The song of the day for Saturday, October 29, 2016 is “Because of You.”

About This Song

“Because of You” was written in 1940 by Arthur Hammerstein (uncle to Oscar) and Dudley Wilkinson, though it seems that the song wasn’t recorded until 1951 when a very young Tony Bennett recorded it.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Because of You” in April, 1951 and released it later that year. It was arranged by Percy Faith. It was his first major hit at Columbia and sat at number one for ten weeks. He sang this song last Wednesday at his concert in Portland. I enjoyed hearing it so much that I wanted to feature it on the blog.

“Because of You,” as well as all the songs collected on The Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes.

About Today

Our video today is Tony and k.d. lang, who recorded “Because of You” in 2006 for Duets: An American Classic, discussing the song with Phil Ramone and also recording it in the studio.