The song of the day for Saturday, October 31, 2015 is “Because Of You.”
About This Song
“Because of You” was written in 1940 by Arthur Hammerstein and Dudley Wilkinson. Recorded in 1951, it was Tony Bennett’s first huge hit.
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded “Because of You” in April 1951. He was at a crossroads with Columbia at the time; he needed a hit and soon or else he might be dropped from the label. He was in Percy Faith’s office prior to that April recording session; they had three songs planned and needed a fourth. Faith picked up the sheet music off his desk and suggested they add it to the session. Percy gave him the best possible advice: “Just relax. Use your natural voice and sing the song.”
The song became a huge hit: not because the radio stations were pushing it, but because the public had discovered it on jukeboxes and loved it. Released on April 30, 1951, it reached number one on the Billboard chart on June 23, 1951 and stayed on the chart for 32 weeks–ten of those weeks at number one.
“Because of You,” as well as all the singles collected on The Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes.
About Today
Today’s video is Tony Bennett and k.d. lang singing a duet of “Because of You” from the 2006 album Duets: An American Classic.
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