and for the theme song:
Great interview:
I like that better than the one on the Sarah Brightman album I have.
I agree.
Yeah, a pity that "babbino" is not a word in any language (unless you make it up).
I believe that the context in the original play makes it a pet name. "Oh, my dear papa" is supposed to be the translation. So, yeah, it's a made up word.
More info than you ever wanted to know:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_mio_babbino_caro
Isn't babbino Italian for babboon?
"babbo" is "dad" so I guess it's not too much of a stretch for "babbino" to be "papa." The problem is that it's also morphologically similar to "babbione," which is "idiot," and, as Tommy hinted, "babbuino," which is "baboon."
In english, we have all sorts of crazy endearments. We can use Father, Dad, Daddy, Pa, Pop, Poppa, and more. So, I guess it's not a stretch to assume other languages have just as many that don't all make sense to non-native speakers.
Blame Puccini