The song of the day for Monday, July 13, 2015 is “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”
About This Song
Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” in 1933 for the movie Moulin Rouge, where it was sung by Constance Bennett. Although numerous artists have recorded “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (including Bing Crosby 1944), this song is very strongly identified with Tony Bennett. In fact, his demo record of “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams” was heard by Mitch Miller and got Bennett his first recording contract with Columbia Records.
About This Version
Today, I have two different versions of this song. The first is from 1950; this is Bennett’s first recording for Columbia Records:
“The Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” as well as all of the recordings onThe Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes.
From 1950, we move 40 years forward to 1990 and Mr. Bennett’s recording of the same song on Astoria: Portrait of the Artist:
“The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams,” as well as Astoria: Portrait of the Artist, is available from iTunes.
Both versions are wonderful. I couldn’t decide which one to feature, so I chose both.
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