Last year, in the middle of the week, I sent off an email with the request to “send me some sun!”
My desire was to inspire simple creativity by inviting people to participate in an easy collaborative project.
I was blown away by the wonderful response. Twenty-two people said, “Yes! Here’s my bit of beauty for you!”
What you will see below is the result of this shared experience – a collection of suns. You will see photos and drawings that were recognized as beautiful and shared with the world.
I absolutely love anything that fosters a “can-do” spirit regarding creativity and the arts, especially when it involves adults pointing out beautiful things.
(want to get such invites in the future? click to get our weekly emails)
Why sunshine?
O Sole Mio translates to “My Sunshine.”
The featured song this week is a now famous Neapolitan song from 1898 – O Sole Mio! A characteristic of many songs from this genre, according to Wikipedia, is that they are about nostalgic longing for Naples as it once was.
Longing for things as they once were – me oh my oh mio! I think we all are doing a share and a half of that these days.
A song that has been performed by such greats as Enrico Caruso and Luciano Pavarotti, this celebratory melody has been the base of songs featured by Tony Martin and Elvis Presley. In the live recording presented here, you can enjoy Nathan Bird (yours truly’s hubby), David Walton, and John DeCausmeaker singing “O Sole Mio” at the 2017 A Three Tenor’s Christmas at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.
Whatever your current state of health, comfort, progressive activism, or nostalgic reminiscence, we hope that you find great peace and joy in the moments that you spend in listening to this song and gazing at these beautiful pictures.
The lyrics, along with the sun pictures and credits, are also included below in this post.
Thank you so very much to all the contributors!!
Purchase the audio of this, and the whole July collection
LYRICS of “O Sole Mio”
by Giovanni Capurro
English translation compiled from various sources, listed at end of post
What a beautiful thing is a sunny day,
The serene air after a thunderstorm
The fresh air, and a party is already going on…
what a beautiful thing is a day of sunshine.
REFRAIN
But there is another sun that is more beautiful
the sunshine of mine is your bright face
This sun, my own sun,
Shines from your face;
It shines from your face!
There is light coming out of your window
a laundress singing and she is bragging
And while she’s wringing the clothes, hanging them up to dry, and singing,
There is light coming out of your window
But there is another sun that is more beautiful
the sunshine of mine
is your bright face
This sun,
my own sun,
Shines from your face;
It shines from your face!
When the night comes and the sun goes down
I almost start feeling melancholy;
And I would like to remain under your window
When night is falling
and the sun is setting
But there is another sun that is more beautiful
the sunshine of mine is your bright face
This sun, my own sun,
Shines from your face;
It shines from your face!
*denotes members of the “SongNotes from the Birds” music-of-the-month subscription club (more info here)
Thank you again to all of our contributors!
I just love love love how this turned out. What do you think?
Comments or questions can be sent to
naomi [at] nathanbird [dot] com
Lyrics Sources
www.lyricstranslate.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/’O_sole_mio
https://www.liveabout.com/o-sole-mio-lyrics-724335
Spread a little sunshine. Literally. We’d love for you to share this!
Thanks for reading!
~Nathan and Naomi
The July Collection is now available for purchase as a single issue!
See July DIGITAL packet
