Forget Domani
Encyclopedia
"Forget Domani" is the title of a song introduced in the 1964 film The Yellow Rolls-Royce
being a composition by Riz Ortolani
, who scored the film, and lyricist Norman Newell
.
The song's theme of forgetting domani — Italian for "tomorrow" — is relevant to each of the three segments that comprise the storyline of The Yellow Rolls-Royce as each deals with lovers whose trysts involve a disregard for consequences, and the tune of the chorus of "Forget Domani" is incorporated in the theme song that plays underneath the film's opening credits. Otherwise, "Forget Domani" is heard only in the film's second segment set in Italy circa 1940 and focused on the dalliance between the gun moll
(Shirley MacLaine
) of an American gangster
(George C. Scott
) with a local tourist photographer (Alain Delon
). The vocal version of "Forget Domani", credited to veteran Italian vocalist Katyna Ranieri
who was Ortolani's wife, is seen performed by a singer in a tavern. The tune of "Forget Domani" is also heard as background music during a key love scene between the MacLaine/Delon characters set in the "Sapphire Grotto
".
The Golden Globe
winner for Best Original Song
, "Forget Domani" did not receive a corresponding Academy Award nomination.
The Yellow Rolls-Royce was an MGM
production and MGM Records
issued singles of both a vocal version of "Forget Domani" by Katyna Ranieri and an instrumental version — subtitled "(Forget Tomorrow)" — by Riz Ortolani & His Orchestra in the UK in December 1964. On January 22 1965 MGM Record's top vocalist Connie Francis
— whose Italian heritage was a key component of her public persona — cut "Forget Domani" in a Hollywood CA recording session produced by Danny Davis
: the arranger was Don Costa
. Francis' version had a UK single release in February 1965.
Frank Sinatra
— like Connie Francis an American singer of Italian descent — recorded "Forget Domani" in a May 6 1965 session at United Western Recorders
in Hollywood produced by Jimmy Bowen
and arranged by Ernie Freeman
; the orchestra was conducted by Donnie Lanier. Sinatra cut the song a week before the US premiere of The Yellow Rolls-Royce which occurred May 13 1965. Both Connie Francis' and Frank Sinatra's "Forget Domani" singles debuted on the Hot 100
in Billboard
dated June 26 1965 at respectively #95 (Francis) and #100 (Sinatra), and over the next six weeks both singles made slight roughly equal chart ascents to peak on the Hot 100 dated July 31 1965 at respectively #78 (Sinatra) and #79 (Francis): both singles charted for one subsequent week for a total Hot 100 run of seven weeks. Billboards Easy Listening chart afforded the Connie Francis and Frank Sinatra "Forget Domani" singles respective peaks of #16 and #13. In July 1965 Sinatra's version became the fourth non-charting "Forget Domani" single released in the UK.
The Connie Francis' version of "Forget Domani" did not appear on one of her albums until the July 1966 release Movie Greats of the 60s
. The Frank Sinatra version did not appear on one of his albums until the 1967 release Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits
.
Both Connie Francis and Frank Sinatra also recorded "Forget Domani" with its Italian lyrics with the Sinatra track being promoted as the singer's first Italian language recording. Francis' version charted at #49 in Italy, the original version by Katyna Ranieri being more successful there at #24. Francis also recorded "Forget Domani" in Japanese to serve as B-side
to the Japanese release of her English-language single of "Forget Domani". On May 9 1967 Francis recorded the Spanish rendering of "Forget Domani": "Olvidemos el Mañana", which appeared on her Spanish-language album Grandes Exitos Del Cine De Los Años 60.
A third American singer of Italian descent: Perry Como
, recorded "Forget Domani" for his 1966 album release Perry Como in Italy
: sessions for that album commenced May 9 1966 at RCA Italiana Studios in Rome with Andy Wiswell producing and Nick Perito
as conductor/arranger. "Forget Domani" was issued as a single but did not chart.
"Forget Domani" has also been recorded by Don Cornell
, Willeke Alberti
(Dutch: "Elke Dag Denk Ik Aan Zondag"), Gitte Hænning
(Swedish: "Glöm Bort I Morgon" also recorded by Ann-Louise Hanson
), Karina (Spanish: "Olvidemos el Mañana"), Halina Kunicka (Polish: "Zaczekajmy Z Tym Do Jutra"), Eija Merilä (Finnish: "Ei Ajatella Huomispäivää"), Annie Philippe (French: "C'est Loin Domani") and Tonia (French: "Ce N'est Pas Loin Domani"). Instrumentalists who have recorded "Forget Domani" include André Kostelanetz
, Enoch Light
, Peter Nero
, Roger Williams
(with the Harry Simeone
Chorale) and Hugo Winterhalter
.
