A profile of a rugged Dean Martin by the fireplace with a cigarette adorns the jacket of this very interesting concept album. As Stan Cornyn's liner notes explain, "his longtime accompanist" on piano, Ken Lane, with "three of Hollywood's most thoughtful rhythm men" — those being drummer Irv Cottler, bassist Red Mitchell, and guitarist Barney Kessel — do create a mood, Dean Martin performing as if he were a lounge singer at 1:15 a.m. as the Saturday night crowd is dwindling. His signature tune, "Everybody Loves Somebody," is here in a laid-back style, produced by Jimmy Bowen, who would go on to produce Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers & the First Edition, and so many others, also the same man who was behind the 1964 number one smash. This album with the original Martin recording was released after the hit single version and on the same day as the Everybody Loves Somebody LP, but how many times does the audience get a different studio reading of a seminal hit record? Not only that, but the version that preceded the hit. The backing is so sparse it is almost a cappella, with Kessel's guitar noodlings and Ken Lane's piano. The bass is mostly invisible, coming in only when needed. It's a slow and sultry version that caps off side one. There is a rendition of Rodgers & Hart's "Blue Moon" that strips away the doo wop of the Marcels' number one 1961 remake, and a run-through of the Bloom/Mercer hit for Glen Miller, "Fools Rush In," which Rick Nelson had launched into the Top 15 in 1963. Martin is just crooning away, and if the album has one drawback, it is that the 12 songs are incessant in their providing the same atmosphere. The backing quartet does not deviate from their job, nor does producer Jimmy Bowen add any technique, other than putting Martin's voice way out in the mix. But Dream With Dean was no doubt excellent research and development as Bowen landed 11 Top 40 hits with the singer from 1964's "Everybody Loves Somebody," which evolved out of this original idea to 1967's "Little Old Wine Drinker, Me." It sounds as if they tracked the album in one afternoon, and it is not only a very pleasant listening experience, it shows what a tremendous vocalist Dean Martin truly was.

DEAN MARTIN
DREAM WITH DEAN
(Reprise RS-6123)
August 4/1964
Produced by Jimmy Bowen

Barney Kessel - guitar
Red Mitchell - bass
Irving Cottler - drums
Ken Lane - piano

1.
MY MELANCHOLY BABY
(George A. Norton - Ernie Burnett - Maybelle E. Watson)
« © '44 Shapiro-Bernstein Co, ASCAP / Jerry Vogel Music, ASCAP »

Come sweetheart mine don't you sit and pine
Tell me of the cares that make you feel so blue
What have I done answer me hon
Have I ever said an unkind word to you

Come to me my melancholy baby
Cuddle up and don't you be blue
All your fears thwy're foolish fancy maybe
You know dear that I'm in love with you

Every cloud must have a silver linin'
Wait until the sun shines through
Smile my honey dear while I brush away each tear
Or else I shall be melancholy too
**********
2.
SMILE
(Geoffrey Parsons - John Turner - Charles Chaplin)
« © '54 Bourne Co, ASCAP »

Smile though your heart is aching smile even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky you'll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That's the time you must keep on trying smile what's the use of crying
You'll find that life is still worthwhile if you'll just smile

That's the time you must keep on trying...
**********
3.
I'M CONFESSIN' (THAT I LOVE YOU)
(Doc Dougherty - Ellis Reynolds - Al J. Neiburg)
« © '52 Bourne Co, ASCAP »

I'm confessin' that I love you tell me do you love me too
I'm confessin' that I need you honest I do
Need you every moment un your eyes I read such strange things
But your lips deny they're true
Will your answer really change things makin' me blue

I'm afraid someday you'll leave me saying can't we still be friends
If you go you know that you'll grieve me all my life on you depends
Am I guessin' that you love me dreaming dreams of you in vain
I'm confessin' that I love you over again

I'm afraid someday you're leave me...
**********
4.
BABY WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME
(Charles Warfield - Clarence Williams)
« © '23 Great Standards Music, ASCAP / MCA Music, ASCAP »

Baby won't you please come home cause your daddy's all alone
I have tried in vain never no more to call your name
When you left you broke my heart because I never thought we'd part
Every hour in the day you'll hear me say oh baby come on home

Baby won't you please come home cause your daddy's all alone
I have tried in vain never no more to speak your name
When you left you broke my heart because I never thought we'd part
Every hour in the day you'll hear me say oh baby yeah baby come on home
**********
5.
I DON'T KNOW WHY (I JUST DO)
(Roy Turk - Fred E. Ahlert)
« © '31 Cromwell Music, ASCAP / Fred Ahlert Music, ASCAP / Pencil Mark Music, ASCAP »

