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The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

July 26, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Old Devil Moon

The song of the day for Saturday, July 26, 2014 is “Old Devil Moon.”

About This Song

“Old Devil Moon” was written by Burton Lane (music) and Yip Harburg (lyrics) for the 1947 musical Finian’s Rainbow. It’s far and away the most popular song from the score, though “How Are Things in Gloccamora?” has also found a home in popular music.

The song has been widely recorded. Significant recordings include those by Chet Baker, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Anita O’Day, Len Horne and trombone player J.J. Johnson.

About This Version

Sometimes your author gets hooked on one of Tony Bennett’s albums; when that happens, you’ll see a lot of songs from the same album in a relatively short period of time. Right now, that album is Tony Makes It Happen! Released in 1967, it’s a powerfully sung album with great arrangements of outstanding material. But how can you possibly go wrong with Marion Evans arranging your album? The album deserves a listen if you haven’t thought about it for a while.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4t3I5khZ6TCaoSYYW1cKms
“Old Devil Moon,” as well as the album Tony Makes It Happen!, is available from iTunes.

For our YouTube Saturday offering, here is Tony Bennett singing today’s song at his legendary 1994 MTV Unplugged television performance. He opened the show with “Old Devil Moon.”

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Burton Lane, E.Y Harburg, Finian's Rainbow, Marion Evans, Tony Makes It Happen!, Yip Harburg

April 8, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Remembering Yip Harburg

Today, The Year of Tony Bennett remembers one of America’s finest lyricists, Yip Harburg, who was born on the Lower East Side of New York on April 8, 1896. His birth name was Isadore Hochberg, but he later adopted the name of Edgar Yipsel Harburg and thus the nickname Yip, as he was widely known.

His parents, both Orthodox Jews, had emigrated from Russia and spoke only Yiddish. As the oldest son, he was always called upon when they needed to communicate to anyone outside of their community. He attended high school with Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershowitz); they both wrote on their school paper and remained lifelong friends. After high school, married and with two children, he became the co-owner of an electric appliance company. That business, along with many others, went under following the stock market crash of 1929.

At that time, his friend Ira intervened and suggested that Yip start writing song lyrics. Ira introduced Yip to songwriter Jay Gorney and the two wrote “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?” which became a kind of anthem of the Great Depression. Here’s Al Jolson’s recording from 1931:

Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?

Listen to Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? on Spotify. Al Jolson · Song · 2010.

yip_harburg-2

Based on the success of “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?” Harburg was offered a contract in Hollywood. He was very successful, writing lyrics for music by Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Jerome Kern, Jule Styne and Burton Lane. His biggest success came with the partnership with Harold Arlen to write the score for The Wizard of Oz. Arlen and Harburg won the Academy Award for Best Music, Best Original Song for “Over the Rainbow.”

In the 1940s, Harburg was more active on Broadway, writing Bloomer Girl with Harold Arlen and Finian’s Rainbow with Burton Lane. He also became more politically active. His father had been a socialist and Yip was heavily involved in social activism. Though he never joined the Communist Party, he was called before the infamous House UnAmerican Activities Committee and was blacklisted in Hollywood.

Yip Harburg died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on March 5, 1981.

In addition to his wonderful body of work, he also left us a remarkable social consciousness, which is reflected in the Yip Harburg Foundation, which supports world peace and works to end discrimination and social injustice. From their website:

Yip fought for social and economic justice for all people his whole life. The Yip Harburg Foundation was created to promote educational opportunity, social and economic justice, world peace and Yip’s artistic legacy.

We leave you today with Yip singing “Over The Rainbow.”

Filed Under: Etcetera Tagged With: E.Y Harburg, Happy Birthday Yip Harburg, Yip Harburg

April 8, 2013 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Last Night When We Were Young

E.Y. “Yip” Harburg was born on April 8, 1896 in New York. He was one of the great American lyricist, working with composers including Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Jerome Kern, Jule Styne and Burton Lane.

Yip Harburg

In honor of his birthday, our song of the day is one of our favorites that he wrote with Harold Arlen, Last Night When We Were Young.

