The song of the day for Thursday, November 11, 2015 is “Long Ago and Far Away.”
About This Song
“Long Ago and Far Away” was written in 1944 by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin for the 1944 film musical Cover Girl, starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly. In the film, the song was sung by Rita Hayworth to Gene Kelly. At the time of movie’s release, there were four versions of the song that all charted at the same time by Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest, Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford and Perry Como.
About This Version
Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap recorded “Long Ago and Far Away” in 2015 for their new album The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, which is my favorite album in both vocal and piano jazz this year. It simply doesn’t get any better than this.
“Long Ago and Far Away,” as well as The Silver Lining, is available from iTunes.
About Today
Today brings to an end my arbitrary look at Tony Bennett’s career, so far, where I picked out a song for each year that Mr. Bennett has recorded. It’s been a lot of fun for me and hope you’ve enjoyed it as well.
Stayed tuned for a return to the first half of the 1960s.