The song of the day for Thursday, March 12, 2015 is “Where Or When.”
About This Song
“Where or When” was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the 1937 Broadway musical Babes in Arms. Benny Goodman recorded “Where or When” in 1941 with a very young Peggy Lee. It is a favorite song of many vocalists and has had many fine recordings.
Time magazine, in honoring this song, said:
Of all the sublime Rodgers and Hart songs, why does this one lodge so deeply in the popular soul? Because it conjures a state of wistful ecstasy that merges past and present, the dreamer and the dream, the lover and all his real or imagined loves. “Some things that happen for the first time/ Seem to be happening again.” The somnambulistic sweetness of Rodgers’ melody spurred Hart into almost sci-fi speculation. “And so it seems that we have met before/ And laughed before/ And loved before”: the notes ascend toward an Everest of fulfillment, only to tumble into the question, “But who knows where or when?” The dreamer has awoken, with only the residue of rapture.
About This Version
Today’s song is the seventh song on our album of the month, Tony Sings For Two, and the fifth song by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. It’s a beautiful arrangement, working very nicely with just the piano of Ralph Sharon. Our Interactive Tony Bennett Discography notes that Tony Bennett has recorded 28 different Rodgers and Hart songs, some of them several times. And, of course, his two Rodgers and Hart albums from the 1970s on his Improv label are pure gold.
“Where Or When,” as well as Tony Sings For Two, is available from iTunes.
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