About This Song

Arlen and Harburg wrote Last Night When We Were Young in 1935. It was to be featured by Lawrence Tibbett as a solo number in the film Metropolitan, but that vocal version was cut from the film, though the melody was used as background music. Frank Sinatra’s recording of Last Night When We Were Young in his 1954 album In The Wee Small Hours is widely considered to be one of Sinatra’s masterpieces. The song was much-loved by Judy Garland as well.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded Last Night When We Were Young for his 1992 tribute album to Sinatra, Perfectly Frank. His is a great version of a great song.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1qgQmCZ3fUkG2dNSYI6OvN
Last Night When We Were Young, as well as the full Perfectly Frank album, is available from iTunes.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: E.Y Harburg, Happy Birthday to Yip Harburg, Harold Arlen, Perfectly Frank, Yip Harburg

February 16, 2013 By Suzanne 1 Comment

Song of the Day: Somewhere Over The Rainbow

As we close out Harold Arlen Week at the Year of Tony Bennett, we choose one of Arlen’s most iconic songs for the song of the day for Saturday, February 16, 2013: Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

About Somewhere Over The Rainbow

If there is one of Harold Arlen’s songs that is known world-wide by nearly everyone, it would be Somewhere Over The Rainbow from the 1939 The Wizard of Oz. Over The Rainbow, as the song is officially known, was written by Arlen and E.Y ‘Yip’ Harburg for Judy Garland to sing. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

In 2001, The Recording Industry Association of America and The National Endowment for the Arts set out to choose the top 365 songs of the 20th century for their historical significance. Somewhere Over The Rainbow was ranked number 1. The American Film Institute named it the greatest movie song of all time.

Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz
Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz

It’s interesting to note that the song was cut after a preview of the film because Louis B. Mayer and producer Mervyn LeRoy thought it slowed down the picture. It was restored in the film, thankfully, due to associate producer Arthur Freed’s insistence.

It is truly one of America’s greatest and most beloved songs.

The Year of Tony Bennett is happy to have honored the work of Harold Arlen, one of America’s greatest composers. His body of work is rich and Tony Bennett’s recordings of Arlen’s work are masterful. We have enjoyed programming the songs this week and hope you have enjoyed it as well. We would like to acknowledge the support of Arlen’s son, Sam Arlen, for our project and again would like to remind our readers that the Official Harold Arlen Website at www.haroldarlen.com is an enormously valuable resource for anyone interested in the music of the great Harold Arlen. And yes, we’ll be doing this all over again next year.

About This Version

Today’s version is from Tony Bennett’s 1995 Here’s To The Ladies, comprised of songs made famous by the great women singers of the 20th century.

http://open.spotify.com/track/5jGWwfmve3p9h26ujnEmwq
Somewhere Over The Rainbow, as well as the full Here’s To The Ladies album, is available from iTunes.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: E.Y Harburg, Harold Arlen, Judy Garland, Sam Arlen, Yip Harburg

February 14, 2013 By Suzanne 1 Comment

Song of the Day: Last Night When We Were Young

In recognition of Harold Arlen Week and Valentine’s Day, Last Night When We Were Young is the song of the day for Thursday, February 14, 2013.

About Last Night When We Were Young

This wonderful song was written in 1935 by Harold Arlen with lyrics by E.Y. (Yip) Harburg. When Arlen first wrote this song, he played it for George Gershwin, who found it too complicated; Jerome Kern found it too esoteric (Edward Jablonski, Harold Arlen: Rhythm, Rainbows and Blues). Alec Wilder, on the other hand, said that “This is a most remarkable and beautiful song. It is one that goes far beyond the boundaries of popular music. For me, it’s a concert song without a trace of trying to be.” Yip Harburg has said that “the juxtaposition those two phrases is almost a whole world of philosophy.”

yip-harburg-and-harold-arlen-1-d15

It was one of Arlen’s favorite songs and with the excellent lyrics by Yip Harburg, it became a standard for major singers. It was a favorite of both Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra.

About This Version

Tony Bennett first recorded Last Night When We Were Young in 1959 for To My Wonderful One. Today’s version, however, comes from his 1992 Perfectly Frank. This album is, for this writer, as perfect as any human endeavor can be. Tony Bennett’s version is perfectly phrased and perfectly sung; it is a true masterpiece.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1qgQmCZ3fUkG2dNSYI6OvN
Last Night When We Were Young, as well as the full Perfectly Frank album, is available from iTunes.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: E.Y Harburg, Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg

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