The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: The Way You Look Tonight

The Year of Tony Bennett pays tribute today to the great Jerome Kern, born on January 27, 1885. We honor Jerome Kern with our song of the day for Saturday, January 27, 2013: The Way You Look Tonight.

About The Way You Look Tonight

Written for the 1936 Fred Astaire film, Swing Time, The Way You Look Tonight is by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.  It immediately became a standard for popular and jazz singers, including Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday. It has also become a jazz instrumental favorite, with recordings by Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson, among others.

Dorothy Fields is quoted as saying

The first time Jerry played the melody for me I went out and started to cry. The release absolutely killed me. I couldn’t stop, it was so beautiful.

About This Version

Tony Bennett first recorded The Way You Look Tonight in 1958 and was featured on the album Long Ago … And Far Away.

Today’s version is from 1997. Originally recorded for the soundtrack for My Best Friend’s Wedding, it was included on Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Volume 2 from the 2011 Tony Bennett Complete Collection. Mr. Bennett sings this song at most, if not all, of his live performances. Viva Duets, released in 2012, features a duet of this song with Thalia.

The Way You Look Tonight

Listen to The Way You Look Tonight on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 2012

The Way You Look Tonight, as well as Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Volume 2, is available at iTunes.

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Song of the Day: The Way You Look Tonight

The song of the day for Monday, December 10, 2012 is The Way You Look Tonight. We feature this duet with Thalia to acknowledge Mr. Bennett’s concert appearance in Mexico City.

About The Way You Look Tonight

This song was written by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields, for the 1936 film Swing Time. The song was introduced by the great Fred Astaire and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

About This Version

This version is from Mr. Bennett’s newest album, Viva Duets, featuring duets with Latin artists. This duet is with the Mexican superstar, Thalia.

The Way You Look Tonight, as well as the entire Viva Duets album, is available from iTunes.

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Viva Duets Video: The Way You Look Tonight

We’re happy to include the video of the Thalía / Tony Bennett duet of The Way You Look Tonight. We’ve heard Mr. Bennett sing it several times in concert, and it’s always thrilling to hear him sing this song, written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields.

I cannot praise Gray Sargent’s guitar work on this song enough. It’s breathtaking. The Target version of Viva Duets, which add duets with Maria Gadú, Ana Carolina and Miguel Bosé to the original twelve songs, also includes this song with just the guitar accompaniment.

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Song of the Day: The Folks That Live On The Hill

The Song of the Day for October 12, 2012 is The Folks That Live On The Hill.

About The Folks That Live On The Hill

The Folks That Live On The Hill was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein in 1937 for the film High, Wide, and Handsome. Bing Crosby recorded it in the same year. Many people associate the song with the wonderful Peggy Lee, who recorded it in 1957 for her album, The Man I Love. It has also been recorded by Nina Simone and Diana Krall.  It’s a beautiful song: the lyrics are pure Oscar Hammerstein with a very lovely melody by Jerome Kern.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded this song for his autobiographical album Astoria: Portrait of the Artist, released in 1990.

Readers might note that I feature many songs from Astoria. This is a brilliantly conceived and executed album and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is currently available as  MP3 downloads from Amazon. It’s really an extraordinary album.

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Song of the Day: The Way You Look Tonight

The Song of the Day for October 4, 2012 is The Way You Look Tonight.

About The Way You Look Tonight

The Way You Look Tonight was written for the film Swing Time and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936.  The song was written by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Ms Fields has been quoted as saying “The first time Jerry played that melody for me I went out and started to cry. The release absolutely killed me. I couldn’t stop, it was so beautiful.” I do think it is one of the most beautiful songs in the American Songbook.

About This Version

We highlight this song in preparation for Mr. Bennett’s upcoming Viva Duets, which will include a duet of this song with Thaliá.

Today’s version was recorded with the Ralph Sharon Trio; however, the original  recording date is unknown. This recording was used in the film My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997).  This same version was included on the Rarities, Outtakes and Other Delights, Volume 2, in the recent Complete Collection. It was also compiled on Tony Bennett Sings the Ultimate American Songbook, Volume 1.