The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: I Left My Heart in San Francisco

The song of the day for Monday, June 17, 2013 is “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

About This Song

As today is the one year anniversary of The Year of Tony Bennett, I have no guilt about picking my favorite Tony Bennett song for today. Written by two homesick San Franciscans, George Cory and Douglass Cross, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” is beloved by people all over the world.

About This Version

Today’s version is the live version from the recently released Bennett/Brubeck The House Sessions Live 1962. Tony Bennett and the Ralph Sharon Trio sounded wonderful. It’s great to hear the energy and positive feelings from the stage in this wonderful concert.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1qvWvPH7qqDeGzxtPuvFMB
“I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” as well as the Bennett/Brubeck The White House Sessions Live 1962 album, is available from iTunes, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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Song of the Day: I Left My Heart in San Francisco

As Tony Bennett is performing this evening at Davies Hall in San Francisco, the song of the day for May 23, 2013 is I Left My Heart in San Francisco.

About This Song

What can I say? This is one the best songs ever recorded and it helped make Tony Bennett the legend that he is today. And 50 years after he first recorded it, it sounds as fresh and new as it can possibly be.

About This Version

This is the version recorded for the album in 1962. I never, ever tire of it. This song won Tony Bennett his first Grammy Award for Best Male Solo Performance as well as the Grammy for Record of the Year.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1bYItjcPRtxZs6Ir71O5RB
I Left My Heart in San Francisco, as well the album I Left My Heart in San Francisco is available from iTunes.

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Happy Birthday Douglass Cross

Songwriter Douglass Cross was born on May 4, 1920 in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Douglass Cross, partnered with George Cory, wrote I Left My Heart In San Francisco in 1954. The song was originally written for a performer named Claramae Turner, who did sing it, but never recorded it. Turner suggested that the songwriters pitch it to Tennessee Ernie Ford, who turned it down. They gave a copy of the sheet music to Ralph Sharon, who promptly stuck it in a drawer.

While packing for a tour that would take Sharon and Bennett to San Francisco, he came across the song and packed it, thinking it might be a nice song to perform to the locals in San Francisco. And so in December, 1961, in the Venetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel, Tony Bennett first sang the song that became his trademark. And he hasn’t stopped singing it since.

San Francisco loves Tony Bennett. February 14, 2012 (Valentine’s Day) was declared Tony Bennett Day. The song is played over the public address system after every home game won by the San Francisco Giants. Last year, when the Giants won the World Series, Bennett attended the parade and sang I Left My Heart In San Francisco at their celebration at City Hall.

The song is probably Tony Bennett’s most loved song and he sings it at each and every concert. In the concerts I’ve attended, the feeling from the audience when he sings the song is palpable.

This version is the original, from the album of the same name.

(I Left My Heart) In San Francisco

Listen to (I Left My Heart) In San Francisco on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1962

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Song of the Day: I Left My Heart in San Francisco

The song of the day for Tuesday, April 17, 2013 is I Left My Heart in San Francisco.

About This Song

I Left My Heart in San Francisco was written in 1954 by two somewhat homesick songwriters from San Francisco, George Cory and Douglass Cross.  Even though other singers have recorded this song, there is no doubt that Tony Bennett owns this song completely (so much so, that some people assume that Bennett must be from that city). It was originally released as the B-side on a 45 record with Once Upon a Time (another beautiful song that Bennett sang superbly) and released on February 2, 1962. It may very well be the most successful B-side song ever recorded.

About This Version

If any song in the world is identified with Tony Bennett, it is I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Even though Tony Bennett has sung this song in literally every live concert since 1962, up until 2006, there was only the original 1962 recording. For the first Duets album, which coincided with Mr. Bennett’s 80th birthday, he and Bill Charlap recorded this new version with just voice and piano. It’s really a lovely, poignant recording of this song we all love.

Tony Bennett has said “that song helped make me a world citizen. It allowed me to live, work and sing in any city on the globe. It changed my whole life.”

http://open.spotify.com/track/1tBu276JoMhivxhGEYZXhX
I Left My Heart in San Francisco, as well as the entire Duets: An American Classic album, is available from iTunes.

National Public Radio did a nice story about the recording of this new version of I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Click here to listen to the story, which was recorded in the studio as the recording was made.

This interview with Ralph Sharon for jazzprofessional.com in 1988 describes the lucky accident of how Tony Bennett came to do this song in the first place. Click here to read the interview.

And, if you haven’t had quite enough (and who could ever have too much of this song), here’s a clip of Tony singing the song on Judy Garland’s television show.

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Song of the Day: I Left My Heart in San Francisco

The Year of Tony Bennett closes out our live performances week with I Left My Heart in San Francisco, our song of the day for Saturday, January 26, 2013.

About I Left My Heart in San Francisco

This song was written 1954 by two somewhat homesick songwriters from San Francisco: George Cory and Douglass Cross.

Knowing that Ralph Sharon played with Tony Bennett, the songwriters gave a copy of the music to Mr. Sharon, who promptly put it in a drawer and forgot about it. Some time later, as he was packing for a tour with Mr. Bennett that would take them to San Francisco, he came across the song and put it in his suitcase, thinking that the locals in San Francisco might enjoy hearing it. After a performance at a nightclub in Hot Springs, Arkansas (a concert where underage saxophone player and future President Bill Clinton famously stood outside the club and watched the entire performance through the window), Bennett and Sharon found a piano in the bar at their hotel and started to work on the song. The first fan of the song was the bartender, who said “If you guys record that song, I’ll buy the first copy.”  (Tony Bennett, The Good Life, page 164).

They sang the song at the Fairmont Hotel on opening night, at Mr. Bennett’s first appearance in San Francisco.  Local representatives from Columbia Records heard the song at rehearsal and encouraged Bennett to record it.

About This Version

I absolutely love this version of what is now Tony Bennett’s most-requested song. Hearing it introduced at the Carnegie Hall concert as a new song is delightful. His first recording of the song was in January 1962 and release in February, with this concert in June of the same year. And, of course, Mr. Bennett won the Grammy for Best Male Solo Performance and the song won for Record of the Year. Pretty good for a song that was rescued from a  drawer.

Readers know that I think Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall is one the best live recordings ever released. This particular version of I Left My Heart in San Francisco is sweet, light and beautifully sung. And he sings the verse; one of the reasons I love Tony Bennett as a singer is that he so often sings the verse, when many singers never do.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4pZraXJ3VTorWFtlS1S0Bs
I Left My Heart in San Francisco, as well as the full Carnegie Hall album, is available from iTunes.