While hanging around the mid-1950s, we come across a couple of Italian style renditions of "Jingle Bells" - or at least Americanized Italian!
We start with popular singer Julius LaRosa with "Campanelle" on Cadence Records from 1954:
I can't follow the Italian part, but I think I catch "Buon Natale," which I know means "Merry Christmas!"
The flipside is another in the never-ending quest for the next "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or "Frosty the Snowman":
I think that's pretty unremarkable on the whole, but "Campanelle" is fun.
Julius cut a number of records playing on his Italian heritage, including this huge hit from 1953:
That's also pretty fun!
Julius LaRosa was popular, but I think he's best-remembered (if at all) for having been unceremoniously blindsided by Arthur Godfrey, who fired Julius on-air during the October 19, 1953 "Arthur Godfrey Time" radio broadcast.
While there's nothing on the label of "Campanelle" to make you know it's "Jingle Bells," Lou Monte gets right to the point with the title of this 1955 cut on RCA Victor:
That's fun and I do catch "Camapnelle" in the lyrics!
Lou Monte made a lot of shticky Italian novelty records, but sings fairly straight on the flipside:
His most lasting contribution to the Christmas music genre is this wacky 1960 novelty on Roulette Records:
Good fun!
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