Zooma zooma baccala', oh no, no, no
Oh, mamma, bilibibop, zooma zooma baccala'
Oh, mamma, bilibibop, zooma zooma baccala'
Zee zee, zoo zoo ah ah, eh
Oh, mamma zooma zooma baccala'
Oh, mamma zooma zooma baccala'
Oh, mamma zooma zooma baccala'
Bilibibop, bilibibop
Bilibibop, bilibibop
The lyrics to Louis Prima’s song Angelina/Zooma Zooma capture the essence of being enamored with a woman, specifically the waitress at the pizzeria. The singer describes his love for Angelina through his actions, stating that he eats antipasta twice and zuppa and minestrone just to be with her. He sings in Italian, expressing his deep affection for her, using phrases like “Ti voglio bene” which translates to “I love you” and expressing his desire to marry her. However, Angelina never listens to his song. The song then shifts into a nonsense phrase, “mamma zooma zooma baccala,” which Prima used to rouse the audience and add a sense of jubilation to the song.
Interestingly, the Italian parts of the song are not actually accurate Italian - it's referred to as "Prima-ese," a made-up language that Louis Prima used in his songs. The phrase "zooma zooma" is thought to have come from the Italian word "zum," which means "let's go."
Line by Line Meaning
I eat antipasta twice
I indulge in appetizers twice just to impress Angelina
Just because she is so nice
Angelina is a kind and charming person
Angelina
The name of the waitress whom the singer is infatuated with
Angelina
The name of the waitress whom the singer is infatuated with
The waitress at the pizzeria
Angelina is employed at a pizza restaurant
I eat zuppa and minestrone
I consume soup dishes only to spend time with Angelina
Just to be with her alone
The singer desires to be alone with Angelina
Ti voglio bene
Italian for 'I love you'
Angelina I adore you
The singer loves Angelina
Ti voglio bene
Italian for 'I love you'
Angelina I live for you
The singer's life revolves around Angelina
E un passione
It is a passion
You have set my heart on fire
Angelina has ignited the singer's passion and desire
But Angelina
Despite the singer's affection, Angelina
Never listens to my song
Doesn't seem to be interested in the singer in that way
If she'll be a my cara mia
If Angelina will be my beloved
Then I'll join in matrimony
The singer would marry her
With a girl who serves spumoni
Someone who serves spumoni
And Angelina will be mine
The singer wants to be with Angelina
C'e' la luna 'n mezzo 'o mare
There's a moon in the middle of the sea
Mamma mia m'ho maritari
Mamma mia, I have to get married
Figghia mia a cu t' ho dare
My daughter, who can I give you to?
Mamma mia pensaci tu
Mamma mia, you decide
S'iddu nun e' lu musicante
If he's not the musician
Iddu vai, iddu vene
Then he goes, he comes
Sempe lu strumento a mano tene
Always carrying the instrument with him
Se ci piglia 'a fantasia
If the mood strikes us
Lu strumento figlia mia
The instrument, my daughter
Oh, mamma zooma zooma baccala'
An exclamation of excitement
Zooma zooma, zooma zooma
An exclamation of excitement
Zooma baccala'
An exclamation of excitement
C'e' la luna in miezz'o mare
There's a moon in the middle of the sea
Figlia mia a cu t' ho dare
My daughter, who can I give you to?
Se ti piglia lu pisciaiolo
If you take the fisherman
Iddu va, iddu viene
He goes, he comes
Sempre baccala' a manu tiene
Always carrying the baccala' with him
Oh oh oh oh mamma', bilibibop
An exclamation expressing excitement
Zee zee, zoo zoo ah ah, eh
Sounds made during the excitement
Bilibibop, bilibibop
Sounds made during the excitement
Bilibibop, bilibibop
Sounds made during the excitement
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, Peermusic Publishing, Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Written by: DORIS FISHER, ALLAN ROBERTS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Labaron26
I'm 75 and can remember when my friends and I used to sing this on the local street corner. ................
@romancabral9975
Happy 86TH years old to you now in 2021
@Khelifi_Akram37
@@romancabral9975 I thinks he's dead 🙁
@doijcserqepof7194
@@Khelifi_Akram37 Yo shut up poeple get old these days
@BjjBurrito
Damn😂😭
@anthonyesposito9953
Damn! Are you still alive? You’d be 88 now
@HilariousToaster
1975, Louis Prima learned that he had a brain tumor. He decided, to end his singing career, and obviously, get surgery to remove the tumor. But, tragically, during the operation, Louis slipped into a coma. He stayed in the coma state for three years, until death in 1978. Rest in Peace, Louis Prima. Gone, but never forgotten.
@magdielbetancourt5164
So sad
@konstantineguruli
God bless his soul.
Thank you for sharing.
@razvantasca
🙏❤️🙏