"Moon Over Naples" is a 1965 instrumental composed and recorded by German bandleader Bert Kaempfert. The instrumental version reached No. 6 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. It won a BMI Award in 1968.
Vocal versions of the song have been recorded as "Spanish Eyes" with lyrics by Eddie Snyder and Charles Singleton. The most notable of these was released by Al Martino, which topped Billboard's Easy Listening chart for 4 weeks in 1966.[1][2] It is one of the most recorded songs with over 500 versions released in various languages.[3]
Background
"Moon Over Naples" was composed by Bert Kaempfert. It was the first track on his album, The Magic Music of Far Away Places, for Decca Records. In 1968, "Moon Over Naples" earned Kaempfert one of five BMI Awards that year; the other awards were for his compositions "Lady", "Sweet Maria", "Strangers in the Night" and "The World We Knew (Over and Over)" with a posthumous BMI Award given September 16, 2003.[4]
Two different sets of lyrics were added to the tune by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder. In one, "Moon Over Naples" was written as a Neapolitan song, and this vocal version was recorded by Sergio Franchi in 1965, but the song did not chart. In another set of lyrics, the composition became a song about a Mexican girl, and the song title was changed to "Spanish Eyes".[5] Both lyricists are credited in these two versions.[6][7]
The Austrian singer Freddy Quinn was the first artist to recorded "Spanish Eyes" in 1965 with English lyrics written by Eddie Snyder and Charles Singleton. Quinn was a friend of Kaempfert who was involved in the production of Quinn's hit song "Die Gitarre und das Meer". Quinn's recording of "Spanish Eyes" was released in the United States in 1965 by Polydor. However, as the single by Quinn was rising in Billboard's regional charts, it was pulled from the market due to a dispute over the rights to the song between Polydor and Kaempfert's label Decca.[15][3]
"Think I'll Go Somewhere and Cry Myself To Sleep" (1966)
According to Al Martino, Kaempfert was interested for him to record the song, and sent him a copy of the instrumental version of "Moon Over Naples", which Martino thought had the potential to be a hit. However, Martino did not like the lyrics of a vocal version he later heard, and told Kaempfert's publisher so.[16] Singleton and Snyder, the original lyricists, were employed to rewrite the lyrics. Martino, satisfied with the new lyrics, contacted Kaempfert to request that he come and help with the recording in New York because he liked the sound of Kaempfert's recording. Martino recorded the song as "Spanish Eyes", with Kaempfert also playing on the record.[17]
"Spanish Eyes" was released in the late 1965 in the United States, and it reached number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100[2] and spent four weeks atop the BillboardEasy Listening chart in early 1966.[17] This vocal version was also a hit in Europe, where it sold an estimated 800,000 copies in Germany.[17]
In appeard on the UK Singles Chart twice, first peaking at number 49 in 1970. Later in 1973, a deejay decided to play the song, and it received a strong response from the audience, and the song was re-released. It reached number five in August 1973.[16][18]
Engelbert Humperdinck recorded the song for this 1968 album, A Man Without Love.[29] In 2013, vocal group Il Divo recorded a duet with Humperdinck.[30] Produced by Alberto Quintero, it was included in the album Engelbert Calling released on September 30, 2014.[citation needed]
Other language versions
Ivo Robić recorded a German version titled "Rot ist der Wein", which reached No. 14 on the West German chart in 1966.[31] Robić also recorded a version in Serbo-Croat.[3]
The song has been recorded in French as "Tes yeux" (Luis Mariano), "Tous ces voyages" (Lucky Blondo), and "Vivre au soleil" (Nana Mouskouri). It was recorded as "Occhi spagnoli" in Italian, and "Spanska Ögon" in Swedish.[3]
