The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

By Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Out Of This World

The song of the day for Sunday, September 15, 2013 is “Out Of This World.”

About This Song

If there is anything better than a Harold Arlen song, it’s a Harold Arlen song with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. And so, today’s song of the day is Arlen’s and Mercer’s 1944 song “Out Of This World,” written for the film of the same name. The film starred actor Eddie Bracken, but the song was sung by Bing Crosby.

About This Version

Tony Bennett has recorded “Out Of This World” twice: once in 1960 for the album Alone Together (arranged by Frank DeVol) and again in 1967 for the album For Once In My Life, arranged by Marion Evans. Both versions have their strong points, but for today I chose the 1967 version. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I only wish the hardest decisions I had to make involved making me choose between two superb versions of the same wonderful song by two great songwriters sung by Tony Bennett.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1lbNdANp7StpkibXrAMjbi
“Out Of This World,” as well as the album For Once In My Life, is available from iTunes and Amazon.com.

By 1 Comment

Song of the Day: They Can’t Take That Away From Me

The song of the day for Tuesday, August 13, 2013 is “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”

About This Song

“They Can’t Take That Away From Me” was written in 1937 by George and Ira Gershwin for the movie Shall We Dance. The song was introduced by Fred Astaire, who sang the song to Ginger Rogers. However, unlike many of Astaire’s performances in his films with Ginger Rogers, he does not dance to this number in the movie; instead, he stands on the deck of a ferry and sings to a seated Ginger Rogers. George Gershwin died two months after the film’s release; it was his last score.

The song has been popular since its release and has been recorded many times, including those by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Errol Gardner, Sarah Vaughan and Charlie Parker.

About This Version

This beautiful version of “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” is from Tony Bennett’s 1967 album For Once In My Life. The very fine arrangement is by Torrie Zito.

http://open.spotify.com/track/3QKaf1BKP7Th6IQJX8FhuJ
“They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” as well as the album For Once In My Life, is available from iTunes.

By 1 Comment

Song of the Day: Out Of This World

The song of the day for Sunday, July 14, 2013 is “Out Of This World.”

About This Song

“Out Of This World” was written for the 1945 film of the same name by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. Out Of This World was billed as a kind of science fiction love story where the actor Eddie Bracken opens his mouth to sing this song, but Bing Crosby’s voice comes out. I’ll have to put this on my TCM watch list. In any case, it’s a beautiful ballad with an excellent lyric by Mercer. The Bing Crosby version was popular, as well as recordings by Jo Stafford, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney and, of course, Tony Bennett.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Out Of This World” in 1967 for his album For Once In My Life. It was arranged by the great Marion Evans. Evans has done the arrangements for the new Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga jazz album that is currently being recorded.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1lbNdANp7StpkibXrAMjbi
“Out Of This World,” as well as the album For Once In My Life, is available from iTunes.

By Leave a Comment

Marc Anthony and Tony Bennett Special Preview

Tony Bennett on Twitter: "Don't forget the Marc Anthony duet will be available tomorrow to buy at iTunes! / Twitter"

Don't forget the Marc Anthony duet will be available tomorrow to buy at iTunes!


Tony Bennett on Twitter: "In the meantime, head over to Amazon to pre-order the album: http://t.co/eQ2wDnGb / Twitter"

In the meantime, head over to Amazon to pre-order the album: http://t.co/eQ2wDnGb

As a special preview of Tony Bennett’s upcoming album Viva Duets (available on October 22, 2012), For Once in My Life, featuring Marc Anthony, will be available for purchase from iTunes on Tuesday, September 25.

The in-studio video of the recording session will be released the next day, Wednesday, September 26, on Tony Bennett’s Vevo station.

I believe this is going to be an exciting album and I can’t wait to hear the duet and see the video.

Links for Viva Duets

Tony Bennett iTunes Store

Tony Bennett Vevo Station

Preorder Viva Duets from Amazon

By Leave a Comment

Marc Anthony & Tony Bennett For Once in My Life: Special Preview

Mark your calendar for Tuesday, September 25, 2012!

Tony Bennett on Twitter: "My duet with @MarcAnthony will be available next Tuesday! Get the details here: http://t.co/NzgWAqid / Twitter"

My duet with @MarcAnthony will be available next Tuesday! Get the details here: http://t.co/NzgWAqid

Marc Anthony on Twitter: "Enjoy the digital release of "For Once in my life" with my friend @itstonybennett September 25th http://t.co/ziIwNZli pic.twitter.com/q4NIFv4H / Twitter"

Enjoy the digital release of "For Once in my life" with my friend @itstonybennett September 25th http://t.co/ziIwNZli pic.twitter.com/q4NIFv4H

A special preview release of their duet from the upcoming Viva Duets album, For Once In My Life, will be available next Tuesday. And, a video made during their recording session, will be available the next day on Tony’s Vevo channel. You can view the trailer video for Viva Duets at the Vevo channel now.

Isn’t that a great photograph?

Subscribe to The Year of Tony Bennett

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Current Reader Favorites