The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Because of You

The song of the day for Friday, August 1, 2014 is “Because of You.”

About This Song

“Because of You” was written in 1940 by Dudley Wilkinson and Arthur Hammerstein (uncle to Oscar Hammerstein II). The song got its big start with the recording in 1951 by Tony Bennett. Other recordings that same year include those by Gloria DeHaven, Louis Armstrong and Johnny Desmond.

About This Version

This song was recorded at a major turning point in Tony Bennett’s early career. A year into his contract with Columbia Records, he was in danger in being cut from the label if he didn’t come up with a big, major hit and soon. Before the recording session on April 4, 1951, he met with his arranger Percy Faith. They needed a third song to round out a four-song effort. Faith pulled “Because of You” off of the pile and so it was recorded. Percy Faith gave Tony Bennett a great piece of advice: “Just relax. Use natural voice and sing the song.”

The song was not an instant hit and didn’t get a lot of radio play. But it was being played a lot on jukeboxes throughout America, and people began calling up their local radio stations asking for it to be played. On June 23, 1951, it reached #1 on Billboard’s pop chart and stayed on the chart for thirty-two weeks, ten of those weeks at #1.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4DTO96EvOW9JT6OIUNFpZW
“Because of You,” as well as all of the singles on The Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Because Of You

The song of the day for Tuesday, May 20, 2014 is “Because Of You.”

About This Song

“Because Of You” was written in 1940 by Arthur Hammerstein (uncle to Oscar Hammerstein) and Dudley Wilkinson. The song didn’t take off, however, until Tony Bennett recorded it in April, 1951 and it shot to #1 on the charts and stayed there for two and half months.

About This Version

Couples since 1951 have had Tony Bennett’s 1951 version of “Because Of You” played at their wedding. Today, The Year of Tony Bennett is celebrating the wedding of their good friends Ken and Andy, who were among the first same-sex couples to get married in Oregon today. We dedicate this version of “Because of You” to these two great guys; we are so happy for you. So, for Ken and Andy, here are Tony Bennett and k.d. lang singing “Because Of You” from the 2006 album Duets: An American Classic.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1hVEHu6SemMvlYAP5MWkDj
“Because Of You,” as well as Duets: An American Classic, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Because Of You

The song of the day for Monday, December 9, 2013 is “Because of You.”

About This Song

“Because of You” was written in 1940 by Arthur Hammerstein (uncle of Oscar Hammerstein II) and Dudley Wilkinson. The song languished until Tony Bennett recorded it in 1951. Other recordings include those by Gloria DeHaven, Louis Armstrong and Connie Francis.

About This Version

I absolutely love Tony Bennett’s recording of this song, which he recorded in 1951 and which also became a monster hit for him. It was arranged and conducted (and chosen) by Percy Faith. This recording will never grow old; it’s as relevant today as it was in 1951 and will remain so for decades to come. Faith’s orchestration is really superb; it could have been ruined easily with over-orchestrated strings, but instead remains fresh. I hope you enjoy listening today as much I will.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4DTO96EvOW9JT6OIUNFpZW
“Because of You,” as well as the other songs on The Columbia Singles, Volume 1, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Because of You

The song of the day for November 2, 2013 is “Because of You.”

About This Song

“Because Of You” was written in 1940 by Arthur Hammerstein (uncle to Oscar Hammerstein II) and Dudley Wilkinson. It wasn’t really popular or much recorded until after Tony Bennett’s recording in 1951. In that time period, the song was used in a movie called I Was An American Spy.

About This Version

Today’s version is the one-and-only original from 1951; arranged and conducted by Percy Faith. The story of how this song came to be recorded is quite wonderful. Tony Bennett had been singing with Columbia for a year and there was concern that he hadn’t really had a hit, at least since his first song recorded for the label: “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” In fact, he’d been warned by Percy Faith that if he didn’t have a hit soon, he might be released from his contract. Tony Bennett tells this story in his autobiography The Good Life:

I went into Percy’s office and he said, “In this next session you really have to deliver. We only have three songs ready, so we need another song.” I remember that he looked through a bunch of sheet music on his desk, grabbed a song, and said “Well, let’s do this one.” The song was ‘Because Of You.” I was doing a lot of dramatic singing on my early records like ‘Sing You Sinners” and ‘Boulevard,’ but Percy said to me, “Just relax, Use your natural voice and sing the song.” I took his advice.

And what great advice that was. The song got popular not on the radio, but on the jukeboxes, who then called the radio stations and requested the song. It reached #1 on the Billboard charts in June, 1951 and stayed on the chart for a remarkable thirty-two weeks, ten of them at #1. It was most definitely a hit.

I’ll go on the record as thanking Percy Faith for encouraging Tony Bennett to sing in his natural voice. Why mess with perfection? For Tony Bennett’s voice, then and now, is pure perfection.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4DTO96EvOW9JT6OIUNFpZW
“Because of You,” as well as the collected early singles by Tony Bennett on The Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes.

The Year of Tony Bennett would like to wish k.d. lang a very happy birthday. In honor of her birthday (and because it’s YouTube Saturday), we are pleased to present this video of k.d. and Tony singing their duet of “Because of You” from the album Duets: An American Classic; the video also includes portions of an interview with the duo by the late Phil Ramone.

Happy Birthday, k.d.!

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Song of the Day: Because Of You

The song of the day for Thursday, July 11, 2013 is “Because Of You.”

About This Song

“Because Of You” was written in 1940, with music by Dudley Wilkinson and lyrics by Arthur Hammerstein (uncle to Oscar Hammerstein). It was a moderate hit when written, but really took off in 1952 with Tony Bennett’s recording.

About This Version

“Because Of You” holds a special place in the musical history of Tony Bennett. Having been signed to contract at Columbia in 1950, by 1951 he hadn’t produced a huge hit and there was talk of dropping him from the label. He says in his autobiography The Good Life:

I went into Percy’s (Percy Faith) office and he said, “In this next session you really have to deliver. We have only three songs ready, so we need another song.” I remember that he looked through a bunch of sheet music on his desk, grabbed a song, and said, “Well, let’s do this one.” That song was “Because Of You.” I was doing a lot of dramatic singing on my early records … but Percy said to me, “Just relax. Use your natural voice and sing the song,” I took his advice.

And what great advice that was. The record didn’t start out getting a lot of airplay. It did, however, get a lot jukebox plays and so a groundswell of popularity began for this recording and the calls came pouring in to the DJs at the radio stations to play “Because of You.”

.. it reached number one on Billboard magazine’s pop chart on June 23, 1951. It stayed on the chart for thirty-two weeks–ten weeks at number one. I finally had my first major hit record.

I have no doubt that Tony Bennett would have become the legend he is today even if “Because of You” had not been picked up off the desk that day. That said, it was an amazing bit of good fortune that Percy Faith did pick it up that day. “Because of You” sold a million copies and firmly cemented Tony Bennett as a star.

Today’s version is, of course, the original version from 1951. It sounds as fresh and wonderful as if it had been recorded this year.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4DTO96EvOW9JT6OIUNFpZW
“Because Of You,” as well as the The Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes. This volume of the Columbia single also includes other great early singles including “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Sing You Sinners,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” and a heart-breakingly beautiful version of “While We’re Young.”