“Jamme, jamme jà, Funiculì, funiculà!” – so goes the popular Neapolitan song. But what do the lyrics mean?

‘Funiculì, Funiculà’ was composed by Luigi Denza in 1880, to lyrics in Neapolitan dialect by Peppino Turco.

The merry Neapolitan tune sings of a young man, who compares his sweetheart to a volcano and invites her to join him on a romantic walk up to the summit.

It was written to mark the opening of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius – and within the year, the song had done the 19th-century equivalent of shooting to the top of the charts. By 1881, the sheet music had sold a million copies.

Listen here…