I don't know why I love you like I do I don't know why I just do
I don't know why you thrill me like you do I don't why you just do

You never seem to want my romancing
The only time you hold me is when we're dancing
I don't know why I love you like I do I don't know why I just do
[ guitar ]
You never seem to want my romancing...
**********
6.
FOOLS RUSH IN
(Johnny Mercer - Ruby Bloom)
« © '40 WB Music, ASCAP »

Fools rush in where angels fear to thread
And so I come to you my love my heart above my head
Though I see the danger there
If there's a chance for me then I don't care

Fools rush in where wise men never go
But wise men never fall in love so how are they to know
When we met I felt my life began
So open up your heart and let this fool rush in
[ guitar ]
When we met I felt my life began
So open up your heart and let this fool rush in
**********
7.
I'LL BUY THAT DREAM
(Herb Magidson - Allie Wrubel)
« © '64 Edwin H Morris Co, ASCAP »

Imagine me with my head on your shoulder
And you with your lips gettin' bolder
A sky full of moon and a sweet mellow tune
I'll buy that dream

Imagine you in a gown white and flowery
And me thanking dad for my dowry
A church full of folks in those last minute jokes
I'll buy that dream

A honeymoon in Cairo with a brand new autogyro
Then on my rocket in a wink
We'll settle down near Dallas in a little old crazy palace
It's not as crazy as you think

Imagine me on our first anniversary
With some one like you in the nursery
It doesn't sound bad and if it can be had
I'll buy that dream

A honeymoon in Cairo...
Imagine me on our first anniversary...
**********
8.
BLUE MOON
(Lorenz Hart - Richard Rodgers)
« © '34 Robbins Catalog, ASCAP »

Blue moon you saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart without a love of my own
Blue moon you knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for someone I really could care for

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms could ever hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
When I looked to the moon it turned to gold

Blue Moon now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart without a love of my own

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked the moon had turned to gold

Blue Moon now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart without a love of my own
Without a love of my own without a love of my own
**********
9.
IF YOU WERE THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD
(Nat D. Ayer - Clifford Grey)
« © '16 Range Road Music, ASCAP »

If you were the only girl in the world
And I were the only boy
Nothing else would matter in the world today
We would go on loving in the same old way

A garden of Eden just made for two
With nothing to mar our joy
I would say such wonderful things to you
There would be such wonderful things to do
If you were the only girl in the world
And I were the only boy

A garden of Eden just made for two...
**********
10.
GIMME A LITTLE KISS (WILL YA HUH)
(Roy Turk - Jack Smith - Maceo Pinkard)
« © '58 Bourne Co, ASCAP / Cromwell Music, ASCAP »

Gimme a little kiss will ya huh what are you gonna miss will ya huh
God show gee why do you refuse I can't see what you've gotta lose
Oh gimme a little squeeze will ya huh why do you wanna make me blue
I wouldn't say a word if I were asking for the world
But what's a little kiss between a fellow and his girl
Oh gimme a little kiss will ya huh and I'll give it right back to you
[ piano ]
Will ya huh
[ piano ]
Will ya huh
Once again a plea I'm gonne make
Oh tell me when do I get a break
Oh say when you're givin' in will ya huh anything that you ask I'll do
I'll take you for a little ride where we can be alone
And once you kiss me you will never think of walkin' home
Oh gimme a little kiss will ya huh or I'll steal about ten
Yes steal about ten for you
**********
11.
EVERYBODY LOVES SOMEBODY
(Kermit Lane - Irving Taylor - Sam Coslow)
« © '48 Sands Music, ASCAP »

Everybody loves somebody sometime everybody falls in love somehow
Something in your kiss just told me my sometime is now
Everybody finds somebody someplace there's no telling where love may appear
Something in my heart keeps saying my someplace is here

If I had it in my power I'd arrange for every girl to have your charms
Then every minute every hour every boy would find what I found in your arms
Everybody loves somebody sometime and although my dream was overdue
Your love made it well worth waiting for someone like you

If I had it in my power...
**********
12.
HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE
(Mitchell Parish - Jean Delettre)
« © '58 Mills Music, ASCAP »

Hands across the table while the lights are low
Go you hush your lips your fingertips tell me all I want to know
Hands across the table meet so tenderly
And they say in their little way that you belong to me

Hands across the table...
**********