In the Land O' Yamo Yamo explained

In the Land O' Yamo Yamo
Cover:In the land o yamo yamo cover.jpg
Caption:Cover of the sheet music for "In the Land O' Yamo Yamo"
Published:1917
Label:Victor
Producer:McCarthy & Fisher, Inc.

In the Land O' Yamo Yamo is a World War I song written in 1917.[1] Joe McCarthy wrote the lyrics and Fred Fisher composed the music. McCarthy & Fisher, Inc. produced the song in New York, New York. On the cover of the sheet music is a man playing the guitar as a woman dances in the foreground.[2] The lyrics describe a place that is not found on the map, but resembles "Old Napoli," referring to a city in Italy. "Yamo Yamo" is an English transliteration of the Neapolitan phrase "iammo, iammo", a dialectal reduction of "andiamo, andiamo" ("let's go, let's go") and the beginning of the chorus of the worldwide popular Italian song "Funiculì, Funiculà", which is mentioned in "Yamo Yamo"'s subtitle. "Yamo Yamo" is illustrated in the chorus as a place where the "good fellows are" and where "you can never hear them talk about the war."The song reached number two on the US song charts in May 1918.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: In the Land O' Yamo Yamo . . Library of Congress . 3 December 2015.
  2. Book: Parker, Bernard S. . 2007 . 2 . World War I Sheet Music . Jefferson . McFarland & Company, Inc. . 303 . 978-0-7864-2799-4.
  3. Web site: Top Songs of 1918 . . Music VF . 8 December 2015.