From the film “Top Hat”, 1935
Words and music by Irving Berlin
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
By the Adriatic waters
Venetian sons and daughters
Are strumming a new tune upon their guitars
It was written by a Latin
A gondolier who sat in his home
Out in Brooklyn and gazed at the stars
He sent his melody
Across the sea to Italy
And we know they wrote some words to fit
That catchy bit and christened it
The Piccolino
And we know that it’s the reason
Why everyone this season
Is strumming and humming a new melody
Come to the casino
And hear them play the Piccolino
Dance with your bambino
To the strains of the catchy Piccolino
Drink your glass of vino
And when you’ve had your plate of Scalopino
Make them play the Piccolino
The catchy Piccolino
And dance to the strains of that new melody
The Piccolino
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: