Mark Pentleton

If I didn’t know much about yesterday’s song, I know even less about today’s! I believe it’s a Neapolitan song and at one point it was recorded by Enrico Caruso. I think this is a song my mum likes, so I hope you enjoy this, mum!
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Today would have been my gran’s birthday and so I thought it would only be right to play an Italian tune. I don’t really know much about this song, but I think she liked it! This recording is a piano / accordion “duo” so I hope it works, and there are a few more accordion [...]

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Today’s song dates from 1951 and was originally written in Italian by P.G. Redi and Michele Galdieri for the movie Anna, released in 1953. Shelley Dobbins wrote an English version of the lyrics and the song was recorded by Nat King Cole in 1958.
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Today is a special day on 365songs as my dad celebrates his 70th birthday! When asked if he had any special requests he asked for ‘O Sole Mio, so I hope he enjoys this performance! ‘O Sole Mio is a Neapolitan song dating from 1898. It has been recorded by hundreds of artists worldwide, from [...]

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I was trying to think of something appropriate to play today given it’s the World Cup Final (and my mum and dad’s wedding anniversary!) so I tried to come up with something which ticked all the boxes: rather than a Spanish or Dutch song, I went for the operatic theme associated with football – at [...]

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Today’s song is the love theme from The Godfather, also known as Speak softly, love. The instrumental version first featured in the 1972 film and was written by Nino Rota. The theme also featured in the sequels and it was sung in Sicilian dialect in The Godfather 3.
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We’re staying with an Italian theme today, but I don’t know very much about this song! It was performed in the 1989 Festival di San Remo, the Italian song contest, and I remembered it from a CD I bought of that year’s festival when I was working as a language assistant in Menton, France, just [...]

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Given that today is Fathers’ Day, I asked my dad what song he’d like me to play, so this one is for him! Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I’m sure there’s a photo somewhere of my mum and dad at the Trevi fountain. If not, there’s definitely one of the whole family there in 1980… Dad?
The [...]

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It wasn’t until I listened to the evening news on the radio in the car last night that I realised the significance of yesterday’s date. For many years my Italian grandmother would reminisce about the sad events which happened on 10th June 1940 when Churchill infamously gave the order, “Collar the lot!”, referring to Germans [...]

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Today we’re off to Rome. Or rather, we’re off to Rome and leaving already! I decided to play the song Arrivederci, Roma today. The song was first introduced in the 1959 film The Seven Hills of Rome and has been recorded by many artists including Perry Como and Nat King Cole.
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Nel blu dipinto di blu, often referred to as Volare won the Sanremo Music Festival in 1958 and was then chosen to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest. It came third, but nonetheless was voted the second most popular Eurovision song ever, beaten to the top spot by Abba’s Waterloo. Today’s interesting but possibly [...]

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Today’s song was chosen by my son Matthew. It was really his second choice – I’ve suggested that I’ll try to work on a piano version of the Pokémon theme tune for his birthday later in the year! As a pizza lover, Matthew felt this song was the best one to choose for today! Dean [...]

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My previous operatic performance (on the piano!) seemed to go down quite well, so I thought I’d do something else operatic with the Intermezzo from Mascagni’s opera Cavalleria Rusticana. It conjures up Italian countryside on warm summer evenings! Hope you enjoy this!
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If it’s Wednesday it must be Italy! (No, this has nothing to do with a certain coach trip…) I thought I’d play something Italian today – it’s been a long time coming! I hope you enjoy my version of Santa Lucia.
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Today I’m in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, accompanying a group of students who will be taking part in a debate with young people from across Europe. I first took part in this ten years ago when I was invited to join the group as one of the members of staff and since then I’ve [...]

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