Song of the Day: All The Things You Are

The song of the day for Friday, February 9, 2018 is “All The Things You Are.”

About This Song

“All The Things You Are” was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein for the 1939 musical Very Warm For May. In American Popular Song, Alec Wilder considers it to be one of Kern’s finest songs and with good reason. It’s a beautiful tune and Hammerstein’s lyrics are excellent.

About This Version

“All The Things You Are” was the third song for Bennett’s Carnegie Hall concert. It was perfect too. After the energetic opening with “Lullaby of Broadway “and the mid-tempo “Just In Time,” he sings this absolutely gorgeous ballad. You’d know it was a Jerome Kern song from just the first few notes and the Hammerstein lyric works wonderfully with the melody.

One of my favorite things in this song is the transition from the verse to the chorus, which I believe is a brilliant choice by Sharon and Bennett.
In the published lyrics, the last two lines of the verse are:

Touching your hand, my heart beats the faster
All that I want in all of this world is you

And then the chorus starts with:

You are the promised kiss of springtime …

But in this wonderful recording, the last “you” in the verse elegantly transitions into the first “you” in the chorus. I have to say that the first time I heard Tony Bennett sing this song, I practically swooned. I’ve listened to it countless times and featured it often on this blog and it never, ever ceases to make me stop in my tracks at the beauty of this recording.

I often wondered why Tony Bennett never recorded this song again, but was pleasantly surprised to hear it once more as the first song on The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, recorded with pianist Bill Charlap and released in 2015.

From Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall, recorded on June 9, 1962: “All The Things You Are.”

“All The Things You Are,” as well as Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall, is available from iTunes.