Quando, Quando, Quando

"Quando, Quando, Quando" ("When, When, When?")
Music by	Tony Renis
Lyrics by	Alberto Testa (original in Italian), José Socrates (Portuguese), Pat Boone (English),& Joseph Hieu (Vietnamese), Jo Marcel (Vietnamese)
Published	1962 (Italian and English versions)
Language	Italian, English, Portuguese, German, Spanish and Vietnamese
Original artist	Tony Renis
Recorded by	Engelbert Humperdinck

"Quando, Quando, Quando" is an Italian pop song from 1962, in the bossa nova style, with music written by Tony Renis and lyrics by Alberto Testa. American entertainer Pat Boone, who recorded the song in 1962, is listed in some sources as the writer of its English-language lyrics, but other sources, including the Songwriters Hall of Fame, say veteran songwriter Ervin Drake was the lyricist.

English versions

The title translates as "When, When, When".

The song has been used and remixed by many artists and in many different arrangements. The most notable rendition in English was by pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck. In 2005, Michael Bublé performed the song as a duet with Nelly Furtado. There is an instrumental Latin version by Edgardo Cintron and The Tiempos Noventa Orchestra. The song was a 1962 Billboard Top 100 entry by Pat Boone.

Quando is the only Italian word normally retained in most English-language renditions of the song.

Pat Boone sang the starting piece in a good Italian accent but then carried on the rest of it in English, repeating every now and again some Italian words. The Italian words sung by Boone:

Dimmi quando tu verrai,

dimmi quando... quando... quando...

l'anno, il giorno e l'ora in cui

forse tu mi bacerai...

(he says "qui" which means "here" instead of "cui" which means "that").

Other singers:

• Connie Francis, American pop singer of Italian origin sang in Italian in 1963
• Cliff Richard, English singer in 1968
• Sergio Franchi recorded the song (Mostly in Italian, short chorus in English) on his 1965 RCA Victor album Live at the Coconut Grove.
• Michael Bublé included the song in his 2005 album It's Time.

Other versions

• Caterina Valente, German popular singer recorded a German version in 1962 "Sag mir Quando, Quando, Quando"
• Tito Rodríguez, famous Puerto Rican conductor, arranger and singer recorded this song in mambo style, entitled "Cuando, cuando, cuando".
• Roberto Blanco from Cuban origins famous in Germany, sings in a mixed German and Italian.
• Sinn Sisamouth, Khmer singer recorded a Cambodian version in the 60s. Sinn Sisamouth was killed by the Khmer Rouge during the "Killing Fields" period.

In popular culture

The song was used prominently in the 1962 Italian movie The Easy Life.

The song was used in the movie The Blues Brothers (1980): when Jake and Elwood first encounter Murph and The Magictones, they are playing this song at the Holiday Inn.

In the Ivan Reitman film Stripes (1981), Bill Murray begins singing this to avoid being killed by mercenaries.

Rory Bremner parodied the song in the 2006 season of the Bremner, Bird and Fortune TV series, playing Gordon Brown and Tony Blair with the former asking when the then prime minister would be leaving office.

It was also used in 2008 in the Fiat Punto advertisements, mimicking the "Portuguese Job".

In the 2006 film Superman Returns, the theme is performed by The Drifters in the elevator scene when Clark Kent and Lois Lane are in the middle of several people reading about the Man of Steel's return in the Daily Planet.

In Rainer Werner Fassbinder's movie The Merchant of Four Seasons a remake of this song plays a central role in the relationship between the two main characters.