Non Dimenticar

"Non Dimenticar" ("Do Not Forget") is a popular song with music by P. G. Redi (Gino Redi, a.k.a. Luigi Pulci), the original Italian lyrics by Michele Galdieri, with English lyrics by Shelley Dobbins.^[1] The song was written for the 1951 film Anna (directed by Alberto Lattuada) and interpreted (acted) by great actress Silvana Mangano (1930–1989); sung by Flo Sandon's (Mammola Sandon); and published in 1953.^[2]

The best-known recording of the song was made by Nat King Cole (reaching #45 on the Billboard magazine charts in 1958), but other recordings have been made, including one by Jerry Vale in 1955. Vale's version peaked at #75 on the pop charts. Joni James also recorded an English / Italian version for her 1958 album Ti Voglio bene .... Dean Martin recorded the song in 1962 on his Dino: Italian Love Songs album. Trío los Panchos made its version in 1964.^[3] Italian-American tenor Sergio Franchi covered this song in his 1965 RCA Victor album, Live at the Coconut Grove.^[4] Deana Martin recorded "Non Dimenticar” in 2009. The song was released on her album, Volare, released in 2009 by Big Fish Records.

Note that the actual verb in Italian is "dimenticare", but as in English, Italian often contracts words, especially in lyrics and poetry.^[5] Common verbs like fare (to do) and avere (to have) are often spoken and written as far and aver. In a typical example, the renowned playwright and author Pirandello wrote a short story Lumie di Sicilia ("Citrons from Sicily"). In only the twelve pages of the story, twelve infinitives appear without the final letter e: guardar, trattar, vincer, tentennar, abbandonar, spiccicar, correr, star (three times), frenar and accampar. In addition, conjugated verb forms can have their final letter dropped. In this example, parevan(o) and c'eran(o). There's a noun odor(e) and there are two adverbs as well, ancor(a) and fin(o).^[6]The hard and fast rule governing the Italian word for ′′sir′′ or ′′mister′′ is ′′signore′′: when used immediately preceding a name, the final ′′e′′ is dropped.^[7]

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