Never on Sunday (song)

Background

Recordings

• Greek by Melina Mercouri, Nana Mouskouri, and Pink Martini.
• English: An orchestral version recorded by Don Costa reached number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960, then returned to the Billboard Top 40 when reissued in 1961. His version also peaked at #27 in the UK Singles Chart. Following the success of the orchestral version as well as the Oscar win, an English language version of the song was commissioned to be written especially to match the title of the film. The lyrics to the English version of the song were written by Billy Towne. A vocal of the song by The Chordettes reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961. It was also recorded by Billy Eckstine, Bing Crosby, Lena Horne, Doris Day, Andy Williams, Trini Lopez, The 4 Seasons, Connie Francis, Julie London, Eartha Kitt, Petula Clark, Lale Andersen, Ann-Margret, and the New Christy Minstrels, plus as an instrumental by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and James Last. The Ventures released a version on their 1963 Dolton album The Ventures Play Telstar and the Lonely Bull, as did The Baskerville Hounds on their 1967 Dot Records album The Baskerville Hounds – Featuring Space Rock, Part 2.
• In the United Kingdom, there were five versions in the UK Singles Chart. They were Don Costa, reached number 27; Chaquito, reached number 50; Lynn Cornell with the only vocal version in the UK chart, reached number 30; Makadopulos and his Greek Serenaders, reached number 36; and Manuel and his Music of The Mountains, which peaked at number 29.
• Italian by Dalida, Milva, Nilla Pizzi, Isabella Fedeli.
• French by Dalida, Melina Mercouri, Darío Moreno. Dalida's French version of this song topped French singles chart in 1960.
• Spanish by Dalida. "Nunca en Domingo" by Xiomara Alfaro.
• German: Lale Andersen scored a number one hit in 1960 with the German-language version of the song titled "Ein Schiff wird kommen". It was also covered by Dalida, Caterina Valente, Lys Assia, Nana Mouskouri, Helmuth Brandenburg and Melina Mercouri. In 1982 the Neue Deutsche Welle band Der Moderne Man recorded a gay themed new wave version named "Blaue Matrosen" with the same German lyrics of Lale Andersen's version, but sung by a man.
• Dutch by Mieke Telkamp, based on the melody.
• Yiddish by The Barry Sisters.
• Polish by Maria Koterbska and duo of actors Hanna Śleszyńska & Jacek Wójcicki.
• Czech by Milan Chladil & Yvetta Simonová.
• Serbian by Lola Novaković and Ljiljana Petrović.
• Croatian by Ksenia Prohaska.
• Slovenian by Helena Blagne.
• Cantonese by Cheng Gwan-min, Tang Kee-chan, and Cheng Pik Ying in 1962. Another cover version was sung by Andy Lau, Anita Mui, Sandra Ng, Ronald Cheng, Gordon Lam, Suzanne Chung, Cherrie Ying and Lam Chi-chung in the 2001 film Dance of a Dream. The song title roughly translates as "Father and Son".
• Mandarin by Teresa Teng. The title translates as "Never on Sunday".
• Portuguese by Paula Ribas.
• Hindi by Usha Uthup on the album "Dekha Dekhi"
• Finnish by Four Cats, Vieno Kekkonen and Kaarina Heikkinen among others.

  Other appearances

• The song was used again in the 2005 movie Munich.
• James Hill, a Canadian ukulele player, recorded a version of the song on ukulele for his album A Flying Leap.
• Nia Vardalos sang a snippet of the Greek version in her 2009 film My Life in Ruins.
• Los Umbrellos, a Danish musical group, used it as a base for their 1998 signature song, "No Tengo Dinero".
• This song was sung on The Muppet Show by Miss Piggy and Greek pig characters, complete with smashing plates.
• Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid recorded an instrumental version of this song.
• Hartford Stage artistic director Darko Tresnjak chose this song to open his production of Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare.
• Appears in the movie Beautiful Girls, however it is not on the soundtrack. This version was performed by Bernie Wyte and his Orchestra.