"Il Mondo" ('The World') is a song composed by Carlo Pes, Lilli Greco, Gianni Meccia and Jimmy Fontana, and performed by Jimmy Fontana. Arrangements were from Ennio Morricone.[1] The song premiered at the 1965 edition of Un disco per l'estate.[1]

"Il Mondo"
Single by Jimmy Fontana
B-side"Allora Sì"
ReleasedApril 1965
GenrePop
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)Carlo Pes, Lilli Greco, Gianni Meccia and Jimmy Fontana

The single peaked at first place for four weeks between July and October 1965 on the Italian hit parade.[2] It was the most successful song of Fontana.[2]

The song was adapted in English by Robert Mellin with the title "My World", and recorded by The Ray Charles Singers, The Bachelors and Engelbert Humperdinck.[3] A French version titled "Un monde fait pour nous" was recorded by Hervé Vilard and by Richard Anthony.[3] Fontana himself took a Spanish version, titled "El Mundo", to the top of the Spanish charts in 1965.[4] The Spanish version was also covered by popular Cuban singer Roberto Faz and Mexican singer Javier Solis.

The song was later covered by several artists including Gianni Morandi, Milva, Il Volo, Patrizio Buanne, Ornella Vanoni, Claudio Baglioni, Gianna Nannini, Franco Simone, Karel Gott, Dyango, Al Bano,[3] Punkreas & Piotta.[5]

In 2011, Sergio Dalma included a version of the song on Via Dalma II, his second collection of Italian songs performed in Spanish. Issued as the first single from the disc, "El Mundo" rose to No. 10 on the official chart released by Productores de Música de España.[6] The song also achieved success in Latin America, particularly Argentina, thanks to its inclusion in the soap opera (telenovela) Dulce Amor.

"Il Mondo" was also used in several films, including Richard Curtis' About Time[7] and Philippe Le Guay's Bicycling with Molière [8] and the opening title sequence of the Italian television miniseries Il miracolo.

Track listing edit

  • 7" single – PM45-3316
  1. "Il Mondo" (Meccia - Fontana - Pes - Greco) - 2:37
  2. "Allora Sì" (Fontana - Pes) - 2:37

Charts edit

Chart (1965–66) Peak
position
Austria[9] 9
Brazil (IBOPE)[10] 3
Italy (Musica e dischi)[11] 1
Spain (AFYVE)[12] 1

References edit

  1. ^ a b Marinella Venegoni (12 September 2013). "Addio a Jimmy Fontana, uomo di Mondo Scrisse "Che sarà" (i danni di Sanremo)". La Stampa. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  2. ^ a b Dario Salvatori (1989). Storia dell'Hit Parade. Gramese, 1989. ISBN 8876054391.
  3. ^ a b c "My World". SecondHandSongs. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  4. ^ Fernando Salaverri. Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Fundación Autor-SGAE, 2005. ISBN 8480486392.
  5. ^ Cristian Scarpone (30 June 2014). "I PUNKREAS e PIOTTA fanno rivivere "Il mondo" di Jimmy Fontana". All Music Italia. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Spanishcharts.com". Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  7. ^ Peter Horspool (April 22, 2014). "About Time: OST – album review". CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  8. ^ Mariarosa Mancuso (13 December 2013). "Molière in bicicletta". Il Foglio. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  9. ^ "Austrian Charts".
  10. ^ "Billboard Magazine" (PDF). 19 February 1966.
  11. ^ "Hit Parade Italia 1965".
  12. ^ Salaverri, Fernando. Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.