The song of the day for Saturday, December 6, 2014 is “I Wanna Be Around.”
About This Song
“I Wanna Be Around” was written in 1959 by Johnny Mercer and Sadie Vimmerstedt. Ms. Vimmerstedt, a housewife from Ohio, was a huge Johnny Mercer fan. A line came to her: “I wanna be around to pick up the pieces when somebody breaks your heart.” She thought it sounded a like Johnny Mercer and so she sent it to him. And the rest, as they say, is history. Mercer wrote the melody himself and completed the lyrics. He paid Ms. Vimmerstedt 50% of the royalties, which were considerable, as the song was a huge hit.
About This Version
Mercer offered the song to Tony Bennett, who recorded it in 1962 and released it on his 1963 album I Wanna Be Around. It was arranged and conducted by Marty Manning. The recording is a real classic.
About Today
Once again, it’s Saturday and once again, it’s time for a video. Today, we offer the video of Tony Bennett and Bono recording this song for Duets: An American Classic. We wish Bono a very speedy recovery from his bicycle accident from last month.
“I Wanna Be Around,” as well the album of the same name, is available from iTunes.
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