Little Ole Wine Drinker Me – Dean Martin

-

Little Ole Wine Drinker Me – Dean Martin


"I'm praying for a rain in California. So the grapes can grow and they can make more wine” I wonder what the writers were thinking of that day. What a perfect song subject for Dean Martin, probably the most famous drunk act ever. His clever wit and stage act shouldn’t disguise his amazing singing voice. Out of the Las Vegas Rat Pack he’s my favorite, even above the legends Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. I think all three of these guys and a lot of the other crooners from that era are super cool, this was at a time the songwriting craft was pure poetry usually addressing big subjects of life, 'My Way' and 'Born Free' for just two examples.
Then you had semi serious songs like this one, a heartbreak song hidden under a very quirky melody and what I guess would later be described as a drinking song. Dean Martin takes on this tongue twister of a lyric with ease and sings it in his classic relaxed style. I first heard this song through my father who had it on an LP and had included it on a compilation cassette. Then I meet a huge Deano fan when I first started work, who’s name just happened to be Chas Martin (no relation), hi Chas, but he encouraged my interest in Mr Cool. Deano had some amazing songs in his career but it seems he was always more regraded as a comedy partner to Jerry Lewis or Frank's best friend.
I love the odd sound this song has, the lyrics paint the picture so well, you feel like you could be sat next to the guy at the bar while he’s getting poured another drink and he's pouring out his heart.
That broken heart's going to follow you wherever you go.

Favourite lyric : I thought I'd get a job and just forget her / But in Chicago a broken heart is still the same
Location: Rayleigh, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wherever You Will Go – The Calling

-
Image
    Wherever You Will Go – The Calling  No idea where this one came from, total American power ballad, it's well chessey but I love it. I'm a sucker for sentimental songs like this, all about always being with the one you love. But it's not really a happy song, apparently it was written about a husband who had lost his wife of over 50 years. The songwriter, Aaron Kamin , was at his grandmother's best friends funeral and the idea for the song came to him. How the husband who was left behind would have followed his beloved if only he could have. Can he now exist without her? The words almost say that they would come back to haunt you if that was possible, love that strong can't be broken. The need to be together is so strong. But like all good songs, you can take it's message in so many different ways. Also most listeners don't delve to deep into the meanings of songs, they just catch onto the suggested obvious tone of the chorus. The general understanding of
Read more

I Am, I Feel – Alisha's Attic

-
Image
  I Am, I Feel – Alisha's Attic I remember this one from 1996, it came back to my mind yesterday as I was on a songwriting course co-hosted by Shelly McErlaine (born Poole), one half of Alisha's Attic . The group was a duo made up of Sheely and her sister Karen Poole , who happen to come from close to where I grew up in East Essex, UK. They have a famous father, Brian Poole who had a band called Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, they had major success in the 1960s. Shelly is married to Ally McErlaine , from the band Texas , they now have an country band together called Red Sky July along with Charity Hair. Shelly is now a songwriter/producer/talent scout and is an amazing person to listen to about how to craft a song. It seems she has worked with so many huge names, but the biggest thing that came across was her absolute love of music. The song itself is a sorry tale of how a man is taking a girl he's with totally for granted. The lyrics are a very clever reply to how he
Read more

Running Bear – Johnny Preston

-
Image
    Running Bear – Johnny Preston I love this song. It's another one from my childhood, it sounds like a kids song, lots of chanting and takes a bit of imagination to get what's going on. It's actually a love song about two Indian's from different warring tribes, they're not allowed to be together.  This is a proper story song, loads of words, total tongue twister. Songs like this were big in the 50's, it's not an obvious setting to write a song about, I guess Westerns were very popular around the time and Cowboys and Indians were a real hit with the public. All sounding very exotic to us over here in the U.K. anything that shouted American was fantasy. Even as a kid listening to this song as a 45 single on a record player 30 years later, it really caught my ear. It was like listening to a bedtime story in three minutes. Running Bear is a cool Indian name, it gives such a strong image of a powerful fast huge guy and Little White Dove gives the impression of
Read more