The song of the day for Saturday, May 12, 2018 is “The Way You Look Tonight.”
About This Song
Today’s song, “The Way You Look Tonight,” was written in 1936 by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields for the 1936 film Swing Time; the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the year. Dorothy Fields remarked “The first time Jerry played that melody for me I went out and started to cry. The release absolutely killed me. I couldn’t stop, it was so beautiful.” 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 has recorded “The Way You Look Tonight” many times: as early as 1958 for the album Long Ago and Far Way and most recently for the 2015 album The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern. I’m featuring the 2015 recording, with the wonderful Bill Charlap on piano.
“The Way You Look Tonight,” as well as The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, is available from iTunes.
About Today
Today’s video is from a 2015 episode of The View, featuring Mr. Bennett and Mr. Charlap.
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