The song of the day for Saturday, April 6, 2013 is Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.
About This Song
Today’s song is just one of the many fine songs from the score of the Broadway musical, Pal Joey, written in 1940 by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. In addition to I Could Write a Book, Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered has become a much-beloved standard and has been widely recorded by Benny Goodman, Doris Day, Mel Tormé, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. Even Rod Steward and Cher recorded the song as a duet. And though the esteemed Alec Wilder finds the song “notey,” I think it’s one of Rodgers’ best with the usual exquisite lyrics by Hart.
About This Version
I have loved this song since I was a small child; I have memories of my parents listening to this song after they thought we kids had gone to sleep. It’s a great song. But this recording, with just Tony and Ralph Sharon, is extraordinary. Tony Sings For Two is one of my favorite of Bennett’s albums. At that point in musical tastes of the public. as well as Bennett’s stature in popular music, I’m sure many thought it risky or perhaps even uninteresting to just have the singer and the pianist, and no other musicians. And it did sit on the shelf for a couple of years before it was released in 1961. Sharon played wonderfully for Bennett and they both demonstrated their deep connection with and understanding of the songs they chose.
http://open.spotify.com/track/4Re3BBnTFrSppLM2M4iATX
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, as well as the remastered album Tony Sings For Two, is available from iTunes.
