The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Lucky To Be Me

The song of the day for Friday, September 27, 2024, is “Lucky To Be Me.”

About September 27-30, 2024

For the next four days, we are focusing on the album Together Again, released in 1977. In those four days, Tony Bennett and Bill Evans recorded the songs for their second album and we’ll be featuring songs from that album.

About This Song

“Lucky To Be Me” was written by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green for the 1944 Broadway musical On The Town. The song (as were most of the songs from the original score) was cut from the 1949 film.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Bill Evans recorded “Lucky To Be Me” in September 1976 for their album Together Again. The album was released on Bennett’s Improv label.

“Lucky To Be Me,” as well as Together Again, is available on Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: I Wish I Were In Love Again

The song of the day for Sunday, November 1, 2015 is “I Wish I Were In Love Again.”

About This Song

Richard Rodgers and Larry Hart wrote “I Wish I Were In Love Again” for the 1937 musical Babes in Arms. It was a favorite song of Judy Garland, who recorded it in 1940. Other recordings include those by Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Audra McDonald.

Your author is hopelessly enchanted with the lyrics for this song. I just love the music of Rodgers and Hart.

When love congeals it soon reveals
The faint aroma of performing seals
The double-crossing of a pair of heels
I wish I were in love again

About These Versions

Today we have three versions of today’s song. The first two are from Bennett’s own label from the 1970s, Improv, and the wonderful recordings of the songs of Rodgers and Hart with the Ruby Braff / George Barnes Quartet, recorded in 1973. These 1973 recordings always seem completely in the period they were written in. Compare these two to our third version, recorded in 1992 for Perfectly Frank. This version is more urbane. Lots to listen to here.

1973-1

I Wish I Were In Love Again

Listen to I Wish I Were In Love Again on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 2004


“I Wish I Were In Love Again,” as well as The Complete Improv Recordings, is available from iTunes.

1973-2

I Wish I Were In Love Again - Album Version - (Alt. Tk1)

Listen to I Wish I Were In Love Again - Album Version - (Alt. Tk1) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 2004


“I Wish I Were In Love Again (Alternate Take #1),” as well as The Complete Improv Recordings, is available from iTunes.

I Wish I Were In Love Again

Listen to I Wish I Were In Love Again on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1992


“I Wish I Were In Love Again,” as well as Perfectly Frank, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Reflections

The song of the day for Tuesday, June 17, 2014 is “Reflections.”

About This Song

The music for “Reflections” was written by Duke Ellington as a piano solo titled “Reflections in D” in 1953. The lyrics, written by Milton Raskin and Marjorie Houseman, were added later.

The piano solo was recorded by Bill Evans in 1978 at a concert at Carnegie Hall, released that year on the album New Conversations.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Reflections” for the first album released on his own Improv label, Life Is Beautiful. It was arranged by Torrie Zito and features Zito on piano, Chuck Hughes on drums and John Guiffrida on bass.

http://open.spotify.com/track/6gRs3mGqP2QjF6sZ5Uz4Y4
“Reflections,” as well as all of the songs collected on The Complete Improv Recordings, is available from iTunes.

And, if you’re interested, here is Ellington playing it himself, as recorded in April, 1953. It’s a beautiful piano solo by a great artist.

Reflections In D

Listen to Reflections In D on Spotify. Song · Duke Ellington · 1989

And, finally, Bill Evans from 1978 on New Conversations.

Reflections In D

Listen to Reflections In D on Spotify. Song · Bill Evans · 1978

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Song of the Day: Thou Swell

The song of the day for Saturday, June 1, 2013 is “Thou Swell.”

About This Song

“Thou Swell” is one of Rodgers and Hart’s earlier songs, written in 1927 for A Connecticut Yankee. Based on the Mark Twain novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the musical concerns a young man about to be married who dreams that he is part of the court of King Arthur in the year 528.  The lyrics cleverly play with both the old and new language: thou and swell; thine eyes are cute too; I’d choose a sweet lollapaloosa in thee.

About This Version

Your song of the day chooser obviously has her favorites and returns to them often: Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, “The Rules of the Road,” and Rodgers and Hart. Between repeated playings of the new Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962 all week, she has been listening to a lot of Rodgers and Hart and was reminded that not only is “Thou Swell” a charming song, but that Tony Bennett’s recording of it is rather swell too.

The two Rodgers and Hart albums were the first albums that Bennett created on his own Improv label after leaving Columbia.  Not only are they wonderful songs, but the George Barnes / Ruby Braff Quartet with Bennett’s voice is perfect. The unusual quartet featured two guitars (Barnes and Wayne Wright), cornet (Ruby Braff) and bass (John Guiffrida). No piano, no drums, no strings, no reeds. For this author, Bennett is at his very best when he sings with small, intimate groups (as on these albums and the 1964 When Lights Are Low with the Ralph Sharon Trio and the 1961 Tony Sings For Two, with just Sharon on piano). There is a purity in these albums and Bennett’s ever-present exploration and commitment to the emotional content of the songs he sings is enhanced. Tony: thou swell, thou witty, thou grand.

Thou Swell

Tony Bennett · Sings The Rodgers & Hart Songbook · Song · 1973

“Thou Swell,” as well as Tony Bennett Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook, is available from iTunes. This contains both Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs and Tony Bennett Sings … More Great Rodgers & Hart.

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Song of the Day: I Could Write A Book

The song of the day for Wednesday, January 30, 2012 is I Could Write A Book.

About I Could Write A Book

Composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, I Could Write A Book is one of the hit songs from the 1940 musical Pal Joey (the other being Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered). Rodgers and Hart had a magnificent career and worked together from 1919 until Hart’s death in 1943. They wrote two more musicals after Pal Joey: By Jupiter and A Connecticut Yankee. After Hart’s death, Rodgers partnered with Oscar Hammerstein II.

The contribution of Rodgers and Hart to the American Songbook cannot be underestimated. Mountain Greenery, Thou Swell, Blue Moon, This Can’t Be Love and many, many more are some of the songs that were popular when written and remain popular today with jazz and cabaret singers.

10RodgersHart

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded two Rodgers and Hart albums for his Improv label: Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers and Hart Songs and Tony Bennett Sings More Great Rodgers and Hart, both released in 1973.

Bennett is an excellent interpreter of the songs of Rodgers and Hart. The albums are also remarkable for the musicians he recorded the albums with. Bennett was a big fan of the cornet player Ruby Braff. Together, they created a wonderful sound with Braff’s cornet, George Barnes and Wayne Wright on guitar, and John Guiffrida on bass. No drums, no piano: just cornet, two guitars and bass. It’s a warm, inviting and very intimate sound that Bennett’s voice fits beautifully with.

I Could Write A Book originally appeared on Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs.

I Could Write A Book

Listen to I Could Write A Book on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1973

I Could Write A Book, as well as the full Tony Bennett Sings Rodgers and Hart, is available from iTunes.