"Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet"
Single by Henry Mancini
from the album A Warm Shade of Ivory
B-side"The Windmills of Your Mind"
ReleasedMay 1969
Genre
Length2:29
LabelRCA Victor
Songwriter(s)Nino Rota
Producer(s)Joe Reisman
Henry Mancini singles chronology
"Wait Until Dark"
(1967)		 "Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet"
(1969)		 "Theme from "Love Story"
(1970)

"Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet", also known as "A Time for Us", is an instrumental arranged by Henry Mancini (from Nino Rota's music written for Franco Zeffirelli's film of Romeo and Juliet, starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey).[2]

History

The song was a number-one pop hit in the United States during the year 1969. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on June 28, 1969, and remained there for two weeks;[3] it was also his only Top Ten single on that chart.[4]

Rearranged by Mancini, who played the piano part himself,[5] the song started competing with rock and roll songs from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones on an Orlando, Florida radio station and spread from there.[2] It faced stiff opposition from some radio stations for being too soft. Those stations changed their tune when the song became number one, ending the five-week run of "Get Back" by the Beatles as the top song.[4]

This release topped the U.S. easy listening chart for eight weeks, where it was Mancini's sole number one on the chart.[6]

The score was used for Lana Del Rey's song "Old Money" on her album Ultraviolence (2013).[7]

Personnel

Lyrics

The song has at least three different sets of English lyrics.

The first English version is called "What Is a Youth?", featuring lyrics by Eugene Walter, and sung by Glen Weston. This version was used in the film and was released on the soundtrack album in 1968.

The second English version is called "A Time for Us", featuring lyrics by Larry Kusik and Eddie Snyder.[8] This version has been recorded by Johnny Mathis, Shirley Bassey, Andy Williams, Stevie Wonder, Donny Osmond (on the LP A Time for Us), and others.

The third English version is called "Old Money", featuring lyrics by Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, Robert John Ellis Fitzsimmons, and Daniel Law Heath, and sung by Lana Del Rey on her third studio album, Ultraviolence (2013).

Two different sets of Italian lyrics have been written for the song.

The first Italian version is called "Un Giorno Per Noi" (A Day for Us), sung by Josh Groban, and is considered a direct translation of the Kusik and Snyder version of "A Time for Us".[9]

The second Italian version is called "Ai Giochi Addio" (Goodbye to the Games), featuring lyrics by Elsa Morante, and has been performed by prominent opera singers, such as Luciano Pavarotti and Natasha Marsh.[10]

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[11]
Archived 2021-07-22 at the Wayback Machine 		Gold 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Breihan, Tom (November 27, 2018). "The Number Ones: Henry Mancini's "Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 15, 2023. Mancini had a side hustle as an easy-listening conductor, and his version of the Romeo And Juliet love theme is grander and less subtle than the one that Rota recorded.
  2. 1 2 Caps, John (2012-02-15). Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music. University of Illinois Press. pp. 116–. ISBN 978-0-252-09384-5.
  3. ↑ Bronson, Fred (1996-12-07). "'Romeo + Juliet' Adds Drama to Charts". Billboard. p. 98. ISSN 0006-2510.
  4. 1 2 Bronson, Fred (1992). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits - revised & enlarged. New York: Billboard Books. p. 255. ISBN 0-8230-8298-9.
  5. ↑ Tom Breihan (2018-11-27). "The Number Ones: Henry Mancini's 'Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet'". Stereogum. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  6. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 154.
  7. ↑ "Here's Why Lana Del Rey's "Old Money" Sounds So Familiar". BuzzFeed.
  8. ↑ MacDonald, Laurence E. (1998-01-01). The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History. Scarecrow Press. pp. 232–. ISBN 978-1-4616-7304-0.
  9. ↑ Wetmore, Jr., Kevin J. (2015-05-07). Shakespearean Echoes. Springer. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-1-137-38002-9.
  10. ↑ Manconi, Luigi (2012-05-23). La musica è leggera. Racconto autobiografico sul sentimental kitsch (in Italian). Il Saggiatore. pp. 211–. ISBN 978-88-6576-217-2.
  11. ↑ "American single certifications – Henry Mancini – Love Theme". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
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