What's Mark Listening To Now-"Sway" by Dean Martin

As a kid who grew up in a family with a lot of music, it was not uncommon to hear Ray Charles classic "Modern Sounds In Country Music" or "Genius Hits The Road." My mother, who was in the music business, got a lot of promotional albums for free. She played John Gary, Bobby Vinton and the ethnic Polish sounds of "Lil" Wally Jagiello, the Polka King of Chicago (little known fact-Lil Wally co-wrote the "Go Go White Sox" theme song for the South Siders!). When the Beatles hit, they hit hard and we ended up with stacks of Beatle albums, Beatle 45's plus sides by their countrymen, the Dave Clark 5, the Rolling Stones, The Animals and on and on. I was a typical, British Invasion Rock-n-Roll kid. The idea that I would ever willingly play a record by Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra, well, that would be like eating meat on Friday, something that was just not done in my Catholic neighborhood.
When I saw guys like Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti June 7, 1917) or Sinatra on TV, I just wanted them to go away. Get out of the way of whatever young artist Ed Sullivan was featuring.

But then I grew up. Started working in a record store in high school. Worked part time right through college. Had some of the best times of my life in that store. If I could support my family and own a record store doing it, then I would be running a record store. Most fun I ever had in my life. Very much like the movie "High Fidelity" (and the fine Nick Hornby book it was based on!

My boss at Harmony House (and good friend to this day) Lloyd Welch, put on some Sinatra. The album was "Sinatra-Basie: A Historic Musical First" with Frank and Count Basie on the Hazel Park Harmony House turntable. My initial reaction was, WTF? But the undeniable musical skill of these two giants hooked me. From that day forward, I became a Sinatra fan. Which ultimately leads me to this appreciation of the fine musical talents of Dean Martin.

Dean, of course, first came to fame as the "straight" man to Jerry Lewis' trained monkey in the biggest act in show business, Martin & Lewis. Every Martin and Lewis film had a couple of vocal spotlights for Dean and he soon became a visitor to the Pop Charts with tunes like "That's Amore, "Volare" and "Memories Are Made Of This." Dean's string of hits continued into the 60s even having a number one song as late as 1968 with "Everybody Loves Somebody (Sometime)" which became a theme song of sorts.

Dean also became as well known for his acting, in movies such as "Kiss Me Stupid," The Matt Helm Spy series, "Airport" not to mention the so-called Rat Pack films with Frank, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. The original "Oceans Eleven" and "Robin and the Seven Hoods" epitomized the height of early 60s white male cool. And Dean may have been the coolest of all, impressing "Clan" leader Sinatra by just not giving a f___!

Dean's musical variety show continued on NBC for years, where he played up his persona as a drunken, devil-may-care playboy. You can still buy the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts" through an infomercial running on a station near you (AVAILABLE ON VHS!).

Unfortunately, in 1987 Dean's son Dean Paul crashed his jet into a mountain while on duty in the California Air National Guard. The death of his son destroyed him, and he essentially waited around to die, which he did in 1995 of cancer. Before his death, he attempted to go out on tour with Frank and Sammy but quit the tour halfway through never to perform again. His heart just wasn't in it.

In his glory days, Dean recorded for the guys in the big record stack in Hollywood, Capitol. 3 years before the end of Martin & Lewis, Dean started recording more frequently. He cut "Sway" in 1953. "Sway" was a tune by Mexican band leader and composer Pablo Beltran Ruiz, and hit number 16 on the Billboard Charts in 1954. Later redone well by Michael Buble who had a minor hit with it as the third single on his first album, and redone horribly by the Pussycat Dolls who.... let's just say the less said the better.