#Al Martino

[camyfilms]

THE GODFATHER 1972

Fredo, you're my older brother, and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever.

[oldshowbiz]

another weird showbiz classified

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #3: 1952

For our third poll evaluating the top hits of the 1950s, we're moving on to 1952. The Billboard year-end charts are still compiled in a top 30 list via the methods described in the previous poll (jukebox performance, record/sheet music retail sales, etc). With acts like Johnnie Ray, we are starting to see a glimpse into the major genre shifts that are to come in mainstream music. But it will be a few years until we see that change take hold. At this time, it was much more common to see composers and instrumentals featured on the charts.

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[citizenscreen]

Remembering Al Martino on his birthday #botd

[mateushonrado]

First UK number-one single by genre chart

Status Post #11379: Five of the six genre-specific charts are still active to this day.

[howardhawkshollywoodmusic]

88. Spanish Eyes by Al Martino debuted Dec 65 and peaked at number 15, scoring 828 points.

Al's I Love You Because was the number 33 hit of 1963, and I Love You More and More Every Day was his number 98 hit of 1964.

Bert Kaempfert's earlier 1965 instrumental version, titled Moon Over Naples, charted but did not make the top 40.

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 7 October 1954

Two songs again this week, for the first time in a while. I'm wondering if there's going to be an annual pattern to this, like perhaps people get tired of summery songs and start wanting something else at a certain point in the year, or they start wanting Christmas music around Christmas and stop wanting it abruptly afterwards. But maybe that's me reading too much into things. It'll be a while before I get a feel for it, I suspect.

Sway - Dean Martin (peaked at No. 6)

I thought I knew this song, and it turns out I did, but the intro almost had me convinced otherwise. I think this is the standard English version of this song, but I've just never really listened to the intro? The only other version I might know is a Michael Bublé version, or a Rosemary Clooney version, so perhaps I'm confusing it with one of them?

Either way, once the intro - all plucked guitar and startling orchestral hits - we get into a familiar, Latin-sounding chorus. I know it, and so do you: "When marimba rhythms start to play / Dance with me, make me sway..."

There's a poetry to the lyrics that I actually really like, with Dean exhorting his love to hold him "Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore", wich is both evocative and furthers the exotic, tropical vibe we've got going on here.

It's also sexy! They're dancing - that's the excuse for all this swaying and embracing - but it's definitely having a sexy effect on Dean. Why else would we hear about his love's "magic technique", or about how "When we sway, I go weak". Heck, at the end he encourages them to "Make me thrill as only you know how". It errs on the right side of innuendo - at the end of the day it could pretty plausibly still be a song about dancingbut it's undeniably a sexy song.

There's something about the way Dean's singing that fits well with this, especially combined with the Latin rhythms. I don't know, there's just something very sexy about it as a sound, even without the lyrics - there's a reason there's periodically a boom of Latin-infused pop hitting the charts. We'll see it again in the 90s, for example, and again as the 2010s get going.

For once, this one's a cover of an actual Latin song, too, ¿Quién será? by the Mexican composer Luis Demetrio, as performed by Pablo Beltrán Ruiz. So it's got pedigree - the best known version before Dean's was by a guy called Pedro Infante. Dean's version was the first English version, though, and apparently a big hit globally. Pretty cool.

The Story of Tina - Al Martino (10)

Well, it's a waltz, and the instrumental introduction has something a bit like the music from Sleeping Beauty to it. I don't know, it conjures up fairytales to me, especially when Al finally comes in, with the backing singers behind him. It's very Disney and cutesy, and genuinely quite pretty.

I'm expecting a story, from the title, and we do begin promisingly, as we're told that "The story of Tina began in the springtime / When Tina was sweet seventeen". So the scene is set, at least.

We then get the set-up for a conflict as we learn that "The boy said he loved her / And she gave a promise / The truest that ever has been". I know how stories work, and how seventeen-year-olds work, so I was absolutely ready for there to be a twist here, where the boy would - for better or for worse - let Tina down in some way. But no, we cut to a wedding, and then forward into the future, where we are informed that "still they are sweethearts / though years roll away".

It's a bit disappointing, if you're expecting a twist, but the song does still have a surprise or two for you. You can work it out from the rhyme scheme a moment or two in advance, sure. But if you ignore that, there's a bit of a twist when Al sings about "the story of Tina and meeeeee". He's the boy! It's him! He's married to Tina!

This isn't true, by the way - Al had three wives, but none were called Tina. Instead, we've got Jenny, Gwendolyn and Judi. So Tina was probably just picked because it sounded trendy in 1954. What a time capsule of a name!

The reveal is followed by a repeat of the whole "story", but before that we get the best thing about this song, a brass solo that's deep and weirdly echoey, like somebody was playing a euphonium at the other end of a hallway. It's a strange choice, but not a bad one, and I like it a lot more than I probably should. It feels whimsical, and kind of fun.

And then the repeat. It's not the most exciting thing ever, especially given the lack of stakes in this story, but it's not the worst. There's a Big Old Ending, of course, but it's restrained, as this sort of thing goes, and we get some nice instrumental touches. It still makes me think of Sleeping Beauty, and that gives the whole song a sort of idealised, fairy tale vibe that I do like.

Well, those were certainly two songs. Neither was objectionable, actually, but one definitely feels like a safer bet. The other, meanwhile, is fresh, forward-looking and weirdly sexy. It's a classic, and there's a reason for that. So...

