The song of the day for Sunday, August 3, 2025, is “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
About Today
Tony Bennett was born on August 3, 1926, in Astoria, Queens. He would have been 99 years old today. I miss him all the time and am grateful for getting to attend so many of his concerts and getting to meet him backstage.
About This Song
“I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was written in 1953 by George Cory and Douglass Cross, songwriters and partners from San Francisco who were feeling homesick.
This song is, of course, Tony Bennett’s signature song. It actually became that quite by accident. As Bennett’s musical director, songwriters were constantly giving Ralph Sharon copies of their songs. Cross and Cory had done that, and Sharon had stuck the song in a drawer and forgotten all about it. In 1961, he and Bennett were heading out on tour, which included a stop in San Francisco at The Venetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill. Sharon came across the music and thought it might be a nice local number for the San Francisco audience.
After a performance in Hot Springs, Arkansas (at which a high school saxophone player named Bill Clinton stood outside listening through the window), they found a piano and started to work on the song a bit. An early fan was the bartender, who said that he’d buy the first copy if they ever decided to record it. Of course, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was a huge hit at the performance, and in January 1962, Bennett recorded it and released it on a 45 RPM record on the B-side to Once Upon a Time. But gradually, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” started getting all the airplay, and it became a major hit for Bennett, winning him his first Grammy Award. It is his signature song and is beloved by all of his fans.
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” on January 23, 1962; it was released as a single soon after. Marty Manning wrote the arrangement. The recording was added to the 1962 album I Left My Heart in San Francisco.
Bennett won the 1963 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Solo Vocal Performance, Male.
“I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” as well as I Left My Heart in San Francisco, is available on Apple Music.
I absolutely love this version of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” on The Judy Garland television show in July 1963.
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