The song of the day for Thursday, July 24, 2014 is “Country Girl.”
About This Song
“Country Girl” was written by the Canadian-born composer, conductor, arranger and trumpet player Robert Farnon. Farnon composed both light classical and popular music, as well as film and television scores. Robert Farnon worked with Tony Bennett on several albums, including the wonderful 1968 Snowfall.
Tony Bennett said this about Robert Farnon in his autobiography, The Good Life:
I met Bob Farnon in early 1952, when I was playing the Casino in Toronto. … Even back then, Bob wanted us to record together, but I had such reverence for his work that I told him I wasn’t ready. I just didn’t feel that I had developed enough as an artist to make an album with him. I thought I’d have to wait about twenty years before I sang with Bob, and I was pretty close, because we didn’t work together until 1967.
The Year of Tony Bennett is pleased to honor Robert Farnon, who was born on July 24, 1917 in Toronto, Canada and died on April 23, 2005 in Guernsey, England. Farnon first worked with Tony Bennett in 1967 for the album Snowfall, which many, including this author, believe to be the best Christmas-themed album ever made. Tony Bennett continue to work with Farnon when he lived in England for a time after leaving Columbia Records, including Bennett’s television program Talk of the Town and several major concerts, including his 1971 concert with The London Philharmonic Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall, captured live on the album Get Happy.
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded “Country Girl” in 1967 for the album Tony Makes It Happen! It has a wonderful arrangement by Marion Evans.
http://open.spotify.com/track/441kwTO21pAs83sCXNZENj
“Country Girl,” as well as Tony Makes It Happen!, is available from iTunes.
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