The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: I’ve Got Just About Everything

The song of the day for Wednesday, September 17, 2025, is “I’ve Got Just About Everything.”

About Today

We are honoring the late Ralph Sharon, Tony Bennett’s pianist and musical director from 1957 to 1965 and again from 1986 to 2001. Sharon was born in London on September 17, 1924. After he retired in 2001 to Boulder, Colorado, he continued playing local gigs, including teas at the St. Julien Hotel. He died on March 31, 2015 at the age of 91.

Ralph Sharon links:

About This Song

“I’ve Got Just About Everything” was written by Bob Dorough in the early 1960s. Dorough is well-known for his work on the TV series Schoolhouse Rock!

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “I’ve Got Just About Everything” on March 17, 1964, with The Ralph Sharon Trio for his 1964 album When Lights Are Low. The trio featured Sharon on piano, Hal Gaylord on bass, and Billy Exiner on drums.

“I’ve Got Just About Everything,” as well as When Lights Are Low, is available on Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: I’ve Got Just About Everything

The song of the day for Saturday, September 17, 2022, is “I’ve Got Just About Everything.”

About Today

Today we are remembering Ralph Sharon, Tony Bennett’s pianist and musical director starting in 1957 and worked with Tony (with one hiatus) until 2001. Ralph was born in London on September 17, 1923, and died in Boulder, Colorado on March 31, 2015, at the age of 91. Sharon was instrumental in Bennett’s career. In addition to his work with Bennett, he worked with artists including Rosemary Clooney, Nancy Wilson, Robert Goulet, and Johnny Hartman, in addition to a solo career as a pianist and arranger.

Bennett remembers Sharon in his book Just Getting Started:

Ralph was a great piano player, who would record dozens of albums on his own. But I especially treasured that he was a superb—even the perfect—accompanist. He didn’t play a melody and just expect a singer to follow. We always performed a subtle, unspoken duet, in which Ralph knew when to pull back, when to go ahead, and how to strike a note just right alongside my voice. We got better and more practiced at that over fifty years of working together, sometimes three hundred shows a year. But to be sure, we felt a lot of closeness from the first. And of course, Ralph had the wisdom and talent to find the sheet music to “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” one night in a shirt drawer in the dresser of his hotel room in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a story told earlier in this book. That song took us around the world, in so many ways. But he always said, “If I hadn’t looked for that shirt in that drawer, it would never have happened.”

About This Song

“I’ve Got Just About Everything” was written by composer and jazz pianist Bob Dorough. In his liner notes for Forty/Fifty Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett, Bennett says that “this one explains how a singer feels when he sings a song everyone likes.”

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “I’ve Got Just About Everything” on March 27, 1964, with the Ralph Sharon Trio, for the album When Lights Are Low. It was arranged by Ralph Sharon.

This has always been a favorite song and recording of mine. Not only is an effective arrangement, but Sharon’s piano is a joy to listen to.

“I’ve Got Just About Everything,” as well as When Lights Are Low is available on Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: I’ve Got Just About Everything

The song of the day for Friday, September 17, 2021, is “I’ve Got Just About Everything.”

About Today

Ralph Sharon, Tony Bennett’s long-time pianist and musical director, was born on September 17, 1923, in London, England. We’re honoring him with today’s song that really shows what a fine pianist Sharon was.

About This Song

“I’ve Got Just About Everything” was written by Bob Dorough. The song is a joy to listen to. In his liner notes for Forty Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett, Bennet says that “this one explains how a singer feels when he sings a song everyone likes.”

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “I’ve Got Just About Everything” in 1964 with The Ralph Sharon Trio for the album When Lights Are Low. In addition to Sharon on piano, the trio featured Hal Gaylord on bass and Billy Exiner on drums.

I"ve Got Just About Everything

Listen to I"ve Got Just About Everything on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1964

“I’ve Got Just About Everything,” as well as When Lights Are Low is available on Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: The Man That Got Away

The song of the day for Thursday, September 17, 2020, is “The Man That Got Away.”

About Today

Today we are celebrating Ralph Sharon, on the anniversary of his birth on September 17, 1923. Sharon was born in London and emigrated to the United States in 1954. He served as Tony Bennett’s pianist and musical director for many years.

About This Song

“The Man That Got Away” was written by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin for Judy Garland to sing in the 1954 film A Star Is Born. Her performance of the song is legendary in film history, with 27 takes in three days, three separate sessions, and two different directors. The filmed scene is brilliant and made the song a huge hit for Garland, who sang it in most of her concerts.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Ralph Sharon recorded “The Man That Got Away” in 1959. They booked the studio for the day. Sharon brought a briefcase of sheet music and they leafed through the music, picked songs that they liked, and recorded them in one or two takes. The result was the album Tony Sings For Two, released in 1961.

“The Man That Got Away,” as well as Tony Sings For Two, is available from Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: Bewitched

The song of the day for Tuesday, September 17, 2019, is “Bewitched.”

About Today

Ralph Sharon, Tony Bennett’s long-term pianist and musical director, was born on September 17, 1923, in London. Sharon first started working with Tony Bennett in 1957 and, after a hiatus in the late 1960s and 1970s, rejoined Bennett, touring and recording until his retirement in 2001. Ralph Sharon passed away on March 31, 2015. Tony remembered him in his book Just Getting Started:

I’m still inspired and guided by what Ralph told me so many years ago, in so many words: keep growing, and believe in what you do. I lost a real brother when Ralph passed away in 2015. I hope to keep going for a while. But it’s nice to know that when my time comes, Ralph and I will accompany each other.

About This Song

“Bewitched,” which often goes by its “full” name “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered,” was written in 1940 by Richard Rodgers and Larry Hart for the Broadway musical Pal Joey. Notable recordings are by Benny Goodman, Mel Tormé, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra. Alec Wilder admired the lyric and the verse, but found the song “notey.” In spite of being notey, it’s a cornerstone of the American Songbook.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Ralph Sharon recorded “Bewitched” on October 29, 1959. Bennett describes that day in Getting Started:

We booked time at the studio and pored through music books, trying one tune after another. The arrangements were spontaneous, and we finished each song in one or two takes. In one afternoon we laid down sixteen tunes—which must be some kind of record—twelve of which made is onto the album, which became 1961’s Tony Sings For Two. Mitch Miller showed up at the start of these sessions, furious that I was really going through with it. When he saw that there was no dissuading me, he turned to Frank Laico and said, “I’m leaving. I can’t support this.” Tony Sings For Two turned out to be one of my finest records ever.

Tony Sings For Two wasn’t released until 1961. It’s a remarkable album created by two remarkable artists.

“Bewitched,” as well as Tony Sings For Two, is available from iTunes.

As a postscript, I will also note the search term used by an anonymous reader who found information about this song on this blog by typing “bewiced bwildered”. Other related search terms include “how to play like Ralph Sharon” and my favorite of all “i just want to hear tony bennett and nobody else right now”.

I think if I were ever tempted to write an essay or book about my experience with The Year of Tony Bennett, I would have to name it I Just Want to Hear Tony Bennett and Nobdy Else Right Now.