The song of the day for Thursday, May 16, 2013 is Maybe This Time.
About This Song
Maybe This Time was written for the 1972 film version of Cabaret, which starred Liza Minelli and Joel Grey, did not appear in the original Broadway production. Written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the song had been written earlier for Kaye Ballard, though I’ve been unable to track down any information that she ever recorded it.
The song became closely identified with Liza Minelli, but many other singers have recorded it as well, including Frank Sinatra, Connie Francis, Steve Lawrence and Englebert Humperdink. It was also featured on the television program Glee.
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded this version in 1972 for With Love; it was his first recording of this song. He recorded it again in 1995 for Here’s To The Ladies. Today’s version was arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon.
Mr. Bennett sings this song at nearly all of his concerts (to my great delight) and he and Lee Musiker have come up with a terrific and powerful show-stopper with their current version of Maybe This Time. If you have access to Bennett’s 2010 iTunes Festival in London EP (see one of my very first posts on this blog: The Best $5.99 You’ll Ever Spend) you can hear what a great number it is. That said, today’s version, sincere and straightforward and very touching, has many charms and I love this recording very much.
This song has become somewhat of an anthem for me. I never tire of hearing it. Especially when it’s sung by Tony Bennett.
http://open.spotify.com/track/626CWE7ZgdKZZuwOVDyqFr
Maybe This Time, as well as the remastered With Love album, is available from iTunes.
Many years ago a great DJ got into some nastiness for saying that Benedetto’s version of this great song was the definitive version! That DJ was right! Benedetto has sung it live at many, many shows and it always gets a standing applause.