Day 316: Dean Martin – Dean Martin Sings
Today I was in the market for a cooking album, specifically one of the crooner variety. Frankly, sometimes you just want a velvety smooth man to serenade you when you’re making food, I think enjoying that is a semi-universal experience. I thought I’d go for someone I’ve not listened to much, so I chose a bit of Dean Martin.
Album cover courtesy of Capitol Records
Dean Martin, aka the King of Cool, was a singer, actor, TV host and comic who was active between 1934 and 1995. He started off his career as a boxer and reportedly used to host living room bareknuckle boxing matches with Sonny King so that they could finance their burgeoning careers in show business. Martin did the odd singing jobs for years but he didn’t get his break until he teamed up with Jerry Lewis to start a singing comedy duo called Martin and Lewis.
Released in 1953, Dean Martin Sings was his first studio album, and it mostly contains semi-standards from the ‘20s and ‘30s that were featured in the Martin and Lewis film The Stooge, with only one of the songs ("A Girl Named Mary and a Boy Named Bill") having been written specifically for the film. When the album started becoming a hit, Capitol Records added four more songs to it, including one of his biggest hits, "That's Amore”.
As much as I enjoyed it, listening to crooner music from the ‘50s while cooking dinner for a man does feel like it has some connotations in 2026, I feel like I’m about to start a YouTube channel espousing traditional values. But maybe I just like cooking to old music before watching a bit of Poirot, not like a tradwife but like the 70-something woman who I was born to be.
Tradwife connotations aside, it’s just a fun album to listen to when you’re pottering around, with Dean Martin’s dulcet tones making for excellent company. I’m not immune to a crooner, if I was I’d probably think there’s something wrong with me – there’s a timelessness to their charm, with the simple songs about love and yearning that are delivered with charm. It’s just a shame that these days it feels like they carry a bit of a stigma. If I say I like cooking to Dean Martin, I’m sure the youths today associate that with watching ladies with AGA stoves cook from scratch on TikTok.
I liked Dean Martin Sings, might listen to it again, it’s an 8/10. I just think we should rebrand the crooners, why does everything that reminds you of the ‘50s feel so tradwife-y these days?