AL MARTINO – “Here In My Heart”
Deep magic from the dawn of pop. Except it’s not really magical, and it wasn’t exactly the dawn, and nowadays this doesn’t even sound like pop. But you have to start somewhere, and the British singles charts started here: a device to sell newspapers that ended up conquering my world. I had never heard Al Martino’s record before I downloaded it on a whim yesterday. It was easy enough to find, easier than it was to listen to twice.
What I’ve often liked about the charts though is their seeming arbitrariness. You can make a good guess at what will be Number One each week but you can rarely get it entirely right - I was surprised (and delighted) that the Black Eyed Peas hit the top this week; I was resigned and appalled when Gareth Gates and the Kumars clung clammily on this spring. So it’s fitting that the first No.1 sounds so overdone and undistinguished - it crashes into life well enough on a surge of strings but Martino’s cornball opera style is baffling to me: this was pop? Um, OK, if you say so.
But the question always has to be - what’s the appeal? Someone (who? why? we can’t really guess) was buying it - what did they like? Martino’s voice is damn versatile - it slides from bellow to purr so slickly over the space of one line, but it never lets the orchestra outshine it. Maybe that was the hook. Maybe what I hear as too-much a 1952 me would have heard as just right. I expect though I’d have thought what I more or less think now - that ‘Here In My Heart’ is OK, just a curio today; just a hit yesterday. And OK seems an OK place to start.
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Tom in Popular • 9,229 views • Share/Save
Don’t really see why we should, Chris.
Nah, jump in if you have something to say – I will single out stuff to lead the discussion but I’m so busy right now I only have time to look at the comments!
Haha god knows why it came up as that particular alias!
Songs about unconnsummated marriage ? How’s about ” Crying in The Chapel” ? I’d have to listen again but all the right noises are there.
BTW : I’ll be in London on on Nov 10 for the Poptimism. Is it an open invite ? ( Can I come , can I come , huh , huh, can I ? )Look forward to meeting some of you then if all goes OK with the business side of my trip.
Yes! It’s an open invite!
Brian–it’s an amusing thought, given the title, but “Crying in the Chapel” is about going there “Just to sing and praise the lord.” Not the Chapel of Love, then, or at least not in the sense that the Dixie Cups would have it. No mention of a girl, and I think the line “The tears I shed were tears of joy” kind of obviates the notion of an unconsummated marriage.
But who knows? Maybe someone could be so relieved they would shed tears of joy about the whole matter…….
Cheers , Tom , I’m looking forward to it.
Doc –
how does on or can one connsummate a marriage to ” The Lord ” ?
Do priests & Nuns , do it ?
Or how about – ‘ She Caught The Katy & Left Me The Mule to Ride ?
Brian-
1) As I recently revealed that I once studied to be a nun, I suppose I should try to answer this, even if I’d prefer not to. The term is overloaded, requires a belief/construction (that I no longer have) of the metaphysical that most human beings would not arrive at without coercion, and really isn’t all that interesting in the long run. I suspect that many who choose that path don’t place a lot in it, as it’s all completely abstract to begin with. A few with a more mystical bent really do get into it–but all I can say about that is that religion and erotic fantasy don’t necessarily obviate one another.
But Elvis wasn’t Catholic and would never think along those lines.
2) I truly don’t know this song–but I know a variation on “Ticket to Ride” called “She’s Got a Chicken to Ride.” Probably not the same thing, though.
s there actually anyone who comments on Popular who is old enough to remember this at the time ?
I’m old enough, but I have no recollection of this song. That doesn’t mean I never heard it–I actually did hear most of these number ones (at least those by US singers) early in life, as there always seemed to be music on radio or television in our household. (It blocked out are ability to talk to each other, which was probably a good thing.) But if I actually have heard it, it must have made no impression on me.
Non-connsummation song : “Dear Doctor” by The Rolling Stones that eventually turns out for the good. He doesn’t want to marry his cousin & she runs off with his cousin.
