Memories Are Made of This

Last updated
"Memories Are Made of This"
Single by Dean Martin
B-side "Change of Heart"
Released November 28, 1955
RecordedOctober 28, 1955 [1]
Studio Capitol (Hollywood)
Genre Traditional pop
Length2:15
Label Capitol
Songwriter(s) Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr & Frank Miller
Dean Martin singles chronology
"Chee Chee-Oo Chee (Sang The Little Bird)"
(1955)		"Memories Are Made of This"
(1955)		"Relax-ay-Voo"
(1955)

"Memories Are Made of This" is a popular song about nostalgia, [2] written in 1955 by Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, and Frank Miller. They were the members of a three-pieced group called "The Easy Riders", who served as a backing band for Dean Martin's version of this song, also released in 1955. [3]

Contents

History

The song was first issued by Mindy Carson with Ray Conniff's Orchestra and The Columbians. [4] Carson's version reached No. 53 on Billboard 's Top 100 chart. [5]

The most popular version of the song was recorded by Dean Martin in 1955. [6] He was backed by The Easy Riders (who consisted of Gilkyson, Dehr, and Miller), who wrote it. [6] On the B-side of the 45 and 78 recordings was "Change of Heart" written by John Rox.

Martin's version reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top 100 chart, remaining at the top for five weeks in 1956, while spending six weeks atop Billboard's chart of songs "Most Played by Jockeys", five weeks atop Billboard's chart of "Best Sellers in Stores", and four weeks atop Billboard's chart of songs "Most Played in Juke Boxes". [7] It became a Gold record and Martin's biggest hit. It was also his only UK number one hit, topping the UK Singles Chart on 23 February 1956, [8] and remaining at the top for four weeks. [9] The song also reached No. 2 in the Netherlands [10] and No. 20 in Flanders. [11]

Gale Storm released a version of the song in late 1955, which reached No. 5 on Billboard's chart of songs "Most Played by Jockeys", while reaching No. 16 on "The Top 100". [12]

After the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, the song was adapted into the "Honvágy-dal" ('The Song of Homesickness') and used as an unofficial anthem for refugees scattered around the world. Recorded by Ida Boros, it became a cultural phenomenon and a sign of protest against the communist government.

The song charted once more in 1966 by the Drifters, a No. 48, hit for them. It was recorded by Anne Murray for her Croonin' album in 1993, but it was only released as a bonus track on the special Croonin' album put out by Heartland Records.

In Germany, titled "Heimweh" ("Homesickness") and performed by Freddy Quinn and with lyrics by Ernst Bader and Dieter Rasch, the song was 14 weeks at number one, the most successful song of 1956. [13] Worldwide it sold more than eight million, thus exceeding sales of the Dean Martin version. [14]

Other notable recordings

English versions:

German versions:

Hungarian versions:

Croatian version:

Swedish version:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mambo Italiano (song)</span> 1954 song by Bob Merrill

"Mambo Italiano" is a popular song written by Bob Merrill in 1954 for the American singer Rosemary Clooney. The song became a hit for Clooney, reaching the top ten on record charts in the US and France and No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in early 1955. The song has shown enduring popularity, with several cover versions and appearances in numerous films.

"Let Me Go, Lover!", a popular song, was written by Jenny Lou Carson and Al Hill, a pen name used by Fred Wise, Kathleen Twomey, and Ben Weisman. It is based on an earlier song called "Let Me Go, Devil", about alcoholism.

"Marianne" is a traditional calypso song made popular by Trinidadian calypsonian Roaring Lion. Writing credits on the Easy Riders recording are Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, and Frank Miller.

"It's Almost Tomorrow" is a 1955 popular song with music by Gene Adkinson and lyrics by Wade Buff. The song was actually written in 1953, when Adkinson and Buff were in high school. Hit versions were released in 1955 by The Dream Weavers, Jo Stafford, David Carroll, and Snooky Lanson.

"The Poor People of Paris" is a US pop song that became a number-one instrumental hit in 1956. It is based on the French language song "La goualante du pauvre Jean", with music by Marguerite Monnot and words by René Rouzaud. Edith Piaf had one of her biggest hits with the original French version.

