♫ Dominick The Donkey ♫

Posted on by under animals, Bits 'n Pieces, History, Humour, music

Okay, so with only a couple more chances to play some meaningful Christmas music, I decided to go with this one!  Something deep, something meaningful … something to show the spirit of the holiday, eh?

New Jersey-native Lou Monte (born Louis Scaglione April 2, 1917–June 12, 1989) was an Italian American singer/guitarist best known for a number of best-selling, Italian-themed novelty records.

Monte first recorded this tale of a donkey that helps Santa Claus bring presents to children in Italy in 1960 and in time it became a Christmas staple in many Italian-American households. The song was written by Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Wandra Merrell, and was little known in the UK until BBC Radio 1 morning program presenter Chris Moyles began playing it as a recurring festive motif on his show. In the week leading up to Christmas of 2011, the DJ casually suggested that listeners might like to download the song from iTunes and Amazon to get it into the charts. The result was that the song made its first ever UK chart appearance at #3. Said Moyles: “We’ve been playing Dominick the Donkey on our show every Christmas for years – our listeners love it. I’m so excited that it’s made it into the charts – consider it my Christmas present to the nation. But don’t blame me if you hear it every Christmas from now on.”

Dominick the Donkey

Lou Monte

Hey, chingedy ching, hee haw, hee haw
It’s Dominick, the donkey
Chingedy ching, hee haw, hee haw
The Italian Christmas donkey
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, ladioda

Santa’s got a little friend, his name is Dominick
The cutest little donkey, you never see him kick
When Santa visits his Paesans with Dominick he’ll be
Because the reindeer cannot climb the hills of Italy

Hey, chingedy ching, hee haw, hee haw
It’s Dominick, the donkey
Chingedy ching, hee haw, hee haw
The Italian Christmas donkey
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, ladioda

Jingle bells around his feet and presents on the sled
Hey, look at the mayor’s derby on top of Dominick’s head
A pair of shoes for Louie and a dress for Josephine
The label on the inside says they’re made in Brooklyn

Hey, Chingedy ching, hee haw, hee haw
It’s Dominick, the donkey
Chingedy ching, hee haw, hee haw
The Italian Christmas donkey
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, ladioda

Children sing and clap their hands and Dominick starts ta dance
They talk Italian to him and he even understands
Cummares’ and Cumpare’s do the dance a tarentell
When Santa Nicola comes to town and brings il ciucciariello

Hey, chingedy ching, hee haw, hee haw
It’s Dominick, the donkey
Chingedy ching, hee haw, hee haw
The Italian Christmas donkey
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, ladioda

Hey Dominick, Bouna Natale
Hee haw, hee haw, hee haw, hee haw, hee haw

Writer/s: Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg, Wandra Merrell
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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