1955 Rosemary Clooney: Mambo Italiano

Straddling that hinterland between novelty and parody, 'Mambo Italiano' goes for a summery Latin vibe without piling on any Mediterranean clichés. Ignoring for a moment the fact that Clooney sounds about as Italian as Arthur Mullard, she nevertheless pulls the lid off her vocal after a falsely calm start and lets fly with some guttural rolling r's and 'ay ay ay' exuberance that keep it all bouncing along nicely until you almost go 'awww' when it ends after barely two and a half minutes. I say 'almost' because there's a very fine line between enjoyment and irritation and 'Mambo Italiano' is smart enough to quit while it's ahead.