The Year of Tony Bennett celebrates the composer Sacha Distel, who was born on January 29, 1933, with our choice of The Good Life as the song of the day for January 29, 2013.
About The Good Life
Originally known as La Belle Vie, The Good Lifewas written by composer Sacha Distel with lyrics by Jack Reardon. It was written 1962 and was featured in the movie Seven Capital Sins. The song is primarily associated with Tony Bennett, but has been sung by many other performers, including Frank Sinatra, Petula Clark, Duke Ellington, Shirley Horn, and many more.
About This Version
Today’s version of The Good Life is the first. And the best. Tony Bennett recorded the song in December 1962. It appeared as a single in 1963 and was the first song on Bennett’s 1963 album I Wanna Be Around, which also featured the Johnny Mercer song of the same name. I Wanna Be Around stands as one of Bennett’s great albums and The Good Life as one of his very best recordings. It is also worth noting that Tony Bennett titled his 1998 autobiography The Good Life.
The Good Life, as well as the full I Wanna Be Around album, is available from iTunes.
This song represents the most flawless performance by il maestro on record. The man sings this very beautiful song with great feeling in his voice and conveys the feeling that the composer had in mind!
I often listen to THE GOOD LIFE for hours at a time marveling at perfection on wax!
Other singers sing it but Tony breathes life into it and makes it sound beautifully! From the opening phrases a listener knows that TONY BENNETT loves this song and has created a gem or as Louis Armstrong would say:an apple!
At some point, I’ll have to figure out what my top 5 or 10 favorite Tony Bennett recordings are. But this recording will definitely be on the list!
Another of my favorites, but I’d say that Tony’s raw treatment on “Tony Bennett Sings his All-Time Hall of Fame Hits” better serves the ironic meaning in the lyrics. His phrasing and timing is also exquisite — so much is done with so little.
Hi Richard. I’ll have to track that version down–for this song especially, I think it could very distinct meanings to a singer over the years and decades of life. I know I look at this song much differently now than I did 20 years ago. Thanks for visiting and commenting!
I knew it was so, but it’s very good to hear when someone else also puts a song on repeat just to listen to the magic? of whatever it was that got you in the first place. I was only 2 when this came out but it has come to be in my all-time favorite songs.
Thank you Tony.