"More" (Theme from "Mondo Cane") 1963
Music by Riz Ortolani and N. Oliviera.English words by Norman Newell ."More" is one of the sappiest exotica melodies, right up there with "Feelings," yet the Italian film from which it came, "Mondo Cane," was an unlikely source of easy listening. "Mondo Cane" (translation, "A Dog's World") was a documentary about the endless struggle for survival among species. To call it a documentary, though, is misleading--imagine "Koyaanisqatsi" directed by Russ Meyer. It switched from scenes of tribal rituals to a Hollywood pet cemetery to graphic scenes of animal combat and carnage, and the shock value of these scenes probably accounted more than anything for its success.
"More" was original strictly an instrumental number, but something in the overwrought emotions of the melody must have had an irresistable pull on lyricist Norman Newell, who turned this theme song for a documentary on animal slaughter into an assertion of a love that's "more" than anyone else's love (or anyone else's anything, for that matter).
The result gave "More" a guaranteed place among the exotica standards: a song that could be performed as an overwrought instrumental or sung with exaggerated drama by a series of good and bad singers. In fact, BMI lists "More" among the less than 10 songs its database shows as having been played over 5 million times on radio and television.
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