From the funly tagged blog, "The Oz Hitztory Blog!," devoted to "the story of the Australian pop charts, comes an extremely well-crafted bit of deep, pure, and true Dino-devotion tagged, "Dean Martin Was Way Cool."
Was unable to find the blogger to give the Dino-credit to, but whoever it is, they have done a totally totally rad job of sharin' some of our most beloved Dino's greatest hits in Aussieland and sharin' some great vid clips to goes 'long with the patter.
Whoever scribed these Dino-thoughts, it is so so clear that they really "get Martin" and is deeply deeply devoted to our King of Cool. There is so much to commend here, but am gonna just but the accent on a particular Dino-tune that I have never ever heard before....“Chee-Chee O Chee (Sang The Little Bird).” Simply have fallen head over heels in love with this Dino-tune, and totally digs what the Dino-phile who wrote this Dino-script sez 'bout it...."Dean was so cool that he could sing a song for the toddler market, and sound like he meant it. That is so cool."
Well, likes pallies, I coulda goes on and on speakin' Dino-praise for this excellent Dino-trib...but likes I'm gonna encourage you as strongly as I can to spead the time to soak in each and every cool Dino-thought contained there in.
ilovedinomartin sez our deep deep Dino-thanks to which ever Aussie Dino-devotee that put pen to paper to author this, presumedly the founder of "The Oz Hitztory Blog!" This is one of the coolest pieces of Dino-appreciato that I have seen in quite some Dino-time and I'm hopin' by liftin' it up here at ilovedinomartin to send much traffic to this extreme Dino-holic...so clicks on the tag of this Dino-message to view this in it's original format. Dino-psyched, DMP
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Dean Martin Was Way Cool
Dean Martin was way cool.
Everybody liked Dean Martin. Everybody wanted to hang out with him. If only because, wherever he went, sexy women would follow. Which always gives you a bit of a boost in the popularity stakes.
And he was seemingly happy all the time. It is a rare thing to find a Dean Martin photo that doesn’t involve him with a big cheeky grin. Or a smirk. There are an above average number of photos featuring a cocked eyebrow. Pretty much every photos creates an aura of “I’m feeling pretty damn good about myself I can tell you.” A bit like this really:
That’s so cool.
And Dean had good reason to feel pretty damn good about himself. He was, as every article about Dean Martin will eagerly tell you, what the Italians called a menefreghista, which roughly translates into "one who simply does not give a fuck." (According to Urban Dictionary this is actually the official definition, right down to the “simply”).
Whatever he wanted to do, Dean Martin did. If he was singing a song and didn’t want to sing the whole thing, he’d just stop half way… the second half of a song is usually much the same as the first half of a song and besides, as he’d explain "no point in sing the whole thing, you might not buy the record.”
That’s pretty cool.
You know what else is cool. Songs about pizza pie. Songs that rhyme “drool” with “pasta fazool.” Songs filled with wine. And food. And dancing. And women. Songs like “That’s Amore” that hit Number One on the Australian charts For Three Weeks in April 1954.
It is an awful pity, given the way that the world of Dean revolved around drinking expensive cocktails in Las Vegas casinos, that he didn’t keep with one of his previous before-he-was-famous stage-names: Dino Martini. Because how perfect would that have been?
If, “That’s Amore” wasn’t enough to position Dean as the kind of guy who seemed to just find himself in situations where he was surrounded by wine, and food, and dancing, and women, then “Sway” – filled with “marimba rhythms” and “lazy oceans” – and a Number One On The Australian Charts For One Week In November 1954, sealed the deal.
In those two hits, Dino’s first two big hits, the hits that he is probably most famous for, we have the essential essence of Dean in its purest form, and the apex of the art form (and a far more challenging art form than is generally assumed) of being a tipsy slacker in a tuxedo. This is the moment when a sense of humour was added to the crooner, and lounge music was born.
Dean Martin claimed that Bing Crosby was his primary inspiration and you can tell. That’s no bad thing, since pretty much everything he stole from Bing was everything that was good about Bing, and everything that he stole from Bing he did better than Bing. His low notes were both fuller of comedic potential, as well as marketing the missing link between Bing’s funny low notes, and Elvis Presley’s over-doing “thank you very much” shtick. He managed to make it look as though he was trying even less than Bing, a man who himself had turn laziness into an art form. Combined they were the perfect encapsulation of an American dream, that if you don’t do your homework and don’t work hard, then maybe you too can live a glamorous lifestyle of drinking martinis, living in a tuxedo, whilst surrounded by beautiful women. And if there are few things that impress people more than people who become successful without really trying at all.
Of course, the problem with simply not giving a fuck, is that your quality-control radar is a bit… well you don’t even have one really, and you end up singing some ridiculous songs. And simply not caring, which is far enough, because they ended up going to Number One anyway.
Such as “The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane” – Number One On The Australian Charts For Two Weeks in May 1955 – a song based around the premise of making you think it was about some high class prostitute (or simply a lady of low morals), and then revealing that is was all totally innocent and it was only about a new-born baby girl. And don’t you feel silly now for jumping to conclusions and being either (a) a judgemental wowser or (b) having a dirty mind you naughty devil.
That of course was one thing. “Chee-Chee O Chee (Sang The Little Bird)” – No.8 on the Australian charts in Oct 1955 – is quite another. Dean was so cool that he could sing a song for the toddler market, and sound like he meant it. That is so cool.
When someone is truly cool, they are assumed to have boundless wisdom, and have reached some sort of zen-like state. So “Memories Are Made Of This” – Number One For Five Weeks in April and May 1956, making it his biggest hit - saw Dean in a rare philosophical mood, being backed by a folk group. A folk group admittedly who wrote hit songs for Frankie Laine. A folk song that promotes the American dream of marriage - “then add the wedding bells” – home ownership – “one house where lovers dwell” – and having the statistically average number of kids – “three little kids for flavor” – making it probably the least politically radical folk song ever written. The likely reason for Dean singing this: in amongst all its’ depictions of a perfect life, the song still manages to fit in a tribute to wine.
It was the American Dream in song. Madison Avenue couldn’t come up with a better advertisement to conformity. And that’s a beautiful thing. Although Dean made his success look like something that he tripped over in the street, all of the winnings from his success: wine, women, and in this song, an idyllic suburban life, were all simple pleasures that anyone might be able to gain. Sure, his wine was more expensive, his women may have been hotter, and his home a mansion with a stone wall instead of a white picket fence, but these were still simple pleasures. One of his best albums apparently, was a concept album about the art of sleeping. You don’t get much more simple than that.
No wonder there are so many Dean Martin fans
2 comments:
Our Dino made every song sound wonderful -- never mind any silly lyrics.
The mark of a master, IMO.
Hey pallie, indeed Miss AOW, our Dino IS THE MASTER...and I loves the silly lyrics as much as the deep ones...there is Dino-wisdom in everythin' that our Dino speaks and sings! Keeps lovin' our Dino!
Post a Comment