PEPINO THE ITALIAN MOUSE
(Pepin'o Surigile Italiano)
(Ray Allen / Wandra Merrell)
Lou Monte - 1962
spoken:
Signore e signori, io mi chiamo Pepino Suracilla.
[Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Pepino the Mouse]
And, what a mulaniana!
Pepino, oh, you little mouse,
Oh, won't you go away.
Find yourself another house to run around and play.
You scare my girl, you eat my cheese, you even drink my wine.
I try so hard to catch you but you trick me all the time.
Ce sta una suracilla basci’ u’ “cellar” mezzo mure.
Ogni sera ella esce quando la casa é scura.
Ella do indo la cucina balla sula-sula
Appara ‘nu malandrina, pura la gata s’a paura.
[English translation:
There’s a mouse down in the cellar between the walls.
Every evening it comes out when the house is dark.
She comes up in the kitchen and dances all alone
She seems like such a rascal, even the cat is terrified.]
Pepino suracilla, m’a fatta scumbati
Managia suracilla! Di casa n’andai
Stasera illa cucina ‘nu poco di vino en c’e lascia.
E quando s’embriaga, ah Pepino é c’encappa.
[English translation:
Pepino the mouse, you’ve embarassed me.
The heck with this mouse, Get out of my house.
This evening in the kitchen a little wine will be left
And when he’s good and drunk, ah, Pepino will be caught!]
The other night I called my girl
I asked her could we meet
I said let's go to my house
We could have a bite to eat
And as we walked in through the door
she screamed at what she saw
There was little Pepino
Doin' the cha-cha on the floor
Pepino suracilla, m’a fatta scumbati
Managia suracilla! Di casa n’andai
Stasera illa cucina ‘nu poco di vino en c’e lascia.
E quando s’embriaga a Pepino e c’encappa.
A essa non si piace formaggio American’
Ella va trovando ‘nu poca Parmegian’
S’e fatto ghiata ghiata usce stegga da pur
Quando qu’ella camina apara nu propia calendola
[English translation:
It doesn’t like American cheese.
It goes around finding Parmesan–
Then it’ll get really big and fat
And when it walks it’ll look like a calendola [a fat, wobbly herb]
(Contributed by Bette Carl - April 2004)
(Corrections by J. James Mancuso, Schenectady NY - June 2006)
