The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: There Will Never Be Another You

The Song of the Day for Tuesday, November 27, 2012 is There Will Never Be Another You.

About There Will Never Be Another You

This song was written by Harry Warren, with lyrics by Mack Gordon for the 1942 film musical Iceland, starring Sonja Henie. I first fell in love with this song when it was featured in one of my favorite movies, The World According To Garp. The song is a jazz standard and has been recorded by Rosemary Clooney, Chet Baker, Lionel Hampton, Frank Sinatra and Art Tatum. It really is a beautiful song.

About This Version

This  version is from Mr. Bennett’s 1959 album In Person! With Count Basie and His Orchestra (compiled on From Now On, released in 2012).

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Song of the Day: A Weaver of Dreams / There Will Never Be Another You

The Song of the Day for October 8, 2012  is the beautiful medley of A Weaver of Dreams and There Will Never Be Another You.

About A Weaver of Dreams and There Will Never Be Another You

A Weaver of Dreams was written by Victor Young and Jack Elliott.

There Will Never Be Another You was written by Harry Warren, with lyrics by Mack Gordon. It was written for the 1942 movie Iceland, starring Sonja Henie. It is widely played jazz standard and has been recorded by many artists, including Chet Baker, Nat King Cole, and Frank Sinatra.

About This Version

This medley is from Tony Bennett’s 1990 Astoria: Portrait of the Artist.  This album is a favorite of this author and this arrangement is really outstanding. Hope you enjoy it.

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Song of the Day: The Boulevard of Broken Dreams

The Song of the Day for September 10, 2012 is The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

About The Boulevard of Broken Dreams

This song was written by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics) in 1933.  It appears in the 1934 film Moulin Rouge and was sung by Constance Bennett.

About This Version

I think it can be said, in all fairness, that The Boulevard of Broken Dreams was the song that propelled Tony Bennett to stardom. In 1950, he made a demo recording of Crazy Rhythm and The Boulevard of Broken Dreams. The great Hugh Martin (yes, I’m biased about Mr. Martin; he and I are from the same town and attended the same college) heard it and was very enthusiastic about the young Mr. Bennett.  A bit later, Mitch Miller at Columbia heard the recording and that demo song landed Tony Bennett his contract at Columbia.  He re-recorded The Boulevard of Broken Dreams with Columbia and that version was released as a single and was a great hit.

Today’s version was recorded for the masterful Astoria: Portrait Of The Artist, released in 1990. Arranged by Jorge Calandrelli, and accompanied by the Ralph Sharon Trio (with Paul Langosch (bass) and Joe LaBarbera (drums), this version is, for me, more haunting, being sung from the mature man’s point of view.

Mr. Bennett’s rendition of The Boulevard of Broken Dreams was one of the highlights from his Bumbershoot concert last week. This  version from Astoria has a similar emotional punch for me.

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Boulevard of Broken Dreams

The Song of the Day for August 6, 2012 is Boulevard of Broken Dreams, by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics) was written in 1993 and was used in the 1934 film Moulin Rouge. Tony originally recorded the song in 1949 on a demo record. He recorded the song for Columbia in 1950 and it was his first big hit. Tony sang the song at the Paramount Theater when he was invited to perform there by Bob Hope.

Today we feature a version of Boulevard of Broken Dreams that you may not have heard. This version was recorded for Astoria: Portrait of the Artist (which is in my top five favorite Tony Bennett albums) in 1990.