The Yellow Rolls-Royce
-External links:, a promotional short subject for the film...
being a composition by Riz Ortolani
Riz Ortolani
Riziero "Riz" Ortolani is an Italian film composer.In the early 1950s Ortolani was founder and member of a jazz band of national Italian renown...
, who scored the film, and lyricist Norman Newell
Norman Newell
Norman Newell, OBE was born in Plaistow, Essex , and was a successful British record producer in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as co-writer of many notable songs...
.
The song's theme of forgetting domani — Italian for "tomorrow" — is relevant to each of the three segments that comprise the storyline of The Yellow Rolls-Royce as each deals with lovers whose trysts involve a disregard for consequences, and the tune of the chorus of "Forget Domani" is incorporated in the theme song that plays underneath the film's opening credits. Otherwise, "Forget Domani" is heard only in the film's second segment set in Italy circa 1940 and focused on the dalliance between the gun moll
Gun moll
Gun moll is a term that refers to the female companion of a male professional criminal. In some contexts, gun moll more specifically suggests that the woman handles a firearm....
(Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
) of an American gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
(George C. Scott
George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr...
) with a local tourist photographer (Alain Delon
Alain Delon
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon is a French actor. He rose quickly to stardom, and by the age of 23 was already being compared to French actors such as Gérard Philipe and Jean Marais, as well as American actor James Dean. He was even called the male Brigitte Bardot...
). The vocal version of "Forget Domani", credited to veteran Italian vocalist Katyna Ranieri
Katyna Ranieri
Katyna Ranieri is an Italian actress and singer.-References:*...
who was Ortolani's wife, is seen performed by a singer in a tavern. The tune of "Forget Domani" is also heard as background music during a key love scene between the MacLaine/Delon characters set in the "Sapphire Grotto
Grotto
A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide...
".
The Golden Globe
23rd Golden Globe Awards
The 23rd Golden Globe Awards, honouring the best in film for 1965 films, were held on 28 February 1966.-Best Actor - Drama: Omar Sharif - Doctor Zhivago*Rex Harrison - The Agony and the Ecstasy*Sidney Poitier - A Patch of Blue...
winner for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...
, "Forget Domani" did not receive a corresponding Academy Award nomination.
The Yellow Rolls-Royce was an MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
production and MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
issued singles of both a vocal version of "Forget Domani" by Katyna Ranieri and an instrumental version — subtitled "(Forget Tomorrow)" — by Riz Ortolani & His Orchestra in the UK in December 1964. On January 22 1965 MGM Record's top vocalist Connie Francis
Connie Francis
Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...
— whose Italian heritage was a key component of her public persona — cut "Forget Domani" in a Hollywood CA recording session produced by Danny Davis
Danny Davis (country musician)
Danny Davis was a band leader, trumpet player, vocalist and producer and founder/leader of the Nashville Brass.-Early life and career:...
: the arranger was Don Costa
Don Costa
Don Costa was an American pop music arranger and record producer, best known for his work with Frank Sinatra.-Career:...
. Francis' version had a UK single release in February 1965.
Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
— like Connie Francis an American singer of Italian descent — recorded "Forget Domani" in a May 6 1965 session at United Western Recorders
United Western Recorders
United Western Recorders, often abbreviated to UWR, was a renowned recording studio complex in Hollywood, California, which became one of the most successful independent recording studios in the world in the late 1950s and 1960s....
in Hollywood produced by Jimmy Bowen
Jimmy Bowen
Jimmy Bowen is an American record producer and former pop music performer.Bowen was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico. He began as a teenage recording star in 1957 with "I'm Stickin' With You," originally the flip side of the hit record "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox, but ultimately a Top 20 recording...
and arranged by Ernie Freeman
Ernie Freeman
Ernie Freeman was an American pianist, organist and arranger.In 1935 he began playing in local Cleveland area nightclubs, and also formed a classical music trio for local social functions with his father and his sister Evelyn...
; the orchestra was conducted by Donnie Lanier. Sinatra cut the song a week before the US premiere of The Yellow Rolls-Royce which occurred May 13 1965. Both Connie Francis' and Frank Sinatra's "Forget Domani" singles debuted on the Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
dated June 26 1965 at respectively #95 (Francis) and #100 (Sinatra), and over the next six weeks both singles made slight roughly equal chart ascents to peak on the Hot 100 dated July 31 1965 at respectively #78 (Sinatra) and #79 (Francis): both singles charted for one subsequent week for a total Hot 100 run of seven weeks. Billboards Easy Listening chart afforded the Connie Francis and Frank Sinatra "Forget Domani" singles respective peaks of #16 and #13. In July 1965 Sinatra's version became the fourth non-charting "Forget Domani" single released in the UK.
