Song of the Day: Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe

The song of the day for Sunday, January 19, 2025, is “Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe.”

About This Song

“Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe” was written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg for the 1943 film of the Broadway musical Cabin in the Sky, starring Ethel Waters and Eddie Anderson.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe” on October 28, 1959, Tony Sings For Two, released in 1961.

In The Good Life: The Autobiography of Tony Bennett, Bennett wrote about the session:

I always wanted to be unpredictable, and so for my next project, I decided to go in the opposite direction from the big orchestral albums I’d been doing lately and cut an intimate piano-vocal album with Ralph Sharon. We booked time in the studio and pored through music books, trying one tune after another. The arrangements were spontaneous, and we finished each song in one or two takes. In one afternoon we laid down sixteen tunes—which must be some kind of record—twelve of which made it onto the album, which became 1961’s Tony Sings for Two, Mitch Miller showed up at the start of these sessions, furious that I was really going through with it. When he saw that there was no dissuading me, he turned to Frank Laico and said, “I’m leaving. I can’t support this.” Tony Sings for Two turned out to be one of my finest records ever.

“Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe,” as well as Tony Sings For Two, is available on Apple Music.