When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie

Continuing my trip up the list of the most streamed songs for each year.  

1953 : That's Amore - Dean Martin


A song I'm aware of, without knowing that I've ever listened to it all the way through - I assume it was quite Rat Packy at the time, but the only cultural reference I have is that it appears in the Cher film Moonstruck, which I remember being both charmed by and impressed at how insubstantial it was.

And yeah, having definitely listened to the song all the way through now, I can say that it too isn't exactly drowning in substance but it is pretty charming and fun to sing along to.  It's pretty much 3:05 of pure cheese - Wikipedia has remarkably little of interest on it with "the song remains closely identified with Dean Martin" winning the "No shit, Sherlock" award for obviousness.  I did start off down a Dean Martin Wikipedia rabbit hole but decided there isn't enough time in the world for that - here's a starter (before he even got famous) "he bootlegged liquor, worked in a steel mill, served as a croupier at a speakeasy and a blackjack dealer and was a welterweight boxer.  At 15 he billed himself as "Kid Crochet"... Of his 12 bouts, he said that he "won all but 11"".  The other fact of interest is that the song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost out to Doris Day's "Secret Love" (which is a far, far better track imho).

The song has been covered by fewer people than our previous song - most of whom I'm never ever heard of, but ones that jumped out were Daniel O'Donnell (who has also covered "Singin' In The Rain"), Deana Martin (Dean's daughter - why didn't I call either of my daughters Jasona?) and, errr, Anton du Beke.  I can assure you I will NOT be listening to that.  Dean charted with it '54 and '96 and it doesn't seem like any other versions made the charts, so it's not entirely clear to me quite how it made the top spot for the year.

The competition also seems hotter for top spot this year - Frankie Laine's "I Believe" was #1 in the UK for 18 weeks, The Beverley Sisters' "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" appears on a lot of Xmas playlists and Doris's "Secret Love" is still pretty popular with a certain section of the population.  I had a quick Google to see if there were any pop culture references I was missing but no, Moonstruck was the top reference - so well done me for having my finger on the pulse (of 1987).

Overall, I'd say this is a fine example of vintage cheese, but it's struggling to justify its position for me - but I'm sure Dean doesn't overly care what I think (and I imagine he's having a fine old time wherever he is).  And, admit it, you thought it was "a big-a piece of pie", didn't you?

1952 - We should all be more like Doris
1954 - The first proper music

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