The song of the day for Monday, January 27, 2020, is “The Way You Look Tonight.”
About Tonday
The Year of Tony Bennett will focus this week on the work of Jerome Kern, who was born on January 27, 1885. As Bill Charlap said, upon the release of The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern:
Jerome Kern is the angel at the top of the tree for American popular songwriters and writers of the theater. He influenced George Gershwin. He influenced Richard Rodgers. He influenced all of the songwriters.
As we work through a week’s worth of Kern songs sung by Tony Bennett, we’ll see how relevant virtually all the songs remain in our time. Quite a feat for a man born 135 years ago.
About This Song
“The Way You Look Tonight” was written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. The song was introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1936 film Swing Time; the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the year. Dorothy Fields was the first woman to win an Oscar for songwriting. It’s a magnificent love song that has found a strong position as a jazz standard, with recordings by Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Mel Tormé, and Frank Sinatra.
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded this version of “The Way You Look Tonight” for the 1997 film My Best Friends Wedding, accompanied by the Ralph Sharon Trio. The recording was collected on Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights Vol. 2, originally released on CD in the Tony Bennett Complete Collection and is now available from iTunes.
“The Way You Look Tonight,” as well as Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 2, is available from iTunes.
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