...a special feature on the lyrics of a tune from the King of Italian-American hit records. This article did not originally appear in the book.
Also see THE BACKSTORY for the origin of the song, Rudy Vallee, The Godfather, the Andrews Sisters, Sicilian "Luna" lyrics, lawsuits and more....

THE LYRICS: This song is among the most problematic to obtain the correct lyrics for. Although the words are readily available from many websites, they are not correct.

Here's how they appear on most lyrics sites:

"Lazy Mary you better get up"
She answered back, "I am not able"
"Lazy Mary you better get up
We need the sheets for the table"
"Lazy Mary you smoke in bed
There's only one man you should marry
My advice to you would be
Is to pay attention to me"
"You better marry a fireman he'll come and go,
Go and come sempr's la pompa a mano tiene

C'e na luna mezza'o mare
Mammamiam'ho maritari
Figlia mia a cu t'ho dare?
Mama mia penscitu
Se ti piglia lu pisciaolo
Tssu vai, issu viene
Sempre lu peace a muno tiene
Se c'in gappa la fantasia ti pomperia figgiuzza mia
La lario la pisci fritt'e baccala
Oeh cumpa, na pompina ci haggia catta
Cenata o cumma ca mi voglio marita
Dammi na vagliotta ca mi voglio marita HEY!

The English portion is correct, but the actual record does not begin with it. The Italian portion is partly correct, but very incomplete, and contains words not even on the record.  There are also "typos"; for example, at the beginning of the sixth line of the Italian section, Tssu should be Issu.  Most of the song is omitted as it jumps from the opening to an incorrect sequence of the ending.

THE STORY:This is a very risque song. In it a girl tells her mother that the moon over the sea (luna mezz'u mare) makes her want to get married. Her mother asks, who can we give you to? (a cu te dare) The daughter replies, "Mother, what do you think?" (Mamma mia pensace tu). The mother then considers different occupations of men. In various versions of the original longer tune, they are numerous, including the Butcher, the Baker, the Shoemaker, the Farmer, the Carpenter and the Gardener. Lou’s version features the Fisherman, the Policeman, and the Fireman. For each type she considers, the mother uses a variation on a theme–for example: If I pick for you the fisherman (Se te piglio lu pesciaiole), he’ll go, he'll come (isse vai isse vene), he’ll always have his fish in his hand (sempe lu pesce mane tene). If he gets an idea in his head (Se ce 'ncappa la fantasia) he’ll "fish" you (te pesculia). She repeats this theme for each choice, changing the double entendre of what each has in his hand and what he'll do with it. Although he sings of the policeman with his rifle in his hand (a scuppetta mane tene) Monte left out the more naughty images of the butcher with his sausage in his hand and the gardener with his cucumber. Most of his English (or as he says,"British") version has nothing to do with the Italian song. There’s no mention in the original of  anyone named Mary, lazy or otherwise, needing the sheets for the table, etc. But Monte does tie the two together with the ending of the English lyrics segueing back to (as he calls it) "Eyetalian": "you’d better marry a fireman, he’ll come and go, go and come...sempe la pompa mane tene (always with his pump in his hand)... te scuppettea (he'll pump you)". The song ends with the exasperated daughter pleading to find her a GIRL to marry (trovame 'na uagliotta* ca me voglio marità)!
*uagliotta variously spelled guagliotta or vagliotta is slang for girl (ragazza or giovinetta in Standard Italian)

Monte of course might also have been inspired by the children's song/game "Lazy Mary," where one child is chosen to be Mary and the rest dance around singing: "Lazy Mary will you get up today". Mary answers "No no Mother I won't get up today". (Listen to melody)

THE ARTIST: Lou Monte lived from 1917 to 1989, and he was an entertainer for almost all of those years. Lou was raised in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, and even as a child he sang and played guitar for his family and neighbors. Soon he was working in local clubs, and went on to have his own radio and television shows broadcast from Newark. His recording career began in 1953 for RCA Records with "I Know How You Feel". But it was the flip-side, an Italian style rendition of  "(At the) Darktown Strutters' Ball"--a favorite from his nightclub act--that became the hit. His early records were made with Hugo Winterhalter's orchestra until Lou hooked up with Joe Reisman in 1956. They began a successful collaboration, with Reisman's orchestra backing Lou on many of his later hits. It was also in 1956 that Lou recorded, at the request of RCA, a novelty song about the label's newest singing sensation--Elvis Presley. "Elvis for President" was one of the few Lou Monte records with no Italian lyrics, but Lou made up for that with "Lazy Mary", "The Sheik of Araby (The Sheik of Napoli)" and many others. After Lou left RCA, he recorded the holiday classic "Dominick the Donkey (The Italian Christmas Donkey)" for Roulette records, and then joined Frank Sinatra's new label, Reprise. It was there that he achieved his greatest fame, and a Top 10 hit, with "Pepino the Italian Mouse". Lou is fondly remembered as a great entertainer who brought smiles to the faces of his fans worldwide.


Lou Monte Official Website
Lazy Mary mp3
Lazy Mary RealAudio

The Very Best of Lou Monte from amazon.com