The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 870

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Number 870 - Dean Martin

Number 870

Dean Martin

"Volare"

(1958)
.

Genre:Crooner

Raise your glasses Ladies & Gentleman (actually hide the glasses, its been a while since he has had one) its one of the original "Brat Pack" ..... Mr Dean Martin.

Personally i have always enjoyed Dean Martin as an actor rather than a singer. His on screen hi-jinx with Jerry Lewis were a hoot when i was growing up as a kid. Irony was while Jerry acted to appear drunk, Dean just pretended to be sober.

7.06.17 to 25.12.95

"Never totally comfortable in films, Martin still wanted to be known as a real actor. So, though offered a fraction of his former salary to co-star in the war drama The Young Lions (1957), he eagerly agreed in order that he could be with and learn from Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Tony Randall already had the part, but talent agency MCA realised that with this movie, Martin would become a triple threat: they could make fortunes from his work in night clubs, movies, and records, so they engineered Randall's replacement, giving Martin one of the plum dramatic roles of the decade. The film turned out to be the cornerstone of Martin's spectacular comeback; by the mid-'60s, he was a top movie, recording, and nightclub attraction, even as Lewis' star had begun to fade. He was also acclaimed for his performance as Dude in Rio Bravo (1959), directed by Howard Hawks and also starring John Wayne and fellow singer Ricky Nelson. Martin later teamed up again with Wayne in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), where they were somewhat unconvincingly cast as brothers."

"Martin's even-keel world began to crumble in 1987, when his son Dean Paul Martin was killed in a plane crash. A much-touted tour with old pals Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra in 1988 sputtered out, with Martin's heart just not into a Rat Pack reunion. On one occasion he infuriated Sinatra when he flicked a lit cigarette butt into the audience, and on another occasion he turned to Sinatra, ignoring the audience, and muttered "Frank, what the hell are we doing up here?"

Martin died of respiratory failure on Christmas morning 1995. The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor. In 2005, Las Vegas renamed Industrial Road "Dean Martin Drive".

For Frank Sinatra see Number 933

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Nope, wasn't in English) and the Album ranked at Number (Nope, but hell the Jerry fella sure was funny)

This song has a Crowbarred rating of 59.6 out of 108