Favourite song of the bunch: Sway

[travsd]

Al Martino, The Movies, and the Mob

Today we sing of Italian-American actor-crooner Al Martino (Jasper Gini, 1927-2009). “Hold the phone–Jasper?” you ask? Well, his father’s first name was Gasparino. Al was named after him, but Americanized. Nowadays, most who recall Al Martino remember him for playing Johnny Fontanne, the singer who begs for a movie role in The Godfather movies. I don’t usually engage in “fantasy casting”…

[starrybluez]

Al Martino - The Godfather Waltz

[camyfilms]

THE GODFATHER PART III 1990

When they come... they come at what you love.

[weirdlookindog]

Assassinio al cimitero etrusco (1982)

Enzo Sciotti art

[biking-around-the-world]

🫂🖤💙

[bigarella]

L’altro scenario fondamentale per il partigianato alessandrino era quello appenninico

In teoria nei giorni immediatamente successivi all’armistizio nell’alessandrino si sarebbe dovuto assistere allo sbocciare naturale di un movimento antifascista che gettasse «l’abito del conformismo» <112 per mostrare invece come l’orientamento politico «rosso» della provincia fosse rimasto immutato nonostante i venti anni di regime. Tuttavia nei primi mesi i Comitati interpartitici si trovarono…

[adrianomaini]

L’altro scenario fondamentale per il partigianato alessandrino era quello appenninico

In teoria nei giorni immediatamente successivi all’armistizio nell’alessandrino si sarebbe dovuto assistere allo sbocciare naturale di un movimento antifascista che gettasse «l’abito del conformismo» <112 per mostrare invece come l’orientamento politico «rosso» della provincia fosse rimasto immutato nonostante i venti anni di regime. Tuttavia nei primi mesi i Comitati interpartitici si trovarono…

[howardhawkshollywoodmusic]

98. I Love You More and More Everyday by Al Martino debuted Feb 64 and peaked at number nine, scoring 799 points.

Al was born in Philadelphia and had 35 chart entries 1959-77. Two made the top ten.

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 1 July 1954

Two songs this week, both from old friends with Italian-looking names. I'm realising now that this might also be part of the Italian trend - both of today's artists are using their actual names, or at least seem to be blessed with a genuinely Italian-looking name (looking at you Al Mar- sorry, Jasper Cini). But still, it's clearly the sort of name that sells!

Idle Gossip - Perry Como (peaked at No. 3)

This is a slow and fairly subtle song, with a few interesting moments keeping you on your toes, right from the outset. Even there, in the intro, we've got a shift from a major to a more minor chord, arpeggiated in a way that weirdly sounds a bit like a more classical, less synthy version of the Stranger Things theme (no, just me?)

The volume also shifts around, and continues to do so throughout this song, just like the harmonies do - giving a sense of instability and uncertainty, like the song's mistrustful and can't quite settle down. And in among it all, Perry, fittingly, singing about so called "friends" spreading nonsense about him and his partner's relationship: "Should they say our love is through / That's idle gossip".

It briefly makes me wonder if maybe there's a reason for this - is there some reason people are assuming Perry and his love are on the out? The only hint we get is in the next verse, where Perry asserts that "We'll still carry on as though / Our love affair has just begun", purely to prove a point. This suggests to me that they've been together a while, and the insinuation is that their relationship's getting a bit stale? Evidently, Perry doesn't belive this to be the case - and so it's time to take action.

They go out for a walk and kiss, so as to start some new rumours, giving us the supremely cheesy line that "In their idle gossip/ They may say that I love you / And this time / Idle gossip will be true". Cute? Nauseating? Both?

It's nice, but nothing that massively stands out. I like the theme of ignoring rumours or proving something to the world, and I generally like songs about stable, steady relationships that last. I think they're generally very sweet, and I do like the idea of this song. The song's also very pretty, with lots of quiet strings and muted brass in the instrumental section, and shifts to unexpected notes that just kind of work. It doesn't rock my world, but it is nice.

It feels like a Frank Sinatra song, actually - I think because a few lines sound like a specific line from Fly Me to the Moon? It also feels quite Sinatra-esque in its sentiment - I could see him doing a really good, convincing job of this. Perry Como's not quite in the same vocal league, in my books, but he does an okay job.

A solid, okay job, for a solid, okay song.

Wanted - Al Martino (4)

And then, like déjà vu, this song again. I couldn't find this on Spotify, meaning I had to pull it up on YouTube, that's how forgotten and unloved this one is.

I don't think it helps that it's a repeat. These repeat songs feel like a recurring feature, and I don't care much for it, not least because I have to come up with something new to say about each version. The last version was a Perry Como original, and I have to say, it's very similar to this one. Al has not put much of a stamp onto this, like you'd expect from a cover version today.

It's perhaps a little less orchestral and dramatic, less sweeping strings and more creeping double bass, which I think is a slight improvement? I don't know, while I found Perry's backing singers a bit too much, they did at least give the track some interest. This version is pretty dull through to the one and a half minute mark, where a saxophone solo begins.

The sax solo is nice, in a laid-back, swing-y way, and the clarinets near the end are also a nice touch. There are also some cute chimes at the end, which are fun. Still, there's not much that sets this version apart from Perry's earlier version. They both got to the same chart position, so apparently the British public agreed - or were split on which version they wanted, at least.

Al's version is a bit more bloodless, I guess? Perry at least felt like he was trying to get some emotion out of the track. Al's version feels like it's an exercise in writing and singing a metaphor. I don't buy for a minute that idea that he's actually broken up over this woman.

Well, neither of those songs were bad, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to them again, especially not the strangely hard-to-come-by Al Martino one. File them under okay, but nothing special. One wins a few points simply for novelty value, though.

Favourite song of the bunch: Idle Gossip