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The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

October 3, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

The song of the day for Saturday, October 3, 2015 is “How Do You Keep The Music Playing?”

About This Song

Today’s song, “How Do You Keep The Music Playing?”, was written in 1982, with music by Michel Legrand and lyrics from Alan and Marilyn Bergman. This song was written for the 1982 movie Best Friends, which starred Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn. The initial recording was a duet by Patti Austin and James Ingram, which became a hit single in 1983. It was one of three songs with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman that were nominated that year for an Academy Award for Best Song (though the award went to “Up Where We Belong” from the movie An Officer and a Gentleman). The song has become a popular standard and has had many fine recordings, including those by Frank Sinatra (who encouraged Bennett to sing this song), Frankie Laine, Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett, Tony Bennett and George Michael and, most recently, Tony Bennett and Aretha Franklin.

About This Version

We feature Tony Bennett’s 1986 solo version of “How Do You Keep The Music Playing?” from The Art of Excellence, one of Bennett’s finest albums. It was arranged by Jorge Calandrelli.

Mr. Bennett sang this song at the first live concert of his I ever attended and I’ll never forget how much the song moved me that evening in Seattle. The Bergmans have never written a bad lyric and this is one of their very best.

How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

Listen to How Do You Keep The Music Playing? on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1986.


“How Do You Keep The Music Playing?,” as well as Duets II, is available from iTunes.

About Today

Today is video Saturday and I am quite pleased to present the wonderful duet of today’s song from Tony and Aretha Franklin from Duets II. Keep an eye on Tony at the very end of the song. It makes me cry too.

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Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Alan Bergman, Aretha Franklin, Jorge Calandrelli, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand

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