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The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

May 21, 2021 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Blues In The Night

The song of the day for Saturday, May 22, 2021, is “Blues In The Night.”

About This Song

“Blues In The Night” was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the 1941 movie Blues In The Night. Arlen wrote the music first and wrote a true blues song. Johnny Mercer, who later wrote the lyrics, drew on his southern heritage to write the exceptional blues lyrics.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Blues In The Night” in 1957 for his album The Beat Of My Heart. Bennett invited drummers and percussionists from all over to play on this album. Jo Jones is featured in this song.

Blues In The Night

Listen to Blues In The Night on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1957.

“Blues In The Night,” as well as The Beat Of My Heart, is available from Apple Music.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Blues in the Night, Harold Arlen, Jo Jones, Johnny Mercer, The Beat of My Heart

March 4, 2021 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: This Time The Dream’s On Me

The song of the day for Friday, March 5, 2021, is “This Time The Dream’s On Me.”

About This Song

“This Time The Dream’s On Me” was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the 1941 film musical, Blues in the Night, which also featured the title song. Blues in the Night is a somewhat film noir musical about a down-on-their-luck band that plays blues music.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “This Time The Dream’s On Me” for his 1960 album Tony Bennett Sings A Stream Of Harold Arlen. Glenn Osser arranged and conducted the orchestra for the album.

This Time The Dream"s On Me

Listen to This Time The Dream"s On Me on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1960.

“This Time The Dream’s On Me,” as well as Tony Bennett Sings A Stream Of Harold Arlen, is available from Apple Music.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Blues in the Night, Glenn Osser, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Tony Bennett, Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen

June 22, 2019 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Playlist of the Week: Tony Loves a Harold Arlen Song

The playlist of the week of June 23 is Tony Loves a Harold Arlen Song.

Harold Arlen is widely considered to be one of America’s finest songwriters. Bennett’s recordings of his work are all wonderful.

Tony Loves a Harold Arlen Song

Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, from The Playground

A Sleepin’ Bee, with lyrics by Truman Capote, from Tony Sings For Two

Blues in the Night, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, from Playin’ With My Friends

Don’t Like Goodbyes, with lyrics by Truman Capote, from The Art of Romance

Ill Wind (You’re Blowin’ Me No Good), with lyrics by Ted Koehler, from Tony Bennett On Holiday

Last Night When We Were Young, with lyrics by Yip Harburg, from Perfectly Frank

One for My Baby (And One More for the Road), with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, on Perfectly Frank

So Long, Big Time, with lyrics by Dory Langon Previn, on The Many Moods of Tony

That Old Black Magic, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, from Bennett & Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962

The Man That Got Away, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, from Tony Sings For Two

Filed Under: Playlist of the Week Tagged With: #tony90, A Sleepin', A Sleepin' Bee, Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive, Bennett & Brubeck: The White House Sessions Live 1962, Blues in the Night, Don't Like Goodbyes, Dory Langdon Previn, Harold Arlen, Ill Wind (You're Blowing Me No Good), Ira Gerswhin, Johnny Mercer, Last Night When We Were Young, One for My Baby (And One More For the Road), Perfectly Frank, Playin' With My Friends, So Long Big Time, Ted Koehler, That Old Black Magic, The Art of Romance, The Man That Got Away, The Many Moods of Tony, The Playground, Tony Bennett, Tony Bennett On Holiday, Truman Capote, Yip Harburg

November 20, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Blues in the Night

The song of the day for Thursday, November 20, 2014 is “Blues in the Night.”

About This Song

“Blues in the Night” was written in 1941 for the film of the same name by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. Arlen wrote the music first and wrote a true blues song. Johnny Mercer, who later wrote the lyrics, drew on his southern heritage to write the exceptional blues lyrics. When Mercer was working on the lyrics, he brought in a version to show Arlen. In the margin he had scribbled “my mama done told me,” but hadn’t meant to use that in the song. Arlen saw it and knew immediately it was perfect. And so it was and still is.

The movie Blues In The Night showed up on Turner Classic Movies a while back and I rather enjoyed it, if for no other reason than the music. It’s not the greatest film ever made, but I related to the group of musicians who were determined to play the kind of music they wanted to play, no matter what.

About This Version

Today’s version of “Blues in the Night” is from Tony Bennett’s third LP album: The Beat of My Heart. It features Jo Jones on drums.

About Today

We pick up our story of the life of Johnny Mercer in 1928 when, at the age of 19, he moved to New York. He was able to find a few acting jobs and pursued his songwriting in his Greenwich Village apartment and a beat-up piano. He sold his first song in 1930 to the Garrick Gaieties: “Out of Breath (and Scared to Death of You).” It was also when he met Ginger Meehan, whom he married in 1931 and stayed married to until his death.

Mercer had the opportunity to go to Hollywood on assignment for a film called Paris in the Spring and was able to meet both Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong while there. Upon his return to New York he was able to apprentice with Yip Harburg on the score for a revue called Americana, which featured one of Harburg’s most famous songs “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?” He also sang with the Paul Whitman Orchestra and generally learned the business in those years. It was during this time he and Hoagy Carmichael first worked together, on a song called “Lazybones,” which did quite well and earned each songwriter the rather large (at that time) royalty check of $1250. This enabled Mercer to join ASCAP and was recognized a songwriter of great promise.

In 1935, Hollywood called again. This time it was RKO, known for its low-budget musicals. Johnny and Ginger made the move to Hollywood.

… tomorrow … Mercer starts writing for the movies …

Blues In The Night

Listen to Blues In The Night on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1957.


“Blues in the Night,” as well as The Beat of My Heart, is available from iTunes.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Blues in the Night, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Johnny Mercer Week, The Beat of My Heart

May 27, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: This Time The Dream’s On Me

The song of the day for Tuesday, May 27, 2014 is “This Time The Dream’s On Me.”

About This Song

Today’s song was written in 1941 by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the film Blues In The Night. Arlen and Mercer also wrote the somewhat more well-known title song for the film as well. “This Time The Dream’s On Me” has been recorded by Marian McPartland, Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald and Chet Baker, among others.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded today’s song in 1960 for his album dedicated to the work of Harold Arlen called Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen. The songs on the album were arranged and conducted by Glenn Osser and the album was produced by Mitch Miller.

http://open.spotify.com/track/32nVwVpaNNg73U4B5KbOrB
“This Time The Dream’s On Me,” as well as the album Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen, is available from iTunes.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Blues in the Night, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen

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