Operatic career:
Born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was exposed to opera and singing at a young age, and by the age of 16 his vocal talent became apparent. Starting out in local operatic productions in Philadelphia, he later came to the attention of conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who provided young Cocozza with a full student scholarship to the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood in Massachusetts. Koussevitzky would later tell Lanza that, "Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years."
His operatic debut, as Fenton in Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor, was at Tanglewood on August 7, 1942, after just six weeks of study with conductors Boris Goldovsky and Leonard Bernstein. It was here that Cocozza adopted his stage name from his mother Maria's maiden name of Lanza. His performances at Tanglewood won him critical acclaim, with Noel Straus of The New York Times hailing the 21-year-old tenor as having "few equals among tenors of the day in terms of quality, warmth, and power."
His operatic career was interrupted by World War II, when he was assigned to Special Services in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He appeared on the wartime shows On the Beam and Winged Victory while in the Air Corps.
He resumed his singing career in October 1945 on the CBS radio program Great Moments in Music, where he made six appearances singing various operatic selections. He later studied under Enrico Rosati for fifteen months, then embarked on an 86-concert tour of the United States, Canada and Mexico between July 1947 and May 1948 with George London and Frances Yeend. In April 1948, he sang Pinkerton in the New Orleans Opera's Madama Butterfly. A concert at the Hollywood Bowl brought Lanza to the attention of MGM's Louis B. Mayer, who signed Lanza to a seven-year film contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer. This would prove to be a turning point in the young singer's career.
Film career:
MGM's contract with Lanza required him to commit to the studio for six months, and at first Lanza was able to combine his film career with his operatic one, singing two acclaimed performances as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for the New Orleans Opera Association in April 1948. He also continued to perform in concert, both in solo appearances and as part of the Bel Canto Trio with George London and Frances Yeend. In May 1949, he made his first commercial recordings with RCA Victor. However, his first two films, That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans, were very successful, as was his recording career, and Lanza's fame increased dramatically.
In 1951, Lanza portrayed Enrico Caruso in The Great Caruso, which proved to be an astonishing success. At the same time, his popularity exposed Lanza to intense criticism by music critics, including those who had praised his work years earlier.
In 1954, Lanza was dismissed by MGM after he had pre-recorded the songs for The Student Prince. The film was subsequently made with actor Edmund Purdom miming to Lanza's vocals. During this period Lanza came very close to bankruptcy as a result of poor investment decisions made by his former manager. Owing about $250,000 in back taxes to the IRS, Lanza withdrew from the public eye for a time.
Mario Lanza at home.He returned to an active film career in 1956 in Serenade; despite its strong musical content, it was not as successful as his previous films. Lanza then moved to Rome, Italy in May 1957, where he worked on the film Seven Hills of Rome and returned to live performing in a series of acclaimed concerts throughout Britain, Ireland and the European Continent. In early 1958, he auditioned for the management of La Scala in Milan, and was immediately offered a minimum two-year contract to sing at that theatre. The opera initially discussed was Puccini's Tosca. Later that year, Lanza also agreed to open the 1960/61 season at the Rome Opera as Canio in Pagliacci. At the same time, however, his health began to decline, with the tenor suffering from a variety of ailments, including phlebitis and acute high blood pressure. The following year, in April 1959, Lanza suffered a minor heart attack, followed by double pneumonia in August. He died in Rome in October of that year at the age of 38 from a pulmonary embolism. His widow moved back to Hollywood with their four children and died of a drug overdose five months later; the younger of their two sons died of a heart attack at the age of 37. When Lanza died rumors spread that the notorious mob boss Lucky Luciano (Salvatore Luciano) had had him killed after he refused to perform for him but those rumors quickly died down because they simply were not true. Soprano Maria Callas would later say of him, "My biggest regret is not to have had the opportunity to sing with the greatest tenor voice I've ever heard."
Lanza's short career covered opera, radio, concerts, recordings, and motion pictures. He was the first artist for RCA Victor Red Seal to receive a gold disc. He was also the first artist to sell two and half million albums. A highly influential artist, Lanza has been credited with inspiring the careers of successive generations of opera singers, including Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci and Jose Carreras, as well as those of singers with seemingly different backgrounds, and influences, his RCA Victor label-mate Elvis Presley being the most notable example. In 1994, tenor José Carreras paid tribute to Lanza in a worldwide concert tour, saying of him, "If I'm an opera singer, it's thanks to Mario Lanza."
The Song Is You
Mario Lanza Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A beautiful theme of every
Dream I ever knew.
Down deep in my heart I hear it play.
I feel it start, then melt away.
I hear music when I touch your hand,
A beautiful melody
Down deep in my heart, I hear it say,
Is this the day?
I alone have heard this lovely strain,
I alone have heard this glad refrain,
Must it be forever inside of me,
Why can't I let it go,
Why can't I let you know,
Why can't I let you know the song
My heart would sing?
That beautiful rhapsody
Of love and youth and spring,
The music is sweet,
The words are true
The song is you.
