#65: Shaddup You Face by Joe Dolce

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: March 1981
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #53
Peak Position on pop charts in Australia, Austria,
Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa,
Switzerland, the UK and West Germany ~ #1
YouTube: “Shaddup You Face”
Lyrics: “Shaddup You Face”

Joe Dolce was born in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1947. He acted in a number of plays out of high school, and was in a band called Headstone Circus with singer-songwriter Jonathan Edwards (who had a #4 hit in 1972 titled “Sunshine”). In the late 70s he moved to Melbourne, Australia. In 1978 and his first single there was “Boat People”—a protest song about the poor treatment of Vietnamese refugees. It was translated into Vietnamese, and donated to the fledgling Vietnamese community starting to form in Melbourne. His one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, was performed in cabarets and pubs.

In 1980, Dolce recorded “Shaddup You Face”.

Joe Dolce wrote “Shaddup You Face”. When in Ohio, Dolce would sometimes visit his Italian grandparents and extended family. They used the phrases “What’s the matter, you?” and “Eh, shaddap”, which Dolce adapted and used in the song. He wrote the song about Italians living in Australia and first performed it at Marijuana House, Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Australia, in 1979.

The song is a tale of Giuseppe who recalls his life in grade eight, and all the rules his mother made for him to follow. He starts by counting in Italian “uno, duo, are, quatro.” The rules his mother set for him include: “Don’t-a-stay-out-late-with-the-bad-boys (who) always-shoot-pool.” He complains, “boy-it-make-me-sick,” and “I can’t-get-a-no-kicks.” His mother says to Giuseppe all the time:
a) What’s-a-matter-you?
b) Gotta-no-respect
c) What-a you t’ink you do?
d) Why you look-a so sad?
e) It’s-a not so bad, it’s-a-nice-a place
f) Ah shaddup-a-you face!

When he grows up, after being encouraged to learn to play the accordion, he dreams he’ll be on TV shows, films and drive a new car. Giuseppe reveals later that he writes a song called “Shaddup You Face”, which was a big hit in Italy. In live performances, he asks his audience to sing along.

“Shaddup You Face” peaked at #1 in Montreal, Hamilton (ON), Burbank (CA), and Los Angeles, #2 in New York City, #4 in Winnipeg (MB), #6 in Ottawa, San Bernardino (CA), and Fort Lauderdale (FL), and #11 in Windsor (ON) and Philadelphia.

Internationally, “Shaddup You Face” reached number-one in a dozen nations, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK, and West Germany, #2 in Canada and Norway, #4 in Israel and the Netherlands, and #5 in Denmark and Sweden. However, in the USA the single stalled at #53 on the Billboard Hot 100. On the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart the song peaked at #43 and charted for 17 weeks.

The song was covered in a number of other languages, including by Gottlieb Wendehals (German, title: “Mensch, ärger dich nicht”), Sheila (French, titled: “Et ne la ramène pas”), Dingetje (Dutch, titled: “Houtochdiekop”), De Strangers (dialect from Antwerp, Belgian, titled: “Agget Mor Fret”), Volker Rosin und die Lollypops (German, titled: “Hörst du nicht die Kuh – Muh!”), Franco Franchi with the duo Franco e Ciccio (Italian, title: “Alì Alì Alè”), an Aboriginal language version by Gnarnyarrhe Waitairie, a Papua New Guinean version by the Breeze Band (title: “Pasim Pes Bilong Yu”), and a spoken word interpretation by Samuel L. Jackson. A Czech interpretation written by Zdeněk Borovec, “Já na bráchu blues”, performed by Helena Vondráčková and Jiri Korn, was a hit in Czechoslovakia in 1981.

A parody was composed in 1991 for a McCain pizza TV commercial in the United Kingdom, entitled “Fillap You Face” (fill up your face).

In 1981, Joe Dolce recorded a cover of the 1963 Jimmy Soul hit song “If You Want To Be Happy”. His second studio album, Christmas in Australia , charted in Australia. In 1982 he released a non-charting single titled “You Toucha My Car I Breaka You Face”. In 1989, Dolce was a lead star in the Australian comedy film Blowing Hot and Cold.

Over the decades Joe Dolce has released ten studio albums and one live album. His latest release is Live at Poet House (2019). In 2010 he published a collection of his poems titled Hatbox. And in 2017 he published his second collection of poems titled On Murray’s run : poems & lyrics. Since 2018, Joe Dolce has been the television and film reviews editor for Quadrant Magazine. In 2020 he was named the Poet Laureate of Melbourne.

May 5, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Interview with Joe Dolce,” Maestro on the Mic,” October 17, 2024.
Frank Morano, “Interview with Joe Dolce,” WABC, May 26, 2022.
Commercial: “McCain Pizza Slices” McCain, UK, 1991.
Franco e Ciccio, “Alì Alì Alè“, 1981 (Italian version)
Lou Monte, “Shaddup You Face“, 1981.
The Breeze Band, “Pasim Pes Bilong Yu“, 1981 (New Guinea version)
Helena Vondráčková & Jiří Korn, “Já na bráchu blues“, 1981. (Czech version)
Samuel L. Jackson, “Shaddup You Face“, 1981.
Joe Dolce, “If You Touch My Car I Breaka You Face,” 1982.
Joe Dolce, “Le Grand Masked Ball of Phantasmagoric Melbourne,” Poet Laureates of Melbourne, August 22, 2020.

CKGM 980-AM Montreal (PQ) Top Ten | March 19, 1981