A Winter Romance - Wikipedia

1959 studio album by Dean Martin

A Winter Romance
Studio album by Dean Martin
Released	November 16, 1959
Recorded	July 29 – August 6, 1959
Studio	Capitol (Hollywood)
Genre	Christmas
Length	33:34
Label	Capitol
Producer	Lee Gillette
Dean Martin chronology
Sleep Warm (with an orchestra conducted by Frank Sinatra)(1959) A Winter Romance(1959) This Time I'm Swingin'!(1960)
Singles from A Winter Romance
"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"Released: November 1959

A Winter Romance is a 1959 long playing album by Dean Martin, accompanied by an orchestra arranged and conducted by Gus Levene. While not exclusively a Christmas album, it features several songs associated with Christmas as part of its larger winter theme. It was Martin's only Christmas themed album for Capitol Records. Martin later recorded The Dean Martin Christmas Album for Reprise Records in 1966.

The original artwork featured a picture of Martin embracing a fetching young woman. At the same time, he is throwing a passing flirt at a second, attractive woman.

Reception

[edit] Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	link

The initial Billboard magazine review from November 30, 1959, chose the album as one of its "Spotlight Winners of the Week" and commented that "The tunes are all one the winter kick ... Martin sings them with his usual ease and nonchalance ... A potent waxing for the holiday season".[1]

Track listing

[edit]

Original LP

[edit]

Capitol (S)[2] T-1285

Side A

[edit]

Track	Song title	Written by	Recording date	Session information	Time
1.	"A Winter Romance"	Sammy Cahn and Ken Lane	August 4, 1959	Session 7875S; Master 32161; Take 10	2:57
2.	"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"	Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn	August 6, 1959	Session 7882; Master 32194; Take 15	1:55
3.	"The Things We Did Last Summer"	Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn	July 29, 1959	Session 7851; Master 32147; Take 8	3:37
4.	"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm"	Irving Berlin	August 4, 1959	Session 7875S; Master 32164; Take 8	2:43
5.	"June in January"	Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger	August 4, 1959	Session 7875S; Master 32162; Take 6	2:46
6.	"Canadian Sunset"	Eddie Heywood and Norman Gimbel	July 29, 1959	Session 7851; Master 32150; Take 4	3:18

Side B

[edit]

Track	Song title	Written by	Recording date	Session information	Time
1.	"Winter Wonderland"	Felix Bernard and Dick Smith	July 29, 1959	Session 7851; Master 32148; Take 7	1:51
2.	"Out in the Cold Again"	Rube Bloom and Ted Koehler	August 6, 1959	Session 7882; Master 32191; Take 12	3:34
3.	"Baby, It's Cold Outside"	Frank Loesser	August 6, 1959	Session 7882; Master 32192; Take 15	2:23
4.	"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"	Johnny Marks	August 6, 1959	Session 7882; Master 32193; Take 4	2:15
5.	"White Christmas"	Berlin	July 29, 1959	Session 7851; Master 32149; Take 7	2:28
6.	"It Won't Cool Off"	Cahn and Lane	August 4, 1959	Session 7875S; Master 32163; Take 7	2:27

Reissues

[edit]

The LP was reissued in 1965 as Holiday Cheer (Capitol STT-2343) as well as on the cassette tape, with different cover art and the song "A Winter Romance" omitted. This version charted for 11 weeks peaking at #12 on Billboard's Best Bets For Christmas album chart December 14, 1968.[3]

The 1989 Capitol CD reissue added a thirteenth bonus track following to the original album.

[edit]

Track	Song title	Written by	Recording date	Session information	Time
1.	"The Christmas Blues"	David Holt and Cahn	October 5, 1953	Session 3176; Master 11943–8; Take 8	2:54

The 2005 Collectors' Choice Music CD reissue added four (non-Christmas) bonus tracks to the original album.

