The song of the day for Wednesday, September 27, 2017 is “The Girl I Love.”
About This Song
Written by George and Ira Gershwin, “The Girl I Love” was originally slated for the 1924 Broadway musical Lady, Be Good, though it was cut from that production. It was used again in 1927 for Strike Up The Band, but that production closed out of town. The lyrics were revised to “The Man I Love” for the 1928 Rosalie, but was cut from that production as well. In spite of all that, it rightly has its place as one of the great songs in the American Songbook. Notable recordings include those by Ella Fitzgerald, Helen Forrest, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Helen Morgan and many, many more.
About This Version
Today I’m featuring Mr. Bennett’s recording of “The Girl I Love” from his 1994 MTV Unplugged concert, accompanied by the Ralph Sharon Trio, with Doug Richeson on bass and Clayton Cameron on drums.
“The Girl I Love,” as well as MTV Unplugged, is available from iTunes. The arrangement by Ralph Sharon gives each of the musicians a nice chance to solo.
This cut shows, I think, why this album resounded with a whole new generation of Tony Bennett fans and won two major Grammy Awards: Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance and Album of the Year.
About Today
Sorry to have missed yesterday’s post. I had a bad case of computer gremlins, which are now fixed. But I missed featuring a George Gershwin song on the anniversary of his birth on September 26, 1898. Here we are some 80 years after his death, and his songs sound so fresh, so current. To quote a Cy Coleman song: “It amazes me.”
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