The song of the day for Thursday, January 7, 2015 is “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”
About This Song
“Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, was one of the hit songs from the 1940 musical Pal Joey, where it was introduced by Vivienne Segal. Notable recordings are by Benny Goodman, Mel Tormé, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. Alec Wilder admired the lyric and the verse, but found the song “notey.” In spite of being notey, it’s a cornerstone of the American Songbook.
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” on October 28, 1959 for one of my favorite of his albums, Tony Sings For Two, released in 1961. For this album, Tony Bennett and Ralph Sharon went into the studio with a briefcase full of sheet music and recorded sixteen(!) songs in a single day, which must be some kind of record. It was just the two of them: the voice and the piano with no drums or bass. It’s a really wonderful album and this is one of my favorite songs on it.
“Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” as well as Tony Sings For Two, is available from iTunes.
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