The Connie Francis' version of "Forget Domani" did not appear on one of her albums until the July 1966 release Movie Greats of the 60s
Movie Greats of the 60s
Movie Greats Of The 60s is a studio album recorded by U. S. Entertainer Connie Francis. The album features songs from the soundtracks of then current and/or recent motion pictures....
. The Frank Sinatra version did not appear on one of his albums until the 1967 release Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits
Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits
Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits! is Frank Sinatra's first compilation released on his own Reprise Records. It concentrates on mostly single releases from the mid to late 60's, which flucuates between adult contemporary pop and jazzy swing...
.
Both Connie Francis and Frank Sinatra also recorded "Forget Domani" with its Italian lyrics with the Sinatra track being promoted as the singer's first Italian language recording. Francis' version charted at #49 in Italy, the original version by Katyna Ranieri being more successful there at #24. Francis also recorded "Forget Domani" in Japanese to serve as B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
to the Japanese release of her English-language single of "Forget Domani". On May 9 1967 Francis recorded the Spanish rendering of "Forget Domani": "Olvidemos el Mañana", which appeared on her Spanish-language album Grandes Exitos Del Cine De Los Años 60.
A third American singer of Italian descent: Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
, recorded "Forget Domani" for his 1966 album release Perry Como in Italy
Perry Como in Italy
Perry Como In Italy was Perry Como's 14th RCA Victor 12" long-play album, the 12th recorded in full "living" stereophonic sound and the fourth featuring Dynagroove technology....
: sessions for that album commenced May 9 1966 at RCA Italiana Studios in Rome with Andy Wiswell producing and Nick Perito
Nick Perito
Nicholas Perito was a Hollywood composer and arranger and, for 40 years, the closest collaborator of singer Perry Como.-Early years:...
as conductor/arranger. "Forget Domani" was issued as a single but did not chart.
"Forget Domani" has also been recorded by Don Cornell
Don Cornell
Don Cornell was an American singer prominent mainly in the 1940s and 1950s noted for his smooth but robust baritone voice....
, Willeke Alberti
Willeke Alberti
Willeke Alberti is a Dutch singer and actress, the daughter of entertainer and singer Willy Alberti.-Biography:...
(Dutch: "Elke Dag Denk Ik Aan Zondag"), Gitte Hænning
Gitte Hænning
Gitte Hænning is a Danish singer and film actress, who rose to fame as a child star in the 1950s.Because her name was relatively unique, she was known primarily without a surname in Europe. She moved to Sweden in 1958. Her first hit in Swedish was "Tror du jag ljuger" from 1961...
(Swedish: "Glöm Bort I Morgon" also recorded by Ann-Louise Hanson
Ann-Louise Hanson
Ann-Louise Hanson is a Swedish singer and has been involved in the music industry for over 40 years.Many of her solo recordings from the 1960s feature Bruno Glenmarks Orkester and, following their marriage, Ann-Louise and Bruno Glenmark formed the group Glenmarks with Bruno's niece Karin and...
), Karina (Spanish: "Olvidemos el Mañana"), Halina Kunicka (Polish: "Zaczekajmy Z Tym Do Jutra"), Eija Merilä (Finnish: "Ei Ajatella Huomispäivää"), Annie Philippe (French: "C'est Loin Domani") and Tonia (French: "Ce N'est Pas Loin Domani"). Instrumentalists who have recorded "Forget Domani" include André Kostelanetz
Andre Kostelanetz
André Kostelanetz was a popular orchestral music conductor and arranger, one of the pioneers of easy listening music.-Biography:...
, Enoch Light
Enoch Light
Enoch Henry Light was a classical violinist, bandleader, and recording engineer. As A&R chief and vice-president of Grand Award Records, he founded Command Records in 1959. Light's name was prominent on many albums both as musician and producer...
, Peter Nero
Peter Nero
Peter Nero is an American pianist and pops conductor.-Early life:Born in Brooklyn, New York, As Bernard Nierow, Nero started his formal music training at the age of seven. He studied piano under Frederick Bried...
, Roger Williams
Roger Williams
-People:* Roger Williams , Welsh soldier of fortune* Roger Williams , English theologian, co-founder of Rhode Island* Roger Williams , US actor...
(with the Harry Simeone
Harry Simeone
Harry Moses Simeone was a distinguished music arranger, conductor and composer, best known for arranging the famous Christmas song "The Little Drummer Boy", for which he received co-writing credit.-Early years:Harry grew up listening to stars performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City,...
Chorale) and Hugo Winterhalter
Hugo Winterhalter
Hugo Winterhalter was an American musician.An easy listening arranger and composer, Winterhalter was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Mount St. Mary's near Emmitsburg, Maryland in 1931, where he played saxophone for the orchestra and sang in two of the choirs...
.