The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Rags to Riches

The Song of the Day for  October 14, 2012 is Rags to Riches.

About Rags to Riches

This song was written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Tony Bennett’s original recording of the song was made in 1953 and reached #1 on the Billboard charts. Martin Scorsese fans may associate this song with Goodfellas, where it was used at the beginning of the film.

About This Version

We choose this song today in our preparation for Viva Duets, which will include a duet of this song with Romeo Santos. Today’s version is from Tony Bennett’s legendary 1962 Carnegie Hall Concert.

We’ve previously used Tony’s original recording of Rags to Riches as the song of the day. See the link below to view the topic for that version.

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Song of the Day: Just In Time

The Song of the Day for October 13, 2012 is Just In Time.

About Just In Time

Written by Jule Styne (music) and Betty Comden and Adolph Green (lyrics), Just In Time is just one the great hits from the 1956 Broadway musical Bells Are Ringing.  The stars of the show, Judy Holliday and Sydney Chaplin introduced the song. Tony Bennett recorded the song in the same year, and it was a big hit for Mr. Bennett. He introduced the song 1956 as a single.

About This Version

We choose this song today in our preparation for Viva Duets, which will include a duet of this song with Juan Luis Guerra. Today’s version is from Tony Bennett’s legendary 1962 Carnegie Hall Concert.

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Song of the Day: The Folks That Live On The Hill

The Song of the Day for October 12, 2012 is The Folks That Live On The Hill.

About The Folks That Live On The Hill

The Folks That Live On The Hill was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein in 1937 for the film High, Wide, and Handsome. Bing Crosby recorded it in the same year. Many people associate the song with the wonderful Peggy Lee, who recorded it in 1957 for her album, The Man I Love. It has also been recorded by Nina Simone and Diana Krall.  It’s a beautiful song: the lyrics are pure Oscar Hammerstein with a very lovely melody by Jerome Kern.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded this song for his autobiographical album Astoria: Portrait of the Artist, released in 1990.

Readers might note that I feature many songs from Astoria. This is a brilliantly conceived and executed album and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is currently available as  MP3 downloads from Amazon. It’s really an extraordinary album.

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Song of the Day: Return to Me (Regresa A Mi)

The Song of the Day for October 11, 2012 is Return To Me.

About Return To Me

Return to Me was written in 1957 by Carmen Lombardo (brother of bandleader Guy Lombardo) and Danny DiMinno. In January 1958, Dean Martin did the first recording of the song and the song still remains  associated with Dean Martin. In fact, the second box set of Dean Martin was entitled Return to Me. The song was also featured in a film of the same name, Return to Me (2000) with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver.

About This Version

Today, we present two YouTube videos. First, Dean Martin singing Return to Me.

And, next and again, the video of the duet of Regresa a Mi, with Tony Bennett and Vicente Fernández.

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Song of the Day: Cold, Cold Heart

The Song of the Day for October 10, 2012 is Cold, Cold Heart.

About Cold, Cold Heart

Cold, Cold Heart was written by the great Hank Williams in 1951. In an interesting parallel with Tony Bennett’s I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Cold, Cold Heart was the B-side when it was released by Hank Williams. It went on, of course, to become a very popular country and western song as well as a popular song.

About This Version

We choose Cold, Cold Heart in preparation for the Viva Duets album, on which Tony Bennett will be singing this song with Vincentico.

This version is the original, recorded in 1951. It was arranged and conducted by Percy Faith and reached #1 on the Billboard charts. It was originally released as a single, of course.

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