If you can sing along to this, well...let's just say you're probably, you know, "mature"...

[Leghorn21]

Me, I’m really SERIOUSLY “mature”, but this tune has stood the test of time!!

Bravo, Mario!!!

[The Blue Flower]

1. My mom had this on a 78 rpm disc

It's from The Student Prince. Really takes me back. Way back.

[Leghorn21]

4. My mom had it on 33 1/3, but her children (including myself!) totally stole it from her!!

Yes, Blue - wayyyy back indeed. I haven’t heard this song in OH, LIKE five decades, but I can still sing every word!!

[TomSlick]

2. I first heard this sung by Jim Neighbors in a Gomer Pyle episode.

Search for a recording on YouTube yielded no results.

[Leghorn21]

5. Interesting...if you know who Gomer is, well then, you're probably way less "mature" than I am,

yet...you’re coming along!

[TomSlick]

7. I resemble that comment.

I loved Gomer - Shazam - say hay to Goober.

[Sunriser13]

17. Then you might like this page

All seasons listed here:
Gomer Pyle USMC Full Episodes

Season 5, Episode 5: Just Move Your Lips, Sergeant

"Drink, Drink, Drink"

13:28 in the freezer

18:09 on stage near the end

(approximate times)

[TomSlick]

19. Thanks.

[Control-Z]

3. I've never heard it before and don't know

who Mario Lanza is.

[Leghorn21]

6. That's because you are so young and un-matured, Z!

But he was really quite the sensation in his day, died way too early at age 38, and man could that fella belt out a tune!!

[Control-Z]

8. I'm young?!?!?

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! (I'm not really but I'll take your word for it this time. Lol.)

My maturity IS questionable, though, at times.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

[Leghorn21]

10. Back atcha, kiddo!

[Control-Z]

15. You called me kiddo.

TY

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. I'm, uh, mature, and as soon as I opened this post

I heard the song in my head, exactly as sung by Mario Lanza, without even starting the video.

[Leghorn21]

11. Isn't it just magical that our young selves can store a song so perfectly, Ocelot,

for weeks and years and decades on end!? - every note, every flourish, every lyric - what a trip!!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. So how weird is this:

This morning I woke up with an aria from a relatively obscure Bach cantata running through my head in enough detail that I could sing it, German words and all - a piece I hadn't heard since college almost 50 years ago (I was a music major). When I went to find it on Youtube later it was exactly as I remembered it. I can't remember where I left my car keys an hour after I put them down but I can remember music from just about forever.

[Leghorn21]

13. Sorry, but, NOT WEIRD AT ALL, O!! I'm so jealous you were a music major (how cool is that?!),

but I guess if you’re a musical person, you’re just always plugged in to the songs you know and love, and age and time have nothing, zero, zip to do with it...it’s quite glorious and - not to be hokey - it’s eternal...

[Aristus]

14. When I think 'Mario Lanza', I hear:

"Beeeeee Myyyyyyyyy LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!!! FOR NO ONE ELSE CAN EEEEEEEENNNNNNND THIS YEARNIIIIIIIIIING!!!"

[whistler162]

16. Or you have Sigmund Romberg CD's

[Leghorn21]

21. Yep, I had to look him up, whistler - all hail Mr. Romberg!!

[sarge43]

18. I'm very 'mature'.

Saw the original release movie The Student Prince (1954) the song is taken from. Lanza was originally cast to play the prince, but dropped out. The studio still kept his recordings for the voice overs.

/on edit/

[Leghorn21]

22. Well nobody ever told ME that wasn't Mario himself!? - thanks for that bit of history, sarge -

a quick skim through Lanza’s wiki page reveals that this fella who took Mario’s place (Edmond somebody) in the movie pretty much torched his promising career by accepting that part...

Showbidness, it’s a tough life, I tells ya!

[sarge43]

25. Edmund Purdom

Actually, The Student Prince jumped started his career. It was successful and MGM then cast him (to replace Marlon Brando) in a big budget stinker, The Egyptian. A couple of more flops and he wound up making Italian B's and rip offs.

[Glorfindel]

20. Love it! My cousin and I used to listen to the LP when we were maybe 10 and 12 years old.

Mr. Lanza also recorded one of the best Christmas albums ever. Bravo, indeed!

[Leghorn21]

23. Same here!! Are you that long-lost cousin I've been missing all these years?!

GOOD TIMES, Glorfindel!!

[UTUSN]

24. Never heard it before and *thanks* for that liquid voice of his, digitally crystal

from Wiki:

" 'Drinking Song' or 'Drink, Drink, Drink' is an exuberant song composed by Sigmund Romberg with lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly. It is the most popular piece in the 1924 operetta, The Student Prince.[1] It was a success for tenor Mario Lanza, who performed it in the 1954 movie, though the part was played on screen by another actor, due to a contract dispute.[2]"