Oscar-Nominated Songs: That’s Amore

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One thing I’ve learned from this series of favorite songs that were nominated for “Best Original Song” Oscars is I’m going to have to expand this and include songs that weren’t nominated. I’m flabbergasted by some of the songs that weren’t nominated! I’m also quite shocked to find some songs I love actually originated in movies…like this one. That’s Amore - Dean Martin When you step on an eel And it bites at your heel That’s a moray (Me) One of the most mocked opening lines in history, but OOOOH what a great song. Dean and Jerry. They were history by the time I came along, so I really only knew Dean Martin. I mean, I knew who Jerry Lewis was, but Dean sang. And oh, did he sing. Yes, I like Dean Martin. We had a couple of his albums when I was a kid (including a country album, go figure). This is one of my favorite songs of his. The film it was from was The Caddy, the tenth Martin & Lewis film. Consider this: they made their first movie together in 1949, and this came out in 1953. Talk about an assembly line film production! (Actually, that’s one of the things that broke them up: the plots became so identical that eventually they got tired of them, and each other. They reconciled in 1976, on Lewis’ Labor Day telethon for muscular dystrophy. After 18 years apart they rekindled their friendship, although they didn’t publicly perform again.) I don’t think I ever saw the movie. I do remember outtakes of them trying to record an ad for the film, though, showing up on a “bloopers” album, where Dean said “righteous” instead of riotous. That was hilarious. I do know that this song (which didn’t win, but more on that later) is 1000% classic, no matter what the movie was. That’s Amore Written by Harry Warren and Jack Brooks Recorded by Dean Martin From The Caddy, 1953 Back in old Napoli: