The song of the day for Monday, February 11, 2013 is One For My Baby (And One More For The Road).

About One For My Baby

This song was written for the 1943 Fred Astaire film, The Sky’s The Limit by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and was introduced by Astaire.

Harold Arlen considered this song one of his top two compositions (the other being Last Night When We Were Young). It’s not the standard 32-bar structure, but instead run 48 bars; Arlen sometimes called it one of his “tapeworms” because it kind of wanders along. The Mercer lyrics are some of his best. No stranger to bars, Mercer is said to have written the lyrics on a napkin while sitting at the bar  P.J. Clarke’s in New York.

About This Version

Tony Bennett has recorded this song several times in his career: as a single in 1956 and with John Mayer on Duets II in 2011. Two wonderful live performances have been recorded as well: his legendary 1962 Carnegie Hall Concert and the recently available 1964 Live At The Sahara: From This Moment On.

Today’s version is from his 1992 album, Perfectly Frank.

http://open.spotify.com/track/3dq31zC7KlxVhnFInGbQBd
One For My Baby, as well as the full Perfectly Frank album, is available from iTunes.