A charming ditty

Work calls (sigh) so blogging will have to wait.  (Article contributions, anyone?)  So that this morning isn’t a big empty space, I thought I’d toss in here one of Irving Berlin’s more charming lyrics.  It’s from The Gay Divorcee, and is known to Berlin, Astaire & Rogers devotees, but not to many others.  I hope you appreciate, as I do, the wonderful internal rhymes and imaginative, humorous images:

The Piccolino

By the Adriatic waters Venetian sons and daughters
Are strumming a new tune upon their guitars.
It was written by a Latin, a gondolier who sat in
His home out in Brooklyn and gazed at the stars.
He sent his melody across the sea to Italy,
And we know they wrote some words to fit that catchy bit
And christened it the Piccolino.
And we know that it’s the reason why
Ev’ryone this season is strumming and humming a new melody.
Come to the Casino and hear them play the Piccolino.
Dance with your bambino to the strains of the catchy Piccolino.
Drink your glass of Vino, and when you’ve had your plate of Scallopino,
Make them play the Piccolino, the catchy Piccolino.
And dance to the strains of that new melody, the Piccolino.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlGwlxtMEwA[/youtube]