The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Fly Me To The Moon

Mr. Bennett has recorded only two versions of this song.

If I Ruled The World: Tony Bennett Sings For the Jet Set 1965 with The Ralph Sharon Trio. Featuring Al Cohn on saxophone. Produced by Ernie Altschuler. Also collected on The Essential Tony Bennett and Forty Years of Tony Bennett
MTV Unplugged 1994
The Ralph Sharon Trio

This song was originally called In Other Words, but the publishers later changed the title to Fly Me To The Moon. Mr. Bennett says in the booklet included in Forty Years of Tony Bennett that “composer extraordinaire Bart Howard always felt that this was the definitive performance of his song.” You’ll get no argument from me; this arrangement is exquisitely beautiful and haunting.

I think it’s interesting that other than the live MTV performance, Tony Bennett has not re-recorded the song with another arrangement. But how do you improve on perfection?

That said, my favorite version of this song has never been recorded. It was the version that Mr. Bennett sang at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, Washington on September 14, 2007. This was my first Tony Bennett performance. By the time I bought my tickets, there were no orchestra seats left and I could only get tickets in what was (optimistically) called the mezzanine. At that time, I didn’t know that at certain concert halls, Mr. Bennett sometimes sings this song a capella, without a microphone. Towards the end of the concert, he put down his microphone and started to sing Fly Me To The Moon. Even in back of the house, his voice filled the auditorium. All of us hung on every note, never wanting this beauty to ever end. I’ve since heard him do the song without a microphone, but nothing could have prepared me for that first moment. It was, and remains, a moment of pure magic.

Note:  While the versions of this song are the same on If I Ruled The World as it is on the two compilation albums, the time on If I Ruled The World is shorter by 11 seconds, as it omits a short piano-only introduction that is included later. But it is the same version, recorded on February 18, 1965.

Fly Me To The Moon

Music and Lyrics: Bart Howard
Written in 1954.

Poets often use many words
To say a simple thing
It takes thought and time and rhyme
To make a poem sing
With music and words I’ve been playing
For you I have written a song
To be sure that you know what I’m saying
I’ll translate as I go along

Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words
Hold my hand
In other words
Darling kiss me

Fill my heart with song
And let me sing forevermore
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words
Please be true
In other words
I love you.

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The Best Is Yet To Come

Mr. Bennett has recorded (to my knowledge) four different versions of this song.

Recorded on July 30, 1960. Orchestra conducted by Cy Coleman.
Released as a single; see The Columbia Singles, Vol 6
I Left My Heart in San Francisco 1962
Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall 1962
With Ralph Sharon and His Orchestra
Recorded Live on June 9, 1962
Duets An American Classic 2006
Sung with Diana Krall. With Lee Musiker, Gray Sargent, Paul Langosch, and Harold Jones
Arranged and conducted by Jorge Calandrelli
iTunes Festival: London 2010 – EP  2010
With Lee Musiker, Gray Sargent, Marshall Wood, and Harold Jones

I am featuring The Best Is Yet To Come for several reasons: it’s a great song and I never tire of hearing it.

This song, as much as any other song in his catalog, shows a quality of Tony that draws so much love and adoration from his fans: his innate and glorious sense of optimism. When Tony sings this song, I truly believe, along with the rest of the audience, that the best is yet to come: the best of Tony’s singing, the best of myself, and the best of the world.

Some people in our cynical world may say that this kind of optimism is Pollyanna-like and not grounded in reality. The complete opposite is true. Only a man filled with love for everything around him can give us that knowledge that the best is indeed yet to come. Likely not all at once, certainly with challenges along the way, but I come away from this song believing in its truth and the truth and honesty of the man who sings it at every concert of his I’ve ever attended. I hope and pray that he never stops singing it, because it’s a message that more people need to hear.

So thank, Tony Bennett. Out of the tree of life, I just picked me a plum.

I’m hard pressed to pick my favorite version, but there is something quite magical about this performance in the 1962 Carnegie Hall concert, recorded with Ralph Sharon conducting the orchestra.  The other three are also quite wonderful. It’s great song, sung by a singer who seems to love singing it.

Click here to view a video of Tony singing this song at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2002. Many thanks to Wolfgang’s Vault.

