Song of the Day: One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)

The song of the day for Sunday, October 25, 2015 is “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road).”

About This Song

“One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)” was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the 1943 film The Sky’s The Limit, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire. Harold Arlen called this song one of his “tapeworms” as at 48 bars, it was longer than the standard 32 bar popular song. Alec Wilder, in American Popular Song, says that “the honors must go the lyric. … Just imagine having the acuity and courage to start a song, as Mercer does, with “It’s a quarter to three”!

About These Versions

As today is Sunday, we’re going to look several solo studio versions of today’s song.

Tony Bennett first recorded “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)” in 1956, arranged by Ray Coniff. The next studio recording is from 1970 with John Bunch (in a lovely medley with “It Had To Be You”). We conclude with my favorite of these recordings today: the 1992 version on Perfectly Frank, arranged by Ralph Sharon. The differences between the 1956 and the 1992 versions is something to behold.

1956

“One For My Baby (And One More For The Road),” as well as the singles collected on The Columbia Singles, Vol. 4, is available from iTunes.

1970

“One For My Baby (And One More For The Road),” as well as all the songs collected on Outtakes, Rarities and Delights, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes.

1992

“One For My Baby (And One More For The Road),” as well as Perfectly Frank, is available from iTunes.