The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Keep Smiling At Trouble

The song of the day for Wednesday, January 11, 2017 is “Keep Smiling At Trouble.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “Keep Smiling At Trouble,” was written in 1924, with music by Lewis Gensler and lyrics by Al Jolson and Buddy DeSylva. “Keep Smiling at Trouble” was first recorded by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians in 1924, with vocals by his brother, Tom Waring. Other noted recordings were by Jolson, Ruby Braff, Tommy Dorsey, Della Reese and Bobby Hackett.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded this version of “Keep Smiling At Trouble” in 1967 for the album For Once In My Life, with a great arrangement by Ralph Burns.

Keep Smiling At Trouble (Trouble"s A Bubble)

Listen to Keep Smiling At Trouble (Trouble"s A Bubble) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1967


“Keep Smiling At Trouble,” as well as For Once In My Life, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Keep Smiling At Trouble

The song of the day for Saturday, March 8 , 2014 is “Keep Smiling At Trouble.”

About This Song

“Keep Smiling At Trouble” was composed in 1924 by Lewis Gensler, with lyrics by Al Jolson and Buddy DeSylva. The song was first recorded by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians in 1924, with vocals by his brother, Tom Waring. Other noted recordings were by Jolson, Ruby Braff, Tommy Dorsey, Della Reese and Bobby Hackett.

About This Version

Tony Bennett has recorded this song several times. Today’s version is from his 1963 album This Is All I Ask. The album was arranged and conducted by Ralph Burns and produced by Ernie Altschuler. The album features the Ralph Sharon Trio.

http://open.spotify.com/track/7xcWqpzuKjL6pvCC4GoPwc
“Keep Smiling At Trouble,” as well as the album This Is All I Ask, is available from iTunes.

Our Saturday YouTube video is Tony Bennett singing today’s song on the Judy Garland television show!

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Song of the Day: Keep Smiling At Trouble

The song of the day for Thursday, November 7, 2013 is “Keep Smiling At Trouble.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “Keep Smiling at Trouble (Trouble’s a Bubble)” was written in 1924, with music by Lewis Gensler and lyrics by Al Jolson and Buddy DeSylva, for the Broadway musical Big Boy. The first recording was by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians, with Fred’s brother, Tom, on vocals. (Trivia point: Fred Waring invented and marketed the Waring Blender in 1933). Other recordings include those by Al Jolson, Ruby Braff, Bobby Hackett and Della Reese.

About This Version

Tony Bennett has recorded “Keep Smiling At Trouble” several times, starting with the 1963 album This Is All I Ask, followed by the 1967 version on For Once In My Life (which Mr. Bennett has selected for his 40/50/60 Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett box sets). Today’s version, though, is from his 1964 performance at the Sahara in Las Vegas, from the recently released Live at the Sahara: Las Vegas, 1964 album.

http://open.spotify.com/track/3XeJTG8qqE8nWGEEBrrMfv
“Keep Smiling At Trouble,” as well as the album Live at the Sahara: Las Vegas, 1964, is available from iTunes.

And even though it’s not YouTube Saturday, here’s Al Jolson singing his song:

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Song of the Day: Keep Smiling at Trouble

The song of the day for Wednesday, March 6, 2013 is Keep Smiling at Trouble.

About This Song

The lyrics for Keep Smiling At Trouble (Trouble’s a Bubble) were written by Al Jolson and Buddy DeSylva with music by Lewis Gensler. The first recordings I could locate information about was made in 1924 by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians as well as Al Jolson’s own recording. Kat Starr recorded it with Count Basie (I’d love to hear that!) as well as Bunny Berigan (of I Can’t Get Started fame).

About This Version

Tony Bennett featured this song in his 1964 Live At The Sahara show. While this recording is available in The Tony Bennett Complete Collection, it isn’t available digitally at this time. Today’s recording is from his 1963 This Is All I Ask, which was arranged and conducted by Ralph Sharon and produced by Ernie Altschuler.

http://open.spotify.com/track/7xcWqpzuKjL6pvCC4GoPwc
Keep Smiling At Trouble, as well as the full This Is All I Ask album, is available from iTunes.

As an extra treat — and who doesn’t want a treat on the middle of the work week — here’s Al Jolson singing Keep Smiling At Trouble. This “video” features some nice still photographs of Jolson.