I was being flip with ” She Caught The Katy ” but it really is a song. An old blues one , covered by many but a gret version by Taj Mahal. Incidentally a ” katy ” is a type ofhorse drawn carriage. And , although not always used at weddings, it could have been. But as the title says , he ends up with the mule ( as opposed to the horse ) and she rides into the sunset.
Just a thought – shouldn’t all this interesting stuff about non-consummation be left until Tom posts on “Band of Gold”? Otherwise we could confuse the hell out of any Al Martino fans who google onto this page in the future!
yes, you’re probably right. I’d hate to confuse both of them.
I remember years ago when I first learned that Al Martino had the first UK number one, because 1952 seemed to be in the far-distant Palaeolithic Era (before I was born, after all) and I was familiar with Al Martino through Spanish Eyes, which wasn’t at all a bad song even if it wasn’t what I called rock ‘n’ roll. I hadn’t (knowingly) heard this song until I started collecting the early number ones as a result of getting hooked on Popular. It’s not in the same league as Spanish Eyes because Martino belts it and his controlled, velvety (and rather sexy) voice is yet to come. I’m not a fan of the belting style of delivery.
The song was written with Mario Lanza in mind but he turned it down. Lindsay Anderson fans should also note that Richard Harris sings it as only Richard Harris could in the film This Sporting Life.
Where can I get c copy of the music for Here in My Heart?
One way of putting Here In My Heart in context is to track down The First British Hit Parade cd on Acrobat – the top 15 as of 14 November 1952, with the other singles that charted in ’52 thrown in for good measure. My reaction was – well, I still don’t rate Here In My Heart beyond Al’s technical ability to go from roar to sexy coo within the opening line.
Just like every chart since there are things lower down which are MUCH better.
Three appearances by Vera Lynn (all backed by what sounds like platoons of returning soldiers) aren’t among them but are a reminder of how much the war hangover must have still dominated everything. No jazz either, unless you include Louis Armstrong’s dire It Takes Two To Tango (he sounds embarrassed) or Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman’s daffy-but-ace Zing A Little Zong (with an arrangement that sounds like a prototype for Brook Benton and Dinah Washington, while Nelson Riddles away behind them). It catches the mythical American “post-war optimism” better than anything else on the list.
Three Bings and Nat King Cole’s brace of entries suggest a considerable appetite for non-belters. Johnnie Ray’s Walkin’ My Baby Back Home has a finger-snapping saunter, is super-catchy, and sounds the most like Modern Pop. Ray Martin’s Blue Tango is a chipper instrumental, something I remember my Gran singing along to with invented words worthy of Homer Simpson (“It’s the blue tango, I’ve got my woolly woofs on”).
Feet Up is the first of a bunch of rip-roaring Guy Mitchell singalong hits – slap that baby’s butt! – and won’t disappoint anyone who has a taste for She Wears Red Feathers. Jo Stafford’s You Belong To Me is soppy but, with a whiff of exotica, is more than respectable (it’s a darn sight more romantic than Matchbox’s revival in 1980). Sugarbush turns out to be Frankie Laine’s nickname for Doris Day, which must have sounded a little suggestive even in 1952.
A proper time capsule, then. For a bit of colour, Oscar nominations that year included Alec Guinness (Lavender Hill Mob), Richard Burton (My Cousin Rachel) and Gloria Grahame (The Bad And The Beautiful) while The Man In The White Suit was up for Best Screenplay: only Glo won. A foreigner scored the winning goal in the FA Cup final: Chilean George Robledo got the only goal for Newcastle against ten-man Arsenal. And Londoners should listen to it all bearing in mind this was lurking outside the window:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/secondary/students/smog.html
I note your diplomatic silence regarding “Cowpuncher’s Cantata” by Max Bygraves.
