The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: You Must Believe in Spring

The song of the day for Thursday, December 12, 2013 is “You Must Believe in Spring.”

About This Song

“You Must Believe in Spring” was written by Michel Legrand, with the English lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman (the French lyrics were by director Jacques Demy). The song was written for the 1967 French film Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, which starred Catherine Deneuve. “You Must Believe In Spring” has been widely recorded by artists including Sylvia Syms, Barbra Streisand and Bill Evans, in a posthumous release of an album with the same name, featuring sessions with Eddie Gomez and Eliot Zigmund.

About This Version

Last summer, someone on Twitter was posting about the Tony Bennett / Bill Evans albums and called them “bruised and beautiful.” I’ve never forgotten that phrase, as (for me, anyway) applies to many of the songs that Bennett and Evans recorded, none more so than “You Must Believe in Spring.” In other hands, this song would express a sense of sadness, tempered with hope. In the hands of Tony Bennett and Bill Evans, it’s a pleading song of loss and love and despair, with a small bit of hope coming through. Bruised and beautiful.

In her one-woman show a few years ago, Elaine Stritch remarked on singing Stephen Sondheim’s song “The Ladies Who Lunch” from Company as a three-act play. This recording is also a three-act play of amazing depth, pain, sensitivity and love and hope.

http://open.spotify.com/track/44S9DUM1T1vNN9jn8aOGeL
“You Must Believe in Spring,” as well as the album Together Again, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

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Song of the Day: Theme from “Summer of ’42”

The song of the day for Thursday, December 5, 2013 is “Theme from Summer of ’42.”

About This Song

Also known as “The Summer Knows,” today’s song is from the 1971 movie Summer of ’42. The song was written by Michel Legrand, with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman.

I spent the summer of 1971 doing summer stock theater at Pennsylvania State University and having the time of my life. On one of our rare evenings off, a group of us went to see this movie and I loved it from the start and still do.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded this song for the album of the same name, released in 1971. There are some wonderful songs on this album in addition to today’s song, including “Walkabout,” “It Was Me” and “The Shining Sea.” Today’s song was arranged and conducted by Torrie Zito and was produced by Teo Macero.

Today’s song was a request from one of our readers. Please don’t hesitate to request any Tony Bennett song that you’d like to hear. You can use the comments box on any page for your request.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4QH3SUgnlRn4FTrdqLDmuI
“Theme from the Summer of ’42,” as well as the album Summer of ’42, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: How Do You Keep The Music Playing

The song of the day for Saturday, November 30, 2013 is “How Do You Keep the Music Playing.”

About This Song

“How Do You Keep the Music Playing” was written by Michel Legrand, with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, in 1982 for the movie Best Friends. The song has been a favorite with popular and cabaret singers, including Susannah McCorkle, Andy Williams, Frankie Laine, Maureen McGovern, Frank Sinatra and, of course, Tony Bennett.

This song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Interestingly, three of the four songs nominated that year had lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. They did win the award for “If We Were In Love,” from the movie Yes, Giorgio.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded this song in 1986 for his album The Art of Excellence. Your opinionated author has been a fan of this song ever since. The first time I ever heard Tony Bennett in concert (Seattle, Washington in September, 2007), he sang this song. He also told the story of how he was attending a Frank Sinatra concert at the Hollywood Bowl and Frank Sinatra told him, during the concert, that he needed to sing this song. I’m very glad that he took Frank’s advice in this matter.

How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

Listen to How Do You Keep The Music Playing? on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1986

“How Do You Keep the Music Playing,” as well as The Art of Excellence, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

Our YouTube Saturday video is the wonderful video of the duet of Tony Bennett and Aretha Franklin recording this song for the album Duets II. That single tear on Tony’s cheek at the end of the song moves me each and every time.

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Song of the Day: Where Do You Start

The song of the day for Wednesday, August 7, 2013 is “Where Do You Start.”

About This Song

“Where Do You Start” was written by Johnny Mandel with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman in 1987. If there is such as thing as songwriting royalty today, it’s these three. Mandel, who has worked extensively with Tony Bennett, wrote “Emily,”The Shadow of Your Smile,” and “Close Enough For Love,” all of which Bennett has recorded. Alan and Marilyn Bergman wrote lyrics for “How Do You Keep The Music Playing,” “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “You Must Believe in Spring” and “The Way We Were.”

About This Version

I must admit that I have an incredible weakness for both “Where Do You Start” and The Art of Romance. I have ten different versions of our song of the day in iTunes, ranging from Nancy Lamott to Tony Bennett to Barbara Cook to Shirley Horn; all of them great. And The Art of Romance. I absolutely adore this album; it’s what made me go out in 2004 and buy every Tony Bennett album I could possibly find. When it first came out, I think I listened to it four or five times a day for a month; I couldn’t believe what an exquisitely beautiful album it was … and still is. One could read books about the nature of romantic love for years and not learn as much about love as Bennett tells us in this album.

So, I’m quite happy to present this beautiful song as the song of the day. Mandel did the arrangement as well as conducted the orchestra for this recording.

Did I mention that I like The Art of Romance a lot?

http://open.spotify.com/track/398Bk2f9uCzJBl1UkAY4UN
“Where Do You Start,” as well as The Art of Romance, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: You Must Believe In Spring

The song of the day for Friday, April 5, 2013 is You Must Believe in Spring.

About This Song

You Must Believe In Spring was written by Michel Legrand for the 1967 film musical The Young Girls of Rochefort, with lyrics by the film’s director, Jacques Demy. The English lyrics were written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman.

About This Version

Today’s version is from Tony Bennett’s and Bill Evans’ second album, Together Again, released in 1977 on Tony’s Improv label.

Alan and Marilyn Bergman said this in the liner notes for 2003 Concord Records CD release of Together Again:

When you write a song, it’s because you have something you want to say. When you finish it, you hope you’ve said what you meant. Where you hear it sung, there are those magical rare times when it’s what you meant and more. When we heard Tony and Bill’s interpretation of You Must Believe in Spring, we knew it was one of those times.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1CiaNBNMmszRQyyWETsAFa
You Must Believe in Spring, as well as the remastered Together Again album, is available from iTunes.

And, because someone from Kiev searched for this song today on Google and found this site as a result, we present Bill Evans’ wonderful piano solo of The Bad and the Beautiful by David Raskin;  this is Alternate Take #1.

The Bad and The Beautiful (alternate take 1)

Listen to The Bad and The Beautiful (alternate take 1) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Bill Evans · 2009