The Best Is Yet To Come

Music: Cy Coleman
Lyrics: Carolyn Leigh

Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum
You came along and everything’s started to hum
Still, it’s a real good bet, the best is yet to come

The best is yet to come and babe, won’t it be fine?
You think you’ve seen the sun, but you ain’t seen it shine

Wait till the warmup’s underway
Wait till our lips have met
And wait till you see that sunshine day
You ain’t seen nothing yet

The best is yet to come and babe, won’t it be fine?
The best is yet to come, come the day you’re mine

Come the day you’re mine
I’m gonna teach you to fly
We’ve only tasted the wine
We’re gonna drain the cup dry

Wait till your charms are right for these arms to surround
You think you’ve flown before, but  you ain’t left the ground

Wait till you’re locked in my embrace
Wait till I draw you near
Wait till you see that sunshine place
Ain’t nothing like it here

The best is yet to come and babe, won’t that be fine?
The best is yet to come, come the day you’re mine

Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum …

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The Best $5.99 You’ll Ever Spend

If you are a fan of Mr. Bennett’s live performances, I recommend that you download the iTunes Festival: London 2010 EP set of six songs, performed live in London. These recordings do not (as yet) exist on any released album. They are, without a doubt, on the top of my favorite cuts of his. Included on the set is:

  • The Best Is Yet To Come
  • Maybe This Time
  • Sing You Sinners
  • Smile
  • Who Care (So Long As You Care For Me)
  • For Once In My Life

If you’re not already a fan of his live performances, well, you’re missing something wonderful. Again, try this set for $5.99.
Mr. Bennett is accompanied by Lee Musiker (piano), Gray Sargent (guitar), Marshall Wood (bass) and Harold Jones (drums). The quartet is wonderful–on this EP set as well as in the live performances I’ve seen.

This link will take to you the proper location in ITunes. If you already have this, consider gifting it to a friend.

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The Way You Look Tonight

Mr. Bennett has recorded (to my knowledge) three versions of this song. All vastly different from each other.

Long Ago and Far Away 1958 with Frank DeVol and his Orchestra
Recorded in 1997 with the Ralph Sharon Trio. Appears on Rarities, Outtakes and Other Delights, Vol. 2 and
Tony Bennett Sings the Ultimate American Songbook 2007
Duets II 2011
Sung with Faith Hill. With Lee Musiker, Gray Sargent, Marshall Wood, and Harold Jones
Arranged and conducted by Jorge Calandrelli

It’s no secret that I tend to prefer the  recordings by Mr. Bennett with a smaller group and that I often prefer the later recordings over the earlier recordings. Therefore, it’s no surprise that of these three versions, I most love the 1997 version where he’s accompanied by the Ralph Sharon Trio.

The original version and the Duets II version with Faith Hill are lovely, sweet and optimistic. Tony’s optimism is one of my favorite things about his singing. In both of these versions, I feel that these lovers will always be together and that they will always remember the way you look tonight.

In the 1997 version, there is a deep and profound sadness and this sweet and happy song is turned into a ballad.  This version makes me feel that the singer knows that the relationship may be ending and that this very moment and they way she looks tonight may be the last and and most important memory that he will have. It’s sad and moving and full of love. But love, as we know, isn’t always happy.

The Way You Look Tonight

Listen to The Way You Look Tonight on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 2012.

The Way You Look Tonight

This song was originally written for 1936’s Swing Time and was sung (beautifully) by Fred Astaire. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Music: Jerome Kern
Lyrics: Dorothy Fields

Some day, when I’m awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight.

Oh but  you’re lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft,
There is nothing for me but to love you,
And the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fear apart
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
Touches my foolish heart.

Lovely, never, never change.
Keep that breathless charm.
Won’t you please arrange it ?
Cause I love you, just the way you look tonight.
Just the way you look tonight.

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Tony Bennett: The Complete Collection

As soon as this collection was announced, I knew I had to have it. As a latecomer to the music of Tony Bennett, so many of his earlier albums had gone out print. And so I bought myself this wonderful collection for myself.

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The set contains music from Columbia, Verve, Improv (Tony’s label) and back again to Columbia. There are two CDs of “Rarities, Outtakes and Other Delights” which include a recording of Tony singing “St.  James Infirmary Blues” when he was a member of the 314th Army Special Services Band as World War II wound down. There are six CDs of the singles that he recorded for Columbia, including his first hit “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams”. The set contains 74(!) CDs and 3 DVDs.

As of this past weekend, I have added all 74 CDs to my iPod, where they join other CDs that I’d previously purchased, including the Complete Improv recordings, Jazz, and numerous others. Now the CDs are back to being safe and sound in that beautiful box. Just for kicks: iTunes shows 6.38 GB for Tony Bennett — 1289 items — 2.7 days of listening without repeats.

Album reviews to follow.

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