dean martin
Tune Tuesday: Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me 1974
Forty-five years ago, today, the #1 song on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart was Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me by Gladys Knight & The Pips. Written by Jim Weatherly, a former quarterback for the University of Mississippi, is the same songwriter that penned what became known as Midnight Train to Georgia, a previous hit for Gladys & her Pips. The song was originally recorded in 1973 by country music artist Ray Price.
From Wikipedia:
Weatherly told Tom Roland in The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits that he wrote the song in 1971 and let his father-in-law first record it as a Christmas present for the latter’s wife. “I thought it was really strange that nobody’d written a song with that title — possibly somebody had but, I’d never heard it — so, I just sat down and let this stream of consciousness happen. I basically wrote it in a very short period of time, probably 30 minutes or an hour.”
Other artists to cover the song were Dean Martin, Steve Lawrence, Andy Williams, The Persuaders and, James Cleveland & The Charles Fold Singers.
The song made it to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Tune Tuesday: Frankie Laine 1969
Fifty years ago, today, the #1 song on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart was You Gave Me A Mountain by Frankie Laine. Written by singer-songwriter and NASCAR driver Marty Robbins, Laine’s version charted the highest of any performer, including Robbins.
From Wikipedia:
The lyrics to the song detail a series of challenges that the singer has endured in his life, including the death of his mother while giving birth to him, [being] deprived of the love of his father [described as] like time spent in prison “for something that I never done” and, the singer’s wife taking their child and leaving. He describes these setbacks as hills that he has scaled in the past but, then states that “this time, Lord, you gave me a mountain” […]
The original third line of Robbins’ song mentioned that he was “despised and disliked from my father” but, Laine requested that this line be changed to “deprived of the love of my father” when he recorded his version, since Laine’s father had died shortly before the recording took place.
Many other artists recorded the song including Johnny Bush, Don McLean, Eddy Arnold, Ray Price, Jim Nabors and Dean Martin. Elvis Presley included this song in the set for his Aloha From Hawaii concert in 1973.
This was the final Top 40 hit of Laine’s career.
Lyrics
Born in the heat of the desert
My mother died givin’ me life
Deprived of the love of a father
Blamed for the loss of his wife
You know, Lord, I’ve been in a prison
For something that I’ve never done
It’s been one hill after another
But I’ve climbed them all, one by one
But this time, Lord, you gave me a mountain
A mountain I may never climb
And is isn’t a hill any longer
You gave me a mountain this time
My woman tired of the hardships
Tired of the grief and the strife
So tired of workin’ for nothin’
Tired of bein’ my wife
She took my one ray of sunshine
She took my pride and my joy
She took my reason for livin’
She took my small baby boy
So this time, Lord, you gave me a mountain
A mountain I may never climb
And is isn’t a hill any longer
You gave me a mountain this time
Movie Monday: The Wrecking Crew 1969
Fifty years ago, today, the most popular film at the box office was The Wrecking Crew, a comedy Spy-Fi starring Dean Martin, Elke Sommer, Sharon Tate (Polanski), Nancy Kwan, Nigel Green, Tina Louise and Chuck Norris, making his film début. Opening in the U.S. (NYC) on February 5, it was directed by Phil Karlson, produced by Irving Allen, written by (screenplay) William P. McGivern with music by Hugo Montenegro and Dean Martin serving as Executive Producer, uncredited. Bruce Lee was listed as the ‘Karate Advisor’, choreographing the fight scenes.
The movie was based on Donald Hamilton’s novel of the same name, his second spy thriller about Matt Helm, a fictional U.S. Agent & assassin. Martin played Helm in three previous films and this movie was the last of the series despite the announcement at the end of the film of a fifth installment. Hamilton has written 27 Helm novels spanning 1960 to 1993 with #28 still unpublished, though, finished in the late 1990s.
This was the second to the last movie Sharon Tate (Polanski) made before her murder on August 9, 1969 and the last one released before her death. The Thirteen Chairs was released two months afterwards.
Summary from Rotten Tomatoes:
Secret agent Matt Helm is called on to stop a plan to steal over one billion dollars in gold. With the help of the fumbling female [British] agent Freya, the two race against time to stop the devious plan of Count Contini and his henchmen. The Count is aided by a bevy of beauties who attempt to throw the world economy into chaos with the heist. Helm is constantly interrupted just before his amorous adventures can be set in motion by the overzealous […] Freya.
Trivia Bits:
♦ The working title of the film was House of 7 Joys.
♦ Dean Martin was so distraught over the murder of his co-star and friend, Sharon Tate, that he abandoned the next, already announced, “Matt Helm” motion picture series installment (to be titled “The Ravagers”) and, never played the character again. This is contrary to the post that the series ended due to poor ratings.
♦ Bruce Lee was the martial arts adviser for this film. He also was brought in to train and teach Sharon Tate with her martial arts scenes.
♦ Karate champion Mike Stone was Dean Martin’s fight double. Stone was Priscilla Presley’s boyfriend after she left Elvis.
I can’t find an actual trailer for this movie but, I did find some snippets.
Cosmic-Observation 