The song of the day for Saturday, July 1, 2017 is “.”

About This Song

Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” in 1933 for the movie Moulin Rouge, where it was sung by Constance Bennett. Although numerous artists have recorded “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (including Bing Crosby 1944), this song is very strongly identified with Tony Bennett. In fact, his demo record of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” was heard by Mitch Miller and got Bennett his first recording contract with Columbia Records.

About This Version

Tony Bennett’s first recording session with Columbia Records was held on April 17, 1950 at the CBS 30th Street Studio. With Mitch Miller as producer, Bennett recorded four songs that day: “Let’s Make Love,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” “I Wanna Be Loved,” and our song of the day, “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”

“The Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” as well as other early recordings are collected on The Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, which is available from iTunes.

About Today

In 2006, Tony Bennett recorded “The Boulevard of Broken Dream” with Sting for Duets: An American Classic. Here’s our duo in the recording studio, introduced by Phil Ramone.