The song of the day for Friday, February 26, 2016 is “Don’t Like Goodbyes.”
About This Song
“Don’t Like Goodbyes” was written by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Arlen and Truman Capote, for the 1954 Broadway musical House of Flowers, based on Capote’s novella of the same name. The song was introduced by Pearl Bailey. While the musical was not well-reviewed, the Arlen-Capote score is quite wonderful, including not only today’s song but the exquisite “A Sleepin’ Bee,” which Tony Bennett has recorded twice (in 1959 for Tony Sings For Two and at the 1962 Carnegie Hall concert). “Don’t Like Goodbyes” has been recorded by Pearl Bailey, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand.
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded “Don’t Like Goodbyes” for my all-time favorite Tony Bennett album: The Art of Romance. This is the album I give to those friends I choose to introduce to Tony Bennett. It works like magic every single time.
Just an aside. My friend Lesley, who has been with me on the journeys of both the blog and discography, accepted my invitation a little over four years ago for a weekend in Seattle to see Tony Bennett. I’d gotten us great seats: on the fourth or fifth row. I found myself seated between my friend and a woman about my age, who had come with her husband. Well, Lesley was hooked about half-way through the first song and the woman I was seated next to was having the time of her life, smiling and crying, all at the same time. It was a fantastic concert; I loved it too and we could feel all the love coming both from and to the stage. I’ll never forget that evening in December. I gave Lesley a copy of The Art of Romance for Christmas. I started this blog a six months later. What a great journey this has been.
“Don’t Like Goodbyes,” as well as The Art Of Romance, is available from iTunes.
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