Dean Martin originally recorded this in a Nelson Riddle-arrangement for his 1960 album This Time I'm Swingin!, but it didn't make the cut. That same year, he performed it in the movie Ocean's 11 in an alternate arrangement with Red Norvo and His Quartet.
This was written by Sammy Cahn, with music by Jimmy Van Heusen, in 1960. Cahn and Van Heusen also wrote "To Love and Be Loved" for the 1959 film Some Came Running, starring Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. In that movie, there is a scene in which, after a poker hand with both Sinatra and Martin at the table, Sinatra's character says, "Ain't that a kick in the head." This scene would have been shot before the song was written. So the question is, did the line originate in James Jones' novel of the same name, or in the screenplay, or was it an ad lib? In any case, it seems likely to have been the be the impetus for the song.
Several artist have covered this, including Robbie Williams, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Westlife, David Slater, Ray Quinn, Hazell Dean, and Martin's daughter Deana Martin.
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