The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Over The Rainbow

The song of the day for Saturday, June 21, 2013 is “Over the Rainbow.”

About This Song

Today’s song is, of course, from the great 1939 film The Wizard Of Oz and was written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. And, famously, introduced by Judy Garland. It also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The American Film Institute, in its list of the 100 greatest movie songs, ranked it as #1 and The National Endowment For The Arts named it “The Song” of the 20th Century. NPR has an excellent story that analyzes today’s “Over The Rainbow”; click here to listen. Not surprisingly, Judy Garland introduced five of the top 100 songs on the list, adding “The Man That Got Away” (#11), “The Trolley Song” (#26), “Get Happy” (#61) and “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” (#76). Tony Bennett has recorded all of these songs introduced by Judy Garland.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Over The Rainbow” in 1960 for Tony Bennett Sings A String Of Harold Arlen. The arrangement is by Glenn Osser and is really quite nice. One of the many reasons I love this version is that Bennett sings the verse, which was cut from the movie and is seldom heard.

http://open.spotify.com/track/06ElUZ4yGFDhA5k2wwpn3p
“Over The Rainbow,” as well Tony Bennett Sings A String Of Harold Arlen, is available from iTunes.

And since it’s Saturday, here’s the lyricist Yip Harburg, talking about and singing his song:

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Song of the Day: The Man That Got Away

The song of the day for Tuesday, June 10, 2014 is “The Man That Got Away.”

The Year of Tony Bennett is pleased to feature this song in tribute to the late Judy Garland, who was born on June 10, 1922.

About This Song

“The Man That Got Away” was written in 1953 for the movie A Star Is Born by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin; the song was written specifically for Judy Garland to sing. The filmed version of this song is one the greatest musical numbers ever filmed.

It’s also one of Arlen’s most popular songs and has been widely recorded by both women and men (though often as “The Gal That Got Away”) including Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Cher and Ella Fitzgerald.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “The Man That Got Away” for one of my favorite of his albums: Tony Sings For Two. It’s just Tony Bennett accompanied by Ralph Sharon on piano and it’s about as perfect as can be.

http://open.spotify.com/track/2rmnQNHuDsDExyiWLam3SC
“The Man That Got Away,” as well as the album Tony Sings For Two, is available from iTunes.

And, because we are honoring Judy Garland today, here she is singing today’s song. From A Star Is Born:

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Song of the Day: Out Of This World

The song of the day for Thursday, May 29, 2014 is “Out Of This World.”

About This Song

Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote “Out Of This World” in 1945 for a movie of the same name. The song was sung in the movie by Bing Crosby, dubbing in for the voice of Eddie Bracken. The first recording of “Out Of This World” was in 1944 by Jo Stafford with Paul Weston and His Orchestra. Other recordings include those by Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Mel Tormé, Rosemary Clooney and, of course, Tony Bennett.

Alec Wilder wrote in American Popular Song that this song is “one of Arlen’s most direct and deliberately unrhythmic melodies, and unlike any of his other lyric ballads. …. It is a very strong song, with splendid lyric support in a John Mercer lyric.”

About This Version

I guess I’m on a Johnny Mercer roll … this is the third Mercer song in three day consecutive days and the second written by Harold Arlen. Today’s song is from Bennett’s 1967 album For Once In My Life. The song was arranged and conducted by the wonderfully talented Marion Evans and was recorded in January, 1967.

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

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Song of the Day: This Time The Dream’s On Me

The song of the day for Tuesday, May 27, 2014 is “This Time The Dream’s On Me.”

About This Song

Today’s song was written in 1941 by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the film Blues In The Night. Arlen and Mercer also wrote the somewhat more well-known title song for the film as well. “This Time The Dream’s On Me” has been recorded by Marian McPartland, Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald and Chet Baker, among others.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded today’s song in 1960 for his album dedicated to the work of Harold Arlen called Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen. The songs on the album were arranged and conducted by Glenn Osser and the album was produced by Mitch Miller.

http://open.spotify.com/track/32nVwVpaNNg73U4B5KbOrB
“This Time The Dream’s On Me,” as well as the album Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Don’t Like Goodbyes

The song of the day for Friday, May 16, 2014 is “Don’t Like Goodbyes.”

About This Song

“Don’t Like Goodbyes” was written by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Arlen and Truman Capote, for the 1954 Broadway musical House of Flowers, based on Capote’s novella of the same name. The song was introduced by Pearl Bailey. While the musical was not well-reviewed, the Arlen-Capote score is quite wonderful, including not only today’s song but the exquisite “A Sleepin’ Bee,” which Tony Bennett has recorded twice (in 1959 for Tony Sings For Two and at the 1962 Carnegie Hall concert).

About This Version

Today’s song is from Tony Bennett’s 2004 masterful The Art of Romance and was beautifully arranged by Jorge Calandrelli. The Art of Romance was not the first Tony Bennett I listened to, but it most definitely is the album that won my heart; all the rest followed along soon afterwards. It will always be on my desert island list of CDs. The album was produced by Phil Ramone and features the quartet of Lee Musker on piano, Gray Sargent on guitar, Paul Langosch on bass and Clayton Cameron on drums.

http://open.spotify.com/track/7ja013Awl7wR2i93eNQcTW
“Don’t Like Goodbyes,” as well as The Art of Romance, is available from iTunes.

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