 His original Greek lyrics, along with the foreign translations in German, French and Italian, do not mention "Never on Sunday" (as found in the English lyrics), but rather tell the story of the main female character of the film, Illya (Mercouri).Illya is a jolly woman who sings of her joyful life in her port town of Piraeus ("If I search the world over/I'll find no other port/Which has the magic/Of my Port Piraeus").Although she earns her money as a prostitute, she longs to meet a man someday who is just as full of "joie de vivre" as she is herself.