[edit]

Track	Song title	Written by	Recording date	Session information	Time
1.	"Meanderin"	Cy Coben and Charles Randolph Grean, George Botsford	September 15, 1951	Session 2309; Master 9022–7	2:58
2.	"Sogni d'Oro"	Marilyn Keith, Lew Spence and Alan Bergman	May 13, 1959	Session 7751; Master 31662–14	2:35
3.	"Go Go Go Go"	Jerry Livingston and Mack David	June 20, 1951	Session 2092; Master 7256–7	2:22
4.	"Buttercup of Golden Hair"	Mitchell Tableporter	May 15, 1959	Session 7757; Master 31694–3	2:18

Personnel

[edit]

• Dean Martin – vocals
• Gus Levene – leader
• Hy Lesnick – contractor
• Joseph R. (Bobby) Gibbons – guitar
• George Sylvester 'Red' Callender – bass guitar
• Louis 'Lou' Singer – drums
• James Rowles – piano on sessions 7851 and 7882
• Ray I. Sherman – piano on session 7875S
• Edward Ross – accordion on session 7882
• Kurt Reher – cello
• Eleanor Aller Slatkin – cello
• Kathryn Julye – harp on sessions 7875S and 7882
• Donald Cole – viola
• Alvin Dinkin – viola on session 7875S
• Virginia Majewski – viola
• David H. Sterkin – viola on session 7851
• Israel Baker – violin on session 7882
• Victor Bay – violin
• John Peter DeVoogt – violin
• Nathan Kaproff – violin
• Joseph Livoti – violin
• Daniel 'Dan' Lube – violin
• Erno Neufeld – violin
• Jerome 'Jerry' Reisler – violin
• Ralph Schaeffer – violin on session 7875S
• Felix Slatkin – violin on sessions 7851 and 7882
• Gerald Vinci – violin on sessions 7851 and 7875S
• Arnold Koblentz – oboe on sessions 7851 and 7875S
• James Briggs – saxophone on session 7882
• Mahlon Clark – saxophone on sessions 7875S and 7882
• Arthur 'Skeets' Herfurt – saxophone on session 7875S
• Edward Kuczborski ('Eddie' Kusby) – saxophone on session 7875S
• Harry Klee – saxophone on session 7882
• Ronald Langinger – saxophone on session 7875S
• Theodore M. 'Ted' Nash – saxophone on session 7851
• Emanuel 'Mannie' Klein – trumpet on session 7875S

Charts

[edit] Chart performance for A Winter Romance

Chart (2018–2025)	Peakposition
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[4]	11
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[5]	8
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[6]	5
Estonian Albums (Eesti Tipp-40)[7]	22
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[8]	13
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[9]	4
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[10]	5
Icelandic Albums (Tónlistinn)[11]	18
Irish Albums (OCC)[12]	31
Italian Albums (FIMI)[13]	27
Latvian Albums (LaIPA)[14]	8
Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)[15]	3
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[16]	10
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[17]	40
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[18]	125
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[19]	9
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[20]	17
US Billboard 200[21]	61

Certifications

[edit] Certifications for A Winter Romance

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[22]	Gold	10,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[23]	Silver	60,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

[edit]

