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The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

September 29, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

The song of the day for Tuesday, September 29, 2015 is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” was written in 1943 by Hugh Martin (music) and Ralph Blane (lyrics). It was introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 movie Meet Me In St. Louis. In a Twitter conversation in November 2012, Tony Bennett said that “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is his favorite Christmas song.

About This Version

You’re correct: this is September, not December. It is not yet time for the Annual Twelve Days of a Tony Bennett Christmas celebration. Though I suspect it might be here sooner than many of us would care to think. I mean, we’re still have 80 degree days here in Portland.

A few weeks back, I thought it might be fun to start presenting songs in Tony’s career, starting in 1946 with “St. James Infirmary,” to pick one song from each year, up to today. I’ve been doing this five days a week, Monday through Friday. Saturdays and Sundays have their own themes as well: Saturday I present a song and a video and on Sundays I pick a song that Mr. Bennett has recorded more than once and present them together.

Today is 1968 and there is no album more important in Bennett’s career for that year than Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album. Critics have noted that Snowfall is not only an excellent Christmas album, but an excellent and outstanding album in its own right. It marked the first of Tony Bennett’s collaborations with the noted composer, conductor and orchestrator Robert Farnon.

And from that album is my favorite Christmas song of all time: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Like the composer, Hugh Martin, I too am from Birmingham, Alabama and, also like the composer, I studied at Birmingham-Southern College. By the time I started college in 1968, Hugh Martin was a legend at my college. When he was visiting Birmingham, he would visit the campus. I met him several times at the music department and would sometimes see him visiting other professors. (I will put a plug in for the Alabama Tony Bennett connection here: arranger Marion Evans, whose work as an arranger I feature often, is also from Alabama and also attended Birmingham-Southern. What can I say–they had and still have a fantastic music department.)

Tony Bennett recorded “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” on October 1, 1968 in New York at the CBS 30th Street Studio. The album Snowfall was released soon afterwards. The album featured many of the same musicians that were used for his album of the previous year, Tony Makes It Happen!, including Milt Hinton, John Bunch and Joe Soldo.

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is an outstanding song. In the same way that “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” transcends that city and speaks to everyone all over the world, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is as much or more about home and family as it is the holiday. Whether it’s Tony Bennett singing it or Judy Garland, you won’t find a better song or a better performance anywhere.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Listen to Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1968.


“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” as well as Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album, is available from iTunes.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: 1968, Birmingham-Southern College, Hugh Martin, Judy Garland, Marion Evans, Meet Me In St. Louis, Ralph Blane, Robert Farnon, Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album

January 14, 2013 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Soon It’s Gonna Rain

The song of the day for Monday, January 14, 2013 is Soon It’s Gonna Rain.

About Soon It’s Gonna Rain

This song is from the 1960 Off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. The production opened on May 3, 1960 at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village, where it played for 17,162 performances before closing on January 13, 2002.

The Fantasticks was important to this author, who developed her love of the theater in a large part from listening to the cast album for this show over and over again in her suburban home during her teens. In 1972, when I was studying drama at Birmingham-Southern College, a major touring company of The Fantasticks came to Birmingham and dedicated a performance to Dr. Arnold Powell. It was only then that I learned that Dr. Arnold Powell, the chairman of the Drama Department, was instrumental in the success of The Fantasticks. In June 1960, he was traveling to Europe for a sabbatical; he stopped in New York and caught a performance of The Fantasticks and immediately fell in love with it. At that time, the ticket sales weren’t that good and the producer, Lore Noto, was concerned they might have to close the production. Dr. Powell came backstage, raving about the piece and said that he wanted to produce it at Birmingham-Southern College immediately after his return from his sabbatical. His enthusiasm revived the spirits of the team and they vowed to keep it running. And thus a small liberal arts college in Birmingham, Alabama opened the first production of The Fantasticks after than the original production.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded Soon It’s Gonna Rain in March 1962 for the planned On The Glory Road album. The music was arranged and conducted by Ralph Sharon. Chico Hamilton, who had appeared on Bennett’s 1957 The Beat Of My Heart, returned to play for this album as well. On The Glory Road was not released until its inclusion the 2011 Complete Collection.  However, it was used on Mr. Bennett’s 1964 album The Many Moods Of Tony, along with another song from On The Glory Road, Caravan.

Soon It"s Gonna Rain

Listen to Soon It"s Gonna Rain on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1964.

Soon It’s Gonna Rain, as well as the full The Many Moods of Tony and On The Glory Road albums are available at iTunes.

And for a trip down my memory lane, here’s Soon It’s Gonna Rain from the original 1960 cast album of The Fantasticks.

Soon It"s Gonna Rain

Listen to Soon It"s Gonna Rain on Spotify. Kenneth Nelson · Song · 2010.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Arnold Powell, Birmingham-Southern College, Chico Hamilton, Harvey Schmidt, Lore Noto, The Fantasticks, Tom Jones

December 21, 2012 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

On the Eighth Day of Tony Bennett Christmas, Friday, December 21, 2012, the song of the day is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

About Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I have always had a weakness for this song. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas was written in 1943 by Ralph Blane (music) and Hugh Martin (lyrics). Mr. Martin was not only from my own hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, but also attended my alma mater of Birmingham-Southern College. But aside from that, it really is one the best Christmas songs ever written. It was first sung by Judy Garland in the 1944 Vincent Minnelli film, Meet Me In St. Louis.

About This Version

In his Twitter Q&A in November, 2012, Tony Bennett was asked what his favorite Christmas song was; he replied with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Mr. Bennett has recorded two versions: one for the 1968 Snowfall and one for the 2008 A Swingin\’ Christmas. I\’ve been trying to decide for a week or more which version to feature today, but I couldn\’t; I love both versions dearly. So today, there are two versions. Enjoy! And have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

http://open.spotify.com/track/7yUx5eB7jvq8wuhhOn3Nas
http://open.spotify.com/track/0Z52gqfioTOy0goZIrjcNy

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, as well as the full Snowfall and A Swingin\’ Christmas albums are available from iTunes.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: 12 Days of Tony Bennett Christmas, Birmingham-Southern College, Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane

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