In Mario Lanza's song "The Song Is You," the singer shares his overwhelming affection for someone special. The song begins with the lyrics "I hear music when I look at you, a beautiful theme of every dream I ever knew." The singer is suggesting that their love for this person is so profound that every dream they have ever had is woven with beautiful music just because of their presence. The subsequent lyrics express how their heart is beating faster as it melts away due to the sweet music heard deep inside it.
The lyrics in the next verse continue to describe their love affair. "I hear music when I touch your hand, a beautiful melody from some enchanted land." The singer is overwhelmed by the music they hear when they touch their love interest's hand as if it is something mystical. The music is again originating deep inside their heart as they are questioning if today is the day for this special revelation. As the song progresses, the singer shares how they alone have heard this delightful melody but unable to let it go, and it should be shared with their beloved. The lyrics focus on something that the heart feels but cannot express or reveal, leaving everything up to the music. The beautiful rhapsody of love, youth, and spring, filled with sweet music and true words, culminates with the lyrics "The song is you," emphasizing their love for that special someone.
**Interesting Facts:**
* "The Song Is You" was written by Jerome Kern (music), and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) for the Broadway musical "Music in the Air"; the show debuted in 1932.
* Mario Lanza was an American tenor of Italian heritage and became one of the most popular and highest-paid singers of his time.
* Lanza's version of "The Song Is You" was released in 1953 as part of his album "The Student Prince."
* The song has been recorded numerous times and has become a jazz standard.
* The song has been included in several movies, including "I Dood It" (1943) and "Tennessee Champ" (1954).
* The Kern and Hammerstein partnership is considered one of the most successful composer-lyricist teams of the early 20th century.
* Kern was an inaugural inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Oscar Hammerstein was posthumously created a membership.
* The song title is a wordplay using the indefinite article "a": "The Song Is You" vs. "A Song Is You."
* The chorus of the song was reused in the song "This Nearly Was Mine" for the show "South Pacific."
* Other notable artists who recorded "The Song Is You" include Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Sarah Vaughan.
**Chords:**
Unfortunately, there is no one specific way to play the chords of "The Song Is You" without considering an arranged specific version, due to variations in individual renditions.
Line by Line Meaning
I hear music when I look at you,
Every time I look at you, music starts playing inside my head.
A beautiful theme of every
Dream I ever knew.
You're the embodiment of every dream I've ever had, a beautiful theme that I can never forget.
Down deep in my heart I hear it play.
I feel it start, then melt away.
The music that I hear from you is deep within my heart, it starts beautifully but then quietly fades away.
I hear music when I touch your hand,
A beautiful melody
From some enchanted land.
Every time I touch your hand, I experience a beautiful melody that seems to come from a magical place.
Down deep in my heart, I hear it say,
Is this the day?
Deep within me, I can hear the melody ask if this is the day that I'll finally confess my feelings to you.
I alone have heard this lovely strain,
I alone have heard this glad refrain,
This beautiful melody is something that only I have experienced, this song is only for me to hear.
Must it be forever inside of me,
Why can't I let it go,
Why can't I let you know,
Why must this song always be within me? Why can't I let it go and finally express my feelings to you?
Why can't I let you know the song
My heart would sing?
Why am I unable to let you know about the beautiful song that my heart desires to sing for you?
That beautiful rhapsody
Of love and youth and spring,
This beautiful melody is a poetic and romantic representation of love, youth, and springtime.
The music is sweet,
The words are true
The song is you.
This melody is sweet and the lyrics are true, the song is representative of you and my feelings for you.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: JEROME KERN, OSCAR II HAMMERSTEIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
June E. Dahl
on April in Paris
This is a truly wonderful version of the "Our Father". Mario Lanza has a reverential interpretation of this melody and sings it with heartfelt intensity. I will be 80 years old next February (God willing) and I always associate Mario Lanza with my Faith because I saw: "The Great Caruso" with my Mother and sister , in 1951. I was 9 years- old at the time and had begun to sing in the church choir as a child, myself. The choir- boy, start of Enrico Caruso ´s singing career impressed me very much ! And, so, I associate Mario Lanza with the Catholic Church. The part of Enrico Caruso played by Mario Lanza, really made this Warner Bros. Hollywood film classic what it is. I appreciated that his voice nearly sobbed and grieved on the arias when required and was very moving and expressive ! His marvellous tenor voice was an unforgettable experience which has remained with me, all my life ! Mario Lanza has given me through his interpretations of arias and ballads, my first musical glimpse as a child into the human heart ! His particular timbre and sound coupled with the fine well- modulated nuances and dynamic range, are outstanding. He sings with passion, vitality and great joy !
Alex Berlin Germany
on Vogliatemi Bene
Instead of all that, now you'll have here something not alike: Tutti Frutti, Gonna tell Aunt Mary 'bout Uncle John
He claims he has the misery
But he havin' a lot of fun
Oh, baby, yes, baby
Whoo, baby, havin' me some fun tonight, yeah
Well, long tall Sally, she's built for speed
She got everything that Uncle John need