• Home
  • About
    • About This Blog
    • About the Authors
  • Song of the Day
  • Album of the Week
  • Music and Art
    • Tony Live!
    • Music
      • Viva Duets
      • Songs
      • Albums
    • Art
  • And More
    • Collaborator of the Month
    • Songwriter of the Month – 2016
    • News
      • Cheek To Cheek
      • Bennett & Brubeck -The White House Sessions Live 1962
      • Life is a Gift
      • Viva Duets
      • Zen of Bennett
      • Other News
    • About His Collaborators
    • Musings
    • Extras
      • Books
      • Interviews
      • Media
  • The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography

The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

October 4, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: I Won’t Dance

The song of the day for Sunday, October 4, 2015 is “I Won’t Dance.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “I Won’t Dance,” has a wonderful tune written by Jerome Kern. The lyrics are, on the other hand, a bit complicated. The song was originally written for for a 1934 London musical called Three Sisters with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach; alas the production was flop and closed quickly. Kern decided to use this great tune for the 1935 film of Roberta, starring Irene Dunne with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. This time, the lyrics were from Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. I won’t even begin to figure out how they split the royalties.

About These Versions

Tony Bennett has recorded “I Won’t Dance” twice. The first time was in 2014 with Lady Gaga on their album Cheek To Cheek, with a great big band arrangement from Marion Evans. I’ve always loved this song and thought that Bennett and Gaga sang it just great. It was also quite effective on the Cheek To Cheek television special. [I don’t care what the Television Academy thinks. As far as I’m concerned, it earned the Emmy Award for Best Variety Special hands down.]

The second recording was just released in September 2015 on Bennett’s album with Bill Charlap–The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern. Bennett and Charlap arranged this version 3/4 waltz time. It’s quiet and sweet; Bennett dances lightly over the piano.

“I Won’t Dance” is a perfect example of why I started this Sunday feature of presenting different versions of the same song sung by Tony Bennett. Whether separated by decades, as in last week’s song, or a matter of months, as for today’s song, it is telling on many levels how this master treats the material. Just brilliant, Tony Bennett is.

2014

I Won"t Dance

Listen to I Won"t Dance on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 2014.


“I Won’t Dance,” as well as Cheek To Cheek, is available from iTunes.

2015

I Won"t Dance

Listen to I Won"t Dance on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 2015.


“I Won’t Dance,” as well as The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, is available from iTunes.

Because I’m in a great mood today, here’s a video of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers from Roberta. This film is the first time they worked together. I don’t know if Astaire actually played the piano or not. If he didn’t, it’s the best fake piano playing I’ve ever seen on film. And if he did play piano, he plays great! And Ginger’s gown is fantastic!

Your author is off to the Newport, Oregon Jazz Festival for concert by Bill Charlap and his Trio, also joined by his wife and pianist, Renee Rosnes. I’ll report in a few days.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Bill Charlap, Cheek to Cheek, Dorothy Fields, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Jerome Kern, Jimmy McHugh, Lady Gaga, Marion Evans, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern

Please feel free to leave a comment Cancel reply

Subscribe to The Year of Tony Bennett

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Current Reader Favorites

  • Song of the Day: The Good Life
  • Song of the Day: Where Do You Start
  • Song of the Day: Once Upon a Time
  • Song of the Day: Yesterday I Heard The Rain
  • Song of the Day: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
  • Song of the Day: Penthouse Serenade
  • Home
  • About
  • Song of the Day
  • Album of the Week
  • Music and Art
  • And More
  • The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography

Copyright © 2022 The Year of Tony Bennett · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress

Posting....
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.