Today’s song is ‘Three Coins in a Fountain’. This popular song received the ‘Academy Award for Best Original Song’ in 1955.
The melody was written by Jule Styne and the lyrics by Sammy Cahn. It was written for the romantic film of the same name and refers to the act of throwing a coin into the ‘Trevi Fountain’ in Rome while making a wish. Each of the film's three stars performs this act.
Cahn and Jule Styne were asked to write the song to fit the movie but were unable to either see the film or read the script. They completed the song in an hour and had produced a demonstration record with Frank Sinatra by the following day. The song was subsequently used in the film soundtrack, but in the rush ’20th Century Fox’ neglected to sign a contract with the composers, allowing them to claim complete rights over the royalties. The song was subsequently recorded by ‘The Four Aces’, backed by the ‘Jack Pleis Orchestra’ in 1954. The Sinatra recording topped the ‘UK Single’s Chart’ for three weeks in September and October that year. Many artists have covered the song since.
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Sheila and I were very fortunate to travel around Europe by car for one month during the summer of 2018. Of the eight or nine countries we passed through or stopped at, my favourite was Italy. I fell in love with Italy after Sheila and I spent our first holiday there in Sorrento the year before we married. During our second holiday there, we travelled to see the Vatican in Rome and there saw many fountains where lovers drop coins in, to bring good luck and fortune to their relationship. Sheila looked beautiful then and she still looks as lovely today in the eyes of her adoring husband.
I dedicate my song today to Sharon Purvis and her husband, Mark, who attend the Catholic Church in Haworth weekly with their family. Was I to identify but one thing about Sharon and Mark, it is that they are family people through and through. Was either husband or wife to be sliced into pieces like a stick of seaside rock after their lives have expired, we would find written through the core of their body trunk repeatedly, ‘I am Sharon/Mark! I love my God! I love my husband/wife! I love my family! I love myself! I love my neighbour! I love being able to meaningfully contribute to society. I love life!’
Thank you for being my Facebook friend, Sharon. Sheila and I send our regards to your husband, Mark, and all your loving family. Bill and Sheila x
Love and peace Bill xxx