Dean Martin Archives - chimesfreedom

Dean Martin is known for his fantastic singing and his humor more than for his social commentary. But in 1969, with so much going on the U.S., he released an album with some social commentary, including the wonderful “Do You Believe This Town.”

“Do You Believe This Town” appeared on Dean Martin’s 1969 album, I Take a Lot of Pride In What I Am, featuring a title track written by Merle Haggard. At the time, Martin’s career was doing well, resurrected since he signed with Reprise in 1962, including the 1964 hit, “Everybody Loves Somebody.”

The I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am album featured social commentary cuts, including “Do You Believe This Town,” written by Joe Nixon and Charlie Williams. The song apparently foregoes a question mark in its title but is about small-town hypocrisy. Nixon and Williams wrote “Do You Believe This Town” not long before the release of another song about hypocrisy, Jennie C. Reilly’s “Harper Valley PTA.” Yet, “Do You Believe This Town” also references the PTA in its opening lines.

The woman next door has gone to the PTA,
And stopped to see her best friend’s husband on the way;
The folks down the street have a different thing,
So everyone is putting them down;
Do you believe this town?

In the video below, Martin performs the song on his television show. But his joking around as he sings it seems to contrast with the more serious nature of the song. The contrast is especially stark as he jokes around during the lines that appear to be about racial strife.

Do you believe they burned a house down yesterday?
You won’t believe the reason that they gave;
If the folks who lived there had a known their place,
They could still be hanging around;
Do you believe this town?

I first discovered “Do You Believe This Town” on the wonderful collection Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs present State of the Union: the American Dream in Crisis 1967-1973. The album features songs from the era, generally by well-known artists, whose work on the featured songs illustrated a different direction, echoing a dark time in the United States.

The music for “Do You Believe This Town” suits Martin well. It has a nice swing so that one may not initially connect to the fact that the song has a message. Although the record is not one of Martin’s best-known recordings, it illustrates what his great timing and voice can do with a song. I assume most fans did not go to a Dean Martin performance for social commentary, but hearing this record makes me wish he had tackled more such songs.

Interesting, Roy Clark, another artist not known for social commentary, recorded “Do You Believe This Town” before Martin did, releasing the song on his album Do You Believe This Roy Clark in 1968. He even performed it on Hee Haw, although his performance took a more serious approach than Martin’s approach above. It was strange times in America.

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Many of us who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s have fond memories of the MDA Labor Day Telethon that raised money for the good cause of the the Muscular Dystrophy Association. During a time when many television stations signed off at midnight, the telethon was unusual. For Labor Day Weekend, host Jerry Lewis and various guests entertained us throughout the night. There were many memorable moments, perhaps none more than that time on September 5, 1976, when Dean Martin surprised his former performing partner Lewis.

Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin had teamed up in 1946, when according to Lewis, he had approached Martin with the question, “You workin’?” They worked together in movies, nightclubs, radio and TV and were extremely successful.

But then the partnership ended when the two split up ten years later on July 24, 1956 after their final nightclub performance. Various theories abound about the reasons for the split, ranging from jealously to an argument about an upcoming movie to just being tired of working together. They had been so successful, many fans dreamed for them to team up again.

There would be no more Martin and Lewis movies, although director Peter Bogdanovich in the early 1980s tried to put together a film in which they both would appear. But we did get to see them together in 1976 on our televisions thanks to Frank Sinatra.

In 1976, Sinatra was appearing live at the MDA Labor Day Telethon instead of remotely, as he had done since 1953. And he decided to bring along his friend Dean Martin to surprise Lewis. Nobody really knows why Sinatra concocted the scheme, although he told others what he said on the telethon. It was just time for Lewis and Martin to be together again. Others have also noted that Sinatra loved a good prank too.

The reunion was a stealth operation. Frank slipped Martin into the dressing room of Lewis’ co-host Ed McMahon. Few people knew about the plan beyond those enlisted to help. Jerry’s 30-year-old son, the pop singer Gary Lewis, was helping his dad at the telethon and happened to catch a glimpse of Dean Martin backstage. Gary wondered what was going on, but decided to keep his mouth shut.

And then when Sinatra went on stage with Lewis, he said he had brought a friend along. The look of surprise on Lewis’s face was real.

The hug between the two feels real too. Then, Lewis fumbles for something to say, realizing that people around the world are watching. After a few expressions of surprise, he brilliantly calls back to the old encounter between the two giants: “You workin’?”

Contrary to legend, it was not really the first time Martin and Lewis had seen each other in twenty years. But it was an unexpected and memorable public reunion for the two legends.

After the telethon, there would be a few more brief public encounters between the two men. Lewis went to the funeral of Martin’s son , and he surprised Martin on Martin’s 72nd birthday. By most accounts, the two men genuinely loved each other. But some reason — egos, old grudges, bad timing, or something else — kept the two men from being close friends again in their later years.

We all have people we once were close to and who now we never see. I will sometimes have a passing thought about someone who once was a major figure in my life and wonder why we no longer talk. Maybe there was no reason or maybe there was a slight that no longer seems so important. Most people have those past connections. That is why we all feel a kinship with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. It is why seeing them together at the MDA Telethon is so touching.

For that moment, we can imagine that the two friends will once again share their lives and be close friends. They will work together or maybe just have dinner once a week. But life is not a fairy tale. Sometimes it just has to be enough that two people still have that love even if they cannot be together. And if we get a brief encounter years later, we will have to settle for that bitter sweet moment that reminds us of what we once had.