• 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

December 11, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: I’ve Got The World on a String

The song of the day for Friday, December 11, 2015 is “I’ve Got The World on a String.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “I’ve Got The World on a String,” was written in 1932 by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Ted Koehler. It was written for the 1932 Cotton Club Parade, where it was introduced by Cab Calloway and Bing Crosby. Alec Wilder, in American Popular Song, considers it one of Arlen’s loveliest songs.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded today’s song in 1992 for Perfectly Frank. He also sang it last Sunday on the CBS Sinatra special, to a standing ovation.

I"ve Got the World On a String

Listen to I"ve Got the World On a String on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1992.


“I’ve Got The World on a String,” as well as Perfectly Frank, is available from iTunes.

About Today

Towards the end of the 1950s, Sinatra saw his popularity falling, though he was still a major singing star. He also divorced his wife Nancy in 1950 and his publicist George Evans died the same year. He began performing regularly in Las Vegas, but his audiences were starting to desert him. In a brilliant move, he decided to work in more dramatic films. He had a done several well-received musical films, including Anchors Aweigh, Take Me Out To The Ball Game and On The Town. 1953 marked one of his greatest achievements: From Here To Eternity in the role of Maggio, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Other notable films followed such as The Man With The Golden Arm, Guys and Dolls and The Tender Trap. I remember seeing The Man With The Golden Arm as young teenager and it scared the hell out of me; I saw again a couple of years ago and found it just as powerful.

In 1956 he made one of most popular films, High Society, with Bing Crosby. The film was a big hit for the studio and the public loved seeing Sinatra and Bing Crosby together. His popularity was on the upswing, followed by another significant film performance in Pal Joey.

Meanwhile, he was making albums for Capitol, like the brilliant 1955 In the Wee Small Hours (a favorite album of Tony Bennett), the 1956 Songs For Swinging Lovers! (which includes the wonderful Nelson Riddle version of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin) and the 1959 album Come Dance With Me! which won the Grammy for Album of the Year and Best Performance by a male singer.

In spite of this success, he grew unhappy with Capitol and formed his own label Reprise Records. The hit albums kept coming and he began working with jazz artists like Quincy Jones and appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival. In 1967 came one of his best collaborations: the Grammy-nominated album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, which was one of the best-selling albums of the year, just behind the Beatles’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

in 1970, Sinatra announced his retirement, though it was short-lived, as he returned in 1973 for a television special Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back, which was also released as an album. He also returned to Las Vegas and performed at Caesar’s Palace throughout the 1970s. The 1970s also saw one of his great signature songs: “New York, New York,” from the film of the same name, where it was introduced by Liza Minelli. But from the moment the song was released, it was Sinatra’s song.

tomorrow … 1980s and beyond

Share this:

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

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: 1932 Cotton Club Parade, Frank Sinatra 100th birthday, Harold Arlen, Perfectly Frank, Ted Koehler

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

  • Duke Ellington and the Harlem Renaissance
  • Song of the Day: You Must Believe In Spring
  • Tony Bennett's Annual Painting for the American Cancer Society Christmas Card
  • Twilight World
  • Song of the Day: Speak Low
  • Song of the Day: Maybe September
  • Home
  • About
  • Song of the Day
  • Album of the Week
  • Music and Art
  • And More
  • The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography

Copyright © 2023 The Year of Tony Bennett · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress