Another teary Italian tune familiar to many (especially fans of boxing films) whose origins are more interesting than most. Believe it or not, this tune was part of a prize-winning one-act opera that Pietro Mascagni only wrote in 1888 with two months left of the competition time to run. Its first performance was something absurd, with the music causing such a sensation that the composer took over 40 curtains calls, which makes it sound like something from a Bugs Bunny cod-opera cartoon. When it got to the USA, producers were climbing over one another to put it on stage, the eventual victor (sort of) getting not only the music of Mascagni but the directorship of Oscar Hammerstein.
This tune won't actually appear on mellotronworks II - an album which is now well down the road to completion, with a projected release of the latter part of 2012 - but is instead a taster for what is in store.
Mike