"Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Dean Martin | ||||
B-side | "Humdinger" | |||
Released | July 1960 | |||
Recorded | May 10, 1960 | |||
Genre | Swing | |||
Length | 2:24 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Composer(s) | Jimmy Van Heusen | |||
Lyricist(s) | Sammy Cahn | |||
Producer(s) | Lee Gillette | |||
Dean Martin singles chronology | ||||
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"Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" is a pop song written in 1960 with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Sammy Cahn. It was first recorded that year on May 10 by Dean Martin in a swinging big band jazz arrangement conducted by Nelson Riddle. Martin performed the song in the 1960 heist film Ocean's 11 in an alternate arrangement featuring vibraphonist Red Norvo and his quartet.
The song was covered in 2004 by Irish boy band Westlife on their sixth studio album, ...Allow Us to Be Frank . Despite not charting in Ireland and failing to appear on the UK Singles Chart, their cover of the song reached No. 4 on the UK Download Chart, peaked at No. 5 in Denmark, and charted within the top 50 in Flanders, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
Van Heusen and Cahn wrote the song specifically for the 1960 film Ocean's 11 , though it was initially referred to press as "Ain't That a Kick in the Seat". [1] Dean Martin's single was released before the film, which premiered on August 10, 1960.
Despite being listed on the "Very Strong Sales Potential" list in Billboard's "Reviews of This Week's Singles", [2] Dean Martin's initial release of "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" failed to chart [3] [4] never technically was a hit in terms of sales or radio play.
The song languished in obscurity and remained unreleased on LP or CD. [5] However, in 1989, producer Ron Furmanek was assembling material for a new Dean Martin compilation album in the Capitol Collectors Series and decided to include the tune. [5] Furmanek located the three-track stereo session master tape and remixed the song in true stereo for the first time. [5] The album sold well, eventually achieving Gold status, and the song has become strongly associated with Martin. [5] The Furmanek mix has been released on a number of subsequent Dean Martin greatest hits albums, such as Dino: The Essential Dean Martin , Greatest Hits (Capitol), [6] and Greatest Hits (EMI), [7] as well as many swing and easy listening compilations. [8] Contributing to this association is his performance of the song in Ocean's 11 , which is considered the quintessential Rat Pack film. [9]
The song is featured in the movie Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol during the film's prison break sequence. The song is also featured in the 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas , where it can be heard on the in-game radio station Radio New Vegas.
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA) [10] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" | ||||
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Single by Westlife | ||||
from the album ...Allow Us to Be Frank | ||||
B-side | "Moon River" | |||
Released | November 1, 2004 | |||
Length | 2:25 | |||
Label | ||||
Composer(s) | Jimmy Van Heusen | |||
Lyricist(s) | Sammy Cahn | |||
Producer(s) | Steve Mac | |||
Westlife singles chronology | ||||
|
Chart (2004–2005) | Peak position |
---|---|
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [11] | 47 |
Denmark (Tracklisten) [12] | 5 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [13] | 41 |
Romania (Romanian Top 100) [14] | 74 |
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [15] | 20 |
UK Singles Downloads (OCC) [16] | 4 |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Denmark | November 1, 2004 | CD | [17] | |
Sweden | November 3, 2004 | [18] |
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