The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: But Beautiful

The song of the day for Tuesday, August 18, 2020, is “But Beautiful.”

About This Song

“But Beautiful” was written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke for Bing Crosby to sing in the 1947 movie The Road to Rio. The song has been widely recorded, including recordings by Bill Evans, Johnny Hartman, Billie Holiday, Gregory Porter, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Bill Evans recorded “But Beautiful” for their first album, The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album, released in 1975.

“But Beautiful,” as well as The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album, is available from Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: But Beautiful

The song of the day for Tuesday, July 7, 2020, is “But Beautiful.”

About This Song

“But Beautiful” was written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke in 1947. It was written for Bing Crosby to sing in the movie The Road to Rio. The song has been widely recorded, including recordings by Bill Evans, Johnny Hartman, Billie Holiday, Gregory Porter, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Bill Evans recorded “But Beautiful” in June 1975 for their first album The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album. This song is one of your author’s favorite songs sung by Tony Bennett and I hope you enjoy it.

“But Beautiful,” as well as The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album, is available from Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: I Thought About You

The song of the day for Tuesday, June 23, 2020, is “I Thought About You.”

About This Song

“I Thought About You” was written in 1939 by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Mercer. In the biography Portrait of Johnny: The Life of John Herndon Mercer, author Gene Lees quotes Mercer about this song: “I can remember the afternoon that we wrote it. He [Van Heusen] played me the melody. I didn’t have any idea, but I had to go to Chicago that night. I think I was on the Benny Goodman program. And I got to thinking about it on the train. I was awake, I couldn’t sleep. The tune was running through my mind, and that’s when I wrote the song. On the train, really going to Chicago.” “I Thought About You” proved quite popular and has been recorded many times by jazz performers including Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hartman, Shirley Horn, Dinah Washington, Frank Sinatra, and Mel Tormé.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “I Thought About You” in 1992 for his album of songs popularized by Frank Sinatra: Perfectly Frank. Ralph Sharon wrote the arrangement.

“I Thought About You,” as well as Perfectly Frank, is available from Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: Oh! You Crazy Moon

The song of the day for Wednesday, May 13, 2020, is “Oh! You Crazy Moon.”

About This Song

“Oh! You Crazy Moon” was written in 1939 by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. It was the first song that Van Heusen and Burke wrote together in what would be a long and successful partnership. The bouncy, uptempo song gained immediate popularity and was widely recorded.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Oh! You Crazy Moon” in 1964 for his album When Lights Are Low, recorded with the Ralph Sharon Trio, which featured Sharon on piano, Hal Gaylord on bass, and Billy Exiner on drums.

“Oh! You Crazy Moon,” as well as When Lights Are Low, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: But Beautiful

The song of the day for Thursday, January 9, 2020, is “But Beautiful.”

About This Song

“But Beautiful” was written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke for Bing Crosby to sing in the 1947 movie The Road to Rio. The song has been widely recorded, including recordings by Bill Evans, Johnny Hartman, Billie Holiday, Gregory Porter, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Bill Evans recorded “But Beautiful” in June 1975. In fact, the entire album was recorded in three days: June 10-June 13. The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album was released on Bill Evans’s label: Fantasy Records. In 1991, Fantasy released the CD version, adding alternate takes for several songs.

Bennett wrote in his autobiography, The Good Life:

I remember how the intensity of the whole experience kept mounting. “Don’t wait for us to do a take, just keep the tape running all the time.” But all he said was, “I can’t. I’ll run out of tape.” My one regret is that we didn’t record all those rehearsals and run-throughs. It was fascinating to hear Bill work on songs. He was always improvising and revising, changing and improving his approach.

“But Beautiful,” as well as The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album, is available from iTunes.

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