"Kuroneko no Tango" ( "Black Cat Tango"; originally "I wanted a black cat") is a tango song recorded in 1969 by young children in Italy and Japan.
The original Italian version came last in the Zecchino d'Oro competition on 11 March 1969. It was written by "Framario" (Francesco and Mario Pagano), Armando Soricillo, and Francesco Saverio Maresca, and was sung by four-year-old Vincenza Pastorelli. In 2007, Pastorelli was arrested after an anti-prostitution operation dubbed "Gatto Nero" by Carabinieri; her appeal against a three-year prison sentence was pending in the Court of Cassation in October 2011.
Nippon Victor asked the leader of a Japanese school choir called "The Larks" to nominate a member to record a Japanese-language version of the song. She chose her nephew, Osamu Minagawa çÂÂå· ãÂÂãÂÂã (born 22 January 1963), whose recording was released on 5 October 1969. The song reached number one in the Oricon chart, and sold 3 million copies, making six-year-old Minagawa the youngest artist ever to have a million-selling record.
The Japanese lyrics bear no relation to the Italian ones beyond the central idea of a black cat. The Italian version is a children's song in which the singer complains at being given a white cat instead of a black one. The Japanese "black cat" symbolises the singer's flighty sweetheart, although Minagawa understood "Tango" to be the cat's name. The Japanese melody differs in rhythm in the verses, with the strong beats misaligned by 2 beats (half a measure) from the original Italian version, with a 2-beat rest inserted before the chorus to compensate.
The song has been covered many times since 1969. The song was covered in Japanese by Ami Tokito and in French by Japanese folk band ãÂÂãÂÂ, both in 2005, and Meg recorded a cover of the original Italian song on her 2012 album La Japonaise. Justin Mauriello's 2010 Japanese release Justin Sings the Hits includes a version. The songâÂÂs melody was used in a Hebrew song originally performed by Tzipi Shavit with words by Yoram Taharlev, called "Kulam Halkhu LaJambo' " (Hebrew: ÃÂÃÂÃÂàÃÂÃÂÃÂàÃÂÃÂóÃÂÃÂà"Everybody Has Gone to the Jumbo").. In Finnish the song is known as "Mustan kissan tango" (The Tango of the Black Cat). In Danish, the song is called âÂÂMin Kat Den Danser Tangoâ (meaning âÂÂMy Cat Dances TangoâÂÂ), in this case referring to an actual cat that dances the tango.
The song is on the 2014 album Dream a Little Dream by Pink Martini and The von Trapps.
In Korean, the song was first recorded in 1970 by six-year-old Park Hye-ryeong under the title "Black Cat Nero" (ê²Âì 고ìÂÂì´ ë¤ë¡Â). In 1995, it was remade by the South Korean music duo Turbo. In 2020, South Korean boy group Ateez won the music competition with another remake of the song, which was released the following year as part of their collaboration with Kim Jong-kook, one of the members of Turbo. Boy group BXB also recorded a remake of the song in 2023.