The song of the day for Wednesday, November 18, 2020, is “Out Of This World.”
About Today
Today we are celebrating the birthday of one of the great songwriters — John Herndon Mercer, born on November 18, 1909, in Savannah, Georgia. I think the Great American Songbook might not have been as great if Johnny Mercer hadn’t become a songwriter. We’ll be featuring songs written by Johnny Mercer for the next week or so.
About This Song
“Out Of This World” was written in 1944 by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the film of the same name. Out Of This World starred Eddie Bracken; however, Bing Crosby dubbed the vocals for Bracken and introduced the song. Alec Wilder was a fan of this song, praising its ethereal quality and the excellent lyrics by Mercer.
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded this version of “Out Of This World” in 1964 with a world-class jazz quartet: Herbie Hancock (piano), Stan Getz (tenor sax), Ron Carter (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums). This recording, as well as others recorded with this quartet, was not released on an album. However, these songs were included in the 2011 Complete Collection box set on Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 1.
“Out Of This World,” as well as the other recordings on Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 1, is available from Apple Music.
It’s really too bad this fantastic group didn’t record a full lp.
It would have been one for the ages. All they needed were
the right tunes.
The Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 1 disc has five recordings by this group. I suspect at some point they were planning to do a full album, but something might have happened. I agree with you that it would have been a fantastic album. Tony was in his best voice in 1964 and the quartet can’t be beat.
And don’t forget, it stayed in the can for almost 23 years! If a FULL lp was released in 1965, we may have seen
another lp by this group – even better than the first one. Great work on Tony!