The song of the day for Wednesday, April 25, 2018 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. And a song your author fell in love with at the tender age of eight after hearing her parents playing it on the stereo when they thought the kids were asleep.
About This Version
I so enjoyed listening to parts of When Lights Are Low yesterday that I had to also take in one of Tony Bennett’s best albums: Tony Sings For Two. Bennett and Ralph Sharon held a legendary recording session at the Columbia 30th Street Studio–they went in with a briefcase of sheet music and recorded sixteen songs in a single session, many of them on the first take. Just Bennett, Ralph Sharon and Frank Laico as engineer. Even though the album was recorded in October, 1959, it wasn’t released until early 1961. This album is quite close to perfect.
“Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” as well as Tony Sings For Two, is available from iTunes.
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