Vieni sul mar

Vieni sul mar circulates as an anonymous Italian song of the nineteenth century, printed in Neapolitan song collections although its text is in standard Italian and its origins have been claimed for both Naples and Venice. No composer or lyricist has been established for it. It is a barcarolle — a serenade addressed from the shore to a woman, in the rocking compound metre associated with boat songs — and it reached a wide public through the recordings of touring tenors in the early twentieth century. The credit to Traditional is accurate as far as the evidence goes.