The song of the day for Friday, December 7, 2012 is Blues In The Night.
About Blues In The Night
Blues in the Night was written in 1941 for the film of the same name by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. Arlen wrote the music first and wrote a true blues song. Johnny Mercer, who later wrote the lyrics, drew on his southern heritage to write exceptional blues lyrics.
About This Version
We have previously featured Tony Bennett’s first recording of this song, from his 1957 The Beat of My Heart. If you haven’t spent any time with The Beat Of My Heart, well, I’ll just say that this album, conceived by Tony Bennett, is remarkable and worthy of your attention. That said, Tony Bennett first sung this song while serving in the Army in the European Theater, with the 225th Regiment Band. Alas, no recording of the song exists.
This version is from the 2001 Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues. This album was precursor to the series of Duets albums containing some duets with singers including Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, B.B. King, k.d. lang and Ray Charles.
Blues in the Night, as well as the album Playin’ With My Friends is available from iTunes.
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