Israeli’s Naples World Hit

Israeli singer-songwriter David Ben Reuven’s beautiful song tribute to Naples, called simply Napoli, is taking the music world and especially Italy by storm. It is all over Italian and Naples radio stations at the moment and will probably head the pop song hit charts all over the world very soon. Ben Reuven wrote the song a few years ago and never imagined that it could arouse such enthusiasm. In fact, he wrote it shortly after seeing Naples for the first and only time when stopping there with his mother and brother when returning by ship form Israel to England. Ben Reuven admits that the song was also inspired by his deep admiration for Neapolitan song. The song itself is deceptively simple and it’s in English at the moment although there are plans to translate it into Italian and other languages. Here are the lyrics:

NAPOLI
Napoli, Napoli,
In my heart you’ll always be
Forever, forever more,
My Napoli, my Napoli.
Na, na, na , na, na na…
Na, na, na, na na,
My Napoli, my Napoli.
Why, oh why, did I have to leave you?
Why, oh why, did I have to say goodbye?
My, Napoli, my Napoli….
Copyright, David Ben Reuven, Jerusalem 2006

Ben Reuven is at pains to explain the success of such a simple song tribute, but he thinks that the very simplicity and romantic feel of the song and his singing contribute to its surging popularity. Of course, also the fact that he hails from Israel and Jerusalem adds to its appeal.
Incidentally, Ben Reuven has written several Italy inspired songs including his memorable Columbus tribute called Ciao Ciao Christopher Columbus.