I was going to say that’s the only track I reeeeally have to skip (even Mario Lanza and Vera Lynn have worn better), but it seemed unnecessarily cruel. And Max is probably the only person in the first ever chart whose offspring made a Junk Shop Glam 45: Anthony Bygraves’ Painted Lady. “Head to toes-ah, you’re a po-sah.” Now THAT’S a ten.
on what site can i get al martino or anyone else singing hear in my heart?
LES.
Tom
I aM AMAZED AT YOUR COMMENTS, WHEN YOU CONSIDER SOME OF THE TRASH THAT IS PUT ON THE RADIO NOW -(besides that rubbish BY BLACK EYED PEAS) Al Martino is still singing & recording. Go to his Web site and get uptodate before any comments. He is on tour in September in the UK (2008) go and see and then tell me what you think
I kind of think I should go and see him really!
Do I still like that BEP song? Wait and see :)
Hey..I was born in 1929, Al was born in 1927. He is still the best “crooner” to us fans. Still makes appearances, and still sells a lot of records and cds…that should tell you something. “Here In My Heart” was his first recording, personally, I think it deserves the praise it received. It’s also in the Guiness Book…look it up!
Dottie
Light Entertainment Watch: Just one appearance from Al, in this surviving programme;
THE DES O’CONNOR SHOW: with Jim Couton and Rex, Jack Parnell and his Orchestra, The Mike Sammes Singers, Phyllis Diller, Lonnie Donnegan, Al Martino, Mireille Mathieu (1970)
Al Martino has been making regular personal appearances in the U.K., Germany, and throughout the states for years. He also sang Nessun Dorma at a tribute to the late Pavarotti in Germany in 2007, (he was then 80!). Check it out on utube.
Dottie
I was reminded this weekend that Richard Harris sings this song in the 1963 film This Sporting Life. Richard Harris’s singing is a matter of some infamy but actually he makes not a bad fist of it in a well-oiled, working men’s club on a boozy Saturday night sort of way.
So it’s farewell, then, Al Martino.
Goodbye. I wish I liked Here In My Heart more – Al had a better hit with the frantic, melodramatic, Frankie Laine-style Rachel in ’53. And Spanish Eyes felt like a no.1 in the 70s even if it only reached no.5. I love it’s surprisingly cavernous drum sound, big enough to encompass his stentorian tenor.
I’ve always had a soft spot for “How much is that doggie in the window?”
In my head.
Al Martino was a baritone…not a tenor! He was not a rock star (thank God), he was a terrific popular vocalist and was still “belting” them out only 11 days before his death. He sang “Here In My Heart” at a 50 year tribute to Mario Lanza on Oct 03 of this year, and received a standing ovation. Al finished a cd recording on Oct 12, the last song he sang was…If Tomorrow Never Comes”.
Just heard he died last week. To be honest, I only remember Al from his role in The Godfather. It’s a shame really, that the younger generations will only regard Al as a mere footnote in music history, if at all. My parents and their generation will feel his loss more.
RIP Al Martino.
I really like this (as I do a lot of the pre rock stuff cant stand early rock n roll as shown by my worst years chartwise so far being 1956-about 63). Emotive performance, quality singer and decent song. I love some of his other stuff too especially his “To The Doors of the Sun” from the mid-70s.
Another one of the legends gone…
Al Martino RIP
Hello. Not really about Al as such, but I hope you don’t mind me posting. I discovered the site when you were drifting somewhere in 1984. Being a bit of a chart nerd it’s right up my street. While I’m pretty familar with everything that hit no. 1 since the late 1970s and probably a lot of the obvious stuff before that, I reached a realisation a couple of weeks ago that I really don’t know most of the 1950s number ones. So I thought I’d make my mark here as I’ve recently started a journey from 1952 onwards. It might take me a while but I’m going to listen to each no.1 just like you did, listening to each of them as I read the comments on here. Should be interesting!
Hi Victoria, feel free to comment on them as you go through as well, we lost a load of comments on the early songs and any excuse to get the new gang posting back in the hinterland of the charts is a great thing.
Yes definitely – welcome to the blog Victoria, comment as much as you like and I hope you enjoy the experience…