1. ^ "Article". Billboard. November 30, 1959. p. 28. ISSN 0006-2510.
2. ^ The optional 'S' indicates a stereo recording
3. ^ "Billboard Best Bets For Christmas." Billboard, vol. 80, no. 50, December 14, 1968, p. 84. worldradiohistory.com.
4. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Dean Martin – A Winter Romance" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
5. ^ "Album Top-40 Uge 1, 2024". Hitlisten. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
6. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Dean Martin – A Winter Romance" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
7. ^ "EESTI TIPP-40 MUUSIKAS". Eesti Ekspress. December 10, 2019. Archived from the original on November 7, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
8. ^ "Dean Martin: A Winter Romance" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
9. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Dean Martin – A Winter Romance" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
10. ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2025. 52. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved December 30, 2025.
11. ^ "Tónlistinn – Plötur – Vika 52 – 2023" [The Music – Albums – Week 52 – 2023] (in Icelandic). Plötutíðindi. Archived from the original on December 31, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
12. ^ "Official Irish Albums Chart on 29/12/2023 – Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
13. ^ "Album – Classifica settimanale WK 52 (dal 22.12.2023 al 28.12.2023)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
14. ^ "Mūzikas patēriņa tops gadu mijā" (in Latvian). LaIPA. Archived from the original on October 10, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
15. ^ "2022 52-os savaitės klausomiausi (Top 100)" (in Lithuanian). AGATA. December 30, 2022. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
16. ^ "Album 2024 uke 52". VG-lista. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
17. ^ "OLiS - oficjalna lista sprzedaży - albumy" (in Polish). OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Note: Change the date to 22.12.2023–28.12.2023 under "zmień zakres od–do:". Retrieved January 4, 2024.
18. ^ "Top 200 Álbuns Semana 52 de 2025" (PDF) (in European Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. p. 2. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
19. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Dean Martin – A Winter Romance". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
20. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Dean Martin – A Winter Romance". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
21. ^ "Billboard 200 (January 5, 2020)". Billboard. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
22. ^ "Danish album certifications – Dean Martin – A Winter Romance". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
23. ^ "British album certifications – Dean Martin – A Winter Romance". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 27, 2022. Select albums in the Formats field. Type A Winter Romance Dean Martin in the "Search:" field.

v t e Dean Martin
Discography
Studio albums	Dean Martin Sings Swingin' Down Yonder Pretty Baby Sleep Warm A Winter Romance This Time I'm Swingin'! Dino: Italian Love Songs French Style Cha Cha de Amor Dino Latino Dean "Tex" Martin: Country Style Dean "Tex" Martin Rides Again Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre Robin and the 7 Hoods Dream with Dean The Door Is Still Open to My Heart Dean Martin Hits Again (Remember Me) I'm the One Who Loves You Houston Somewhere There's a Someone Dean Martin Sings Songs from The Silencers The Hit Sound of Dean Martin The Dean Martin Christmas Album The Dean Martin TV Show Happiness Is Dean Martin Welcome to My World Gentle on My Mind I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am My Woman, My Woman, My Wife For the Good Times Dino Sittin' on Top of the World You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me Once in a While The Nashville Sessions
Posthumous albums	Dino: The Essential Dean Martin Live from Las Vegas Forever Cool
Compilation albums	Everybody Loves Somebody Hey, Brother, Pour the Wine The Best of Dean Martin
Singles	"A Million and One" "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" "Arrivederci Roma" "Angel Baby" "Baby, It's Cold Outside" "Chee Chee-Oo Chee (Sang the Little Bird)" "Come Running Back" "Detroit City" "Everybody Loves Somebody" "Gentle on My Mind" "Houston" "I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am" "I Will" "If" "In the Chapel in the Moonlight" "In the Misty Moonlight" "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" "Innamorata" "June in January" "Just in Time" "King of the Road" "Lay Some Happiness on Me" "Let Me Go, Lover!" "Little Ole Wine Drinker, Me" "Mambo Italiano" "Memories Are Made of This" "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife" "Nobody's Baby Again" "On an Evening in Roma" "(Open Up the Door) Let the Good Times In" "Powder Your Face with Sunshine (Smile, Smile, Smile)" "(Remember Me) I'm the One Who Loves You" "Return to Me" "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" "She's a Little Bit Country" "Somewhere There's a Someone" "Standing on the Corner" "Sway" "Since I Met You Baby" "That's Amore" "The Door Is Still Open to My Heart" "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane" "Under the Bridges of Paris" "Volare" "You Belong to Me" "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You" "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart" "Young and Foolish" "Not Enough Indians" "Gentle on My Mind"
Related	Martin and Lewis Rat Pack Deana Martin (daughter) Dean Paul Martin (son) Ricci Martin (son) The Rat Pack (1998 film) Martin and Lewis (2002 film) The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

Authority control databases	MusicBrainz release group