Song of the Day: Laura

The song of the day for Tuesday, October 25, 2016 is “Laura.”

About This Song

“Laura” was written for the 1944 film of the same name, starring Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews. David Raksin was known as a film composer (he also wrote the title song for The Bad and the Beautiful, which is included on the Bill Evans-Tony Bennett album Together Again), his compositions are often jazz standards. “Laura” has been recorded many times, by both singers and instrumentalists. Note that the Johnny Mercer lyrics came later and weren’t used in the film. In fact, Mercer wrote the lyrics without having ever seen the film!

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Laura” in 1959 for his album To My Wonderful One. The arrangement is by Frank DeVol.

“Laura,” as well as To My Wonderful One, is available from iTunes.

About Today

Today is one of those days where two of my passions come together. I am a big fan of the writer Ross Macdonald and noir detective fiction in general and am part of a group on Facebook devoted to that. This morning, someone posted a picture of Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews from the film Laura. I figured “Laura had to be the song of the day.