The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: A Shine On Your Shoes

The song of the day for Sunday, Mary 23, 2021, is “A Shine On Your Shoes.”

About This Song

“A Shine On Your Shoes” was written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz for the 1932 Broadway musical Flying Colors. The same song was used for the 1953 movie The Band Wagon, which starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “A Shine On Your Shoes” in 1993 for his album of songs made famous by his good friend Fred Astaire: Steppin’ Out. Bennett and Ralph Sharon arranged the entire. Playing with Sharon on piano are Doug Richeson on bass and Clayton Cameron on drums.

Shine On Your Shoes

Listen to Shine On Your Shoes on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1993

“A Shine On Your Shoes,” as well as Steppin’ Out, is available from Apple Music.

Here’s Astaire in his performance of today’s song from the movie The Band Wagon. Astaire insisted on using a real shoeshine man for the number, not an actor. He hit the jackpot with Leroy Daniels who at 23 was an accomplished hoofer. You can read about Mr. Daniels here.

Here are Astaire and Daniels:

Shine On Your Shoes

Fred Astaire and Leroy Daniels. "For the "Shine on My Shoes" number, Fred Astaire wanted to dance with the bootblack. They found the real thing in Leroy Daniels, a dancing shoeshine man working in downtown Los Angeles." - from tcm.com

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Song of the Day: I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan

The song of the day for Friday, April 23, 2021, is “I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan.”

About This Song

“I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan” was written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz for the 1929 revue The Little Show and was introduced by Clifton Webb. It was a featured song in the 1953 movie The Band Wagon, where it was sung by Fred Astaire and Oscar Levant. Even though the original title was “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan,” it more often sung with Plans.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan” in 1994 for his album Steppin’ Out, an album consisting of songs associated with Bennett’s good friend Fred Astaire. Bennett and Ralph Sharon wrote the arrangement. Sharon’s piano on this version is exquisite.

I Guess I"ll Have to Change My Plan

Listen to I Guess I"ll Have to Change My Plan on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1993

“I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan,” as well as Steppin’ Out, is available from Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: By Myself

The song of the day for Saturday, April 10, 2021, is “By Myself.”

About This Song

“By Myself” was written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dieta for the 1937 musical Between the Devil, where it was introduced by Jack Buchanan. Another great Schwartz-Dietz song from Between the Devil was “I See Your Face Before Me.” “By Myself” was used in the 1953 Fred Astaire film, The Band Wagon.

About These Versions

Earlier in the week, I fell down the YouTube rabbit hole watching Judy Garland videos and came across one I not seen before: “By Myself.” I then remembered that Tony Bennett had also recorded the song and thought that a Bennett recording with the Garland video would make for a nice post.

When it came time to write this post, I couldn’t decide between which of the two versions Bennett had recorded and so decided to use them both. The first was recorded in 1950 and the second in 1993.

The 1959 version is from Hometown, My Town and was arranged by Ralph Burns.

By Myself

Listen to By Myself on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1959

The 1993 version from Steppin’ Out was arranged by Bennett and Ralph Sharon.

By Myself

Listen to By Myself on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1993

And finally, Judy Garland, from her television show in 1964. Her exit at the end of the song is legendary.

JUDY GARLAND sings BY MYSELF and receives a standing ovation 1964

A blistering performance from late in the run of Judy"s CBS television series.

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Song of the Day: Dancing In The Dark

The song of the day for Thursday, February 25, 2021, is “Dancing In The Dark.”

About This Song

“Dancing in the Dark” was written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz for the 1931 revue The Band Wagon and is widely considered to be the finest of the songs written by Schwartz and Dietz. Alec Wilder in American Popular Song describes it as “… a very strong song with a superb, poetic lyric.”

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded this version of “Dancing in the Dark” in 1962 for the album My Heart Sings. The Ralph Burns arrangement is wonderful. Bennett first worked with Burns on the 1959 Hometown, My Town and several singles, including Bennett’s first recording of Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile.”

Dancing in the Dark

Listen to Dancing in the Dark on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1961

“Dancing In The Dark,” as well as My Heart Sings, is available from Apple Music.

The song, as an instrumental, was used in the 1953 film version of The Band Wagon, featuring the exquisite Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. The number is pure heaven; I particularly love the business with the bench (starts at 3:36). Michael Kidd choreographed the dance.

Cyd Charisse w/ Fred Astaire (1953) The Band Wagon [Dancing in the Dark]

(HD Video - 986x720)

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Song of the Day: Dancing in the Dark

The song of the day for Saturday, December 26, 2020, is “Dancing in the Dark.”

About This Song

“Dancing in the Dark” Dwas written for the 1931 revue The Band Wagon and is widely considered to be the finest of the songs written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz. Alec Wilder in American Popular Song describes it as “… a very strong song with a superb, poetic lyric.”

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Dancing in the Dark” for his 1961 album My Heart Sings. The album was arranged and conducted by Ralph Burns. Burns first worked with Bennett on the 1959 Hometown, My Town album (one of your author’s favorite albums) and returned for this album, with spectacular results.

Dancing in the Dark

Listen to Dancing in the Dark on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1961

“Dancing in the Dark,” as well as My Heart Sings, is available from Apple Music.

How can I talk about “Dancing in the Dark” without mentioning Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in the 1953 film Dancing in the Dark? Cyd Charisse was trained as a ballet dancer and her work with Astaire in this film is lyrical and quite beautiful.

Cyd Charisse w/ Fred Astaire (1953) The Band Wagon [Dancing in the Dark]

(HD Video - 986x720)

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