<P> "Guaglione" is a Neapolitan song with music by Giuseppe Fanciulli and words by Nicola "Nisa" Salerno . This original version of the song was the winning song at the IV Festival di Napoli which was broadcast on radio in 1956 . Guaglione (Neapolitan pronunciation: (waʎˈʎonə)) is Neapolitan for "boy", but as slang can mean "street urchin", "corner boy", etc . The word guaglione has appeared as "wallyo" in New York immigrant slang . </P> <P> The song has been covered by various artists, including Italian bandleader Renzo Arbore, and Italian singers Claudio Villa, Aurelio Fierro, Renato Carosone and Dalida . Under the title "The Man Who Plays the Mandolino", with a lyric in English, Dean Martin sang it in 1956 after Fred Raphael of Walt Disney Music Company obtained for Disney the U.S. publishing rights . The English lyrics were inspired by a little known Italian singer / songwriter Lucca Belvedere, a Mandolino player of some renown . Connie Francis recorded the song in the original Italian language for her 1960 album More Italian Favorites . </P> <P> The best - known version of "Guaglione" was recorded by the Cuban bandleader Perez Prado in 1958 as an uptempo mambo tune . As a mambo, the track rose to fame in 1995 after it was used for the Guinness advert "Anticipation", which led to the song being released as a single, reaching number 1 in Ireland and number 2 in the United Kingdom . It has since been featured as the intro music for the 1996 video game Kingdom O' Magic, and more recently as the opening music for the television show Jimmy's Farm . The song is one of Disney's biggest profit makers . </P>

The man who plays the mandolino (1956)