The song of the day for Friday, May 8, 2015 is “Dancing In The Dark.”

About This Song

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

About This Version

This has always been one of my favorite songs by Schwartz and Dietz. It conjures up pure romance and Bennett’s version gives it all that and more. I like the instrumental interlude — I start to dance in my head and love hearing Bennett humming a little throughout. This was his second recording of this song; the first was in 1961 for My Heart Sings.

Here is Fred Astaire and the always exquisite Cyd Charisse dancing to “Dancing In The Dark” from 1953 film of The Band Wagon. It’s Astaire at his best: lyrical and romantic.