Terry Gilkyson was an American folk singer and songwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singing the Blues</span> 1956 song performed by Guy Mitchell

"Singing the Blues" is a popular song composed by Melvin Endsley and published in 1956. The highest-charting version was by Guy Mitchell and the first recording of the song was by Marty Robbins. It is not related to the 1920 jazz song "Singin' the Blues" recorded by Frank Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke in 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">True Love (Cole Porter song)</span> 1956 song by Cole Porter

"True Love" is a popular song written by American songwriter Cole Porter, published in 1956. The song was introduced by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in the musical film High Society. "True Love" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Kelly's contribution on the record is relatively minor, duetting with Crosby on only the final chorus. Nonetheless, the single is co-credited to her.

"Suddenly There's a Valley" is a popular song written by Chuck Meyer and Biff Jones and published in 1955.

"On the Street Where You Live" is a song with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner from the 1956 Broadway musical My Fair Lady. It is sung in the musical by the character Freddy Eynsford-Hill, who was portrayed by John Michael King in the original production. In the 1964 film version, it was sung by Bill Shirley, dubbing for actor Jeremy Brett.

"In the Chapel in the Moonlight" is a 1936 popular song written by Billy Hill, and first performed by Shep Fields.

"You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You" is a popular song written by Russ Morgan, Larry Stock, and James Cavanaugh and published in 1944. The song was first recorded by Morgan and was a hit for him in 1946, reaching the No. 14 spot in the charts. The best known version was Dean Martin's, which was released in 1960 and reissued in 1964.

The Easy Riders were an American folk music band, that operated from 1956 to 1959, consisting of Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, and Frank Miller. Their career was guided by Mitch Miller, who had them under contract for Columbia Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A White Sport Coat</span> 1957 single by Marty Robbins

"A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation)" is a 1957 country and western song with words and music both written by Marty Robbins. It was recorded at the Bradley Studios in Nashville, Tennessee on January 25, 1957, and released on the Columbia Records label on March 4. The arranger and recording session conductor was Ray Conniff, an in-house conductor/arranger at Columbia. Robbins had demanded to have Conniff oversee the recording after his earlier hit, "Singing the Blues", had been quickly eclipsed on the charts by Guy Mitchell's cover version, which was scored and conducted by Conniff in October 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's Now or Never (song)</span> 1960 single by Elvis Presley

"It's Now or Never" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and released as a single in 1960. The song is one of the best-selling singles by Presley, and one of the best-selling physical singles of all time. It was recorded by Bill Porter at RCA Studio B in Nashville. It is written in E major and has a tempo of 80 BPM.

"I'll Be Home" is a 1955 song that was written by Ferdinand Washington and songwriter, Stan Lewis.

"Blue Blue Day" is a 1958 single written and originally performed by Don Gibson.

"The Door Is Still Open to My Heart" is a 1955 song written by Chuck Willis and originally performed by the Baltimore-based R&B vocal group, The Cardinals. In the US, the original version peaked at number four on the R&B playlist and number ten in R&B sales charts. Later in 1955, Don Cornell recorded the song and released it as the B-side to his hit, "Most of All". The Hilltoppers had a moderate hit with this song the same year.

"Houston" is a song written by Lee Hazlewood and first recorded in 1964 by Sanford Clark.

References

  1. ↑ "Dean Martin Records on 78 RPM". Deanmartinfancenter.com. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  2. ↑ Browne, Ray Broadus; Ambrosetti, Ronald J. (1993). Continuities in Popular Culture: The Present in the Past & the Past in the Present and Future. ISBN   9780879725938.
  3. ↑ Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 23. ISBN   0-85112-250-7.
  4. ↑ "Memories Are Made Of This". Bigfm.de. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  5. ↑ "The Top 100", Billboard , February 4, 1956. p. 40. Accessed September 21, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. Billboard Books. p. 6. Accessed September 21, 2016.
  7. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1987). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 195.
  8. ↑ Dean Martin - Full Official Chart History, Official Charts Company . Accessed September 21, 2016.
  9. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 55–6. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  10. ↑ Dean Martin - Memories Are Made of This, Dutch Charts. Accessed September 21, 2016.
  11. ↑ Dean Martin - Memories Are Made of This, Ultratop. Accessed September 21, 2016.
  12. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1987). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 292.
  13. ↑ "Charts-Surfer: Musik Nr.1-Hits". Charts-surfer.de. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
  14. ↑ Catherine C. Fraser/Dirk O. Hoffmann: Pop Culture Germany: Media, Arts And Lifestile, 2006, p. 262
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.