The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Songs of the Day: The Good Life / I Wanna Be Around

The song of the day for Friday, October 25, 2013 is a medley of “The Good Life” and “I Wanna Be Around.”

About These Songs

These are two of Tony Bennett’s most popular songs, both of which originally appeared on Bennett’s 1964 album I Wanna Be Around.

“The Good Life” (“La Belle Vie” in the original French) was written in 1962 by Sacha Distel with lyrics by Jack Reardon. The song originally appeared in the 1963 film Seven Capital Sins.

“I Wanna Be Around” was written 1959 by Johnny Mercer and Sadie Vimmerstedt. Ms. Vimmerstedt, who lived in Youngstown, Ohio, was a big fan of Johnny Mercer. One day she was inspired to write the line “I want to be around to pick up the pieces, when somebody breaks your heart.” She thought it sounded like a Johnny Mercer song, and so she mailed the lyrics to him (Johnny Mercer, Songwriter, New York, NY). The post office forwarded the letter to ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), who gave it to Mercer. Mercer must have agreed with Sadie, as he not only completed the lyric but composed the tune as well. Mercer gave Ms. Vimmerstedt a healthy portion of the royalties, which made Ms. Vimmerstedt a very well-to-do woman.

About This Version

Because Tony Bennett is performing with the quartet tonight (Casino Rama Entertainment Centre in Rama, Ontario, Canada), we thought it would be nice to feature a recording of a live performance. Tonight’s medley is from Tony Bennett’s Grammy-winning album MTV Unplugged from 1994. Bennett, playing with the Ralph Sharon Trio, gave a great concert live on television and won over a whole new generation of fans in one night. This concert also marks the first time Bennett performed with k.d. lang; a few years later they did an album of songs made famous by Louis Armstrong, A Wonderful World. They have been recording together since then.

http://open.spotify.com/track/3hW8O0OAEOr3ubovTzmswF
“The Good Life / I Wanna Be Around,” as well as the entire MTV Unplugged album, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

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Song of the Day: Fly Me To The Moon

The song of the day for Saturday, June 15, 2013 is “Fly Me To The Moon.”

About This Song

“Fly Me To The Moon” was written in 1954 by Bart Howard and it was a huge hit for him. There are other people that have sung this song, but as far as I am concerned, Tony Bennett owns this song and has owned it since the first moment he sang it.

We have written about this song before: Tony Bennett and the Moon and an early article (now slightly outdated) Fly Me To The Moon. Yes, I really love this song.

Originally, the song was called “In Other Words,” but so many people called it “Fly Me To The Moon” that the name was officially changed.

About This Version

Today’s version is from the 1994 MTV Unplugged concert.

http://open.spotify.com/track/0qUiWrxMh7n5Db1EADZt5R
“Fly Me To the Moon,” as well as the entire MTV Unplugged album, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Speak Low

We at the Year of Tony Bennett have the great fortune to be attending Tony Bennett’s concert on Saturday, June 15 in Tacoma, Washington at the Pantages Theater. To help us get in the mood (as if we need help), we’ll be featuring songs from recordings of live performances this week.

The song of the day for Monday, June 10, 2013 is “Speak Low.”

About This Song

“Speak Low” was written by Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash for the 1943 Broadway musical One Touch of Venus, where it was introduced by Mary Martin and Kenny Baker. Guy Lombardo recorded a hit single of the song in 1944. It’s a beautiful song and has been recorded by many artists, including Barbra Streisand, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass.

About This Version

Tony Bennett first recorded “Speak Low” in 1959 for On The Glory Road and has sung it regularly ever since. Today’s version is from his very popular 1994 MTV Unplugged concert. He is backed by the Ralph Sharon Trio, with Sharon on piano, Douglas Richeson (bass) and Clayton Cameron (drums).

http://open.spotify.com/track/34rTy5Fsn7tkfS0OsoPtyD
“Speak Low,” as well as the full MTV Unplugged album, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: When Joanna Loved Me

The song of the day for Tuesday, May 21, 2013 is When Joanna Loved Me.

About This Song

When Joanna Loved Me was written in 1964 by Robert Wells and Jack Segal. This song has always been strongly identified with Tony Bennett, starting with his 1964 recording for The Many Moods Of Tony.

About This Version

Today’s version is from Bennett’s 1994 MTV Unplugged album from his live television concert. I’m quite partial to this recording of this favorite song of his. He reminds us at the beginning that he loves the song so much that he named his first daughter after the song. For me, this is Bennett at his best: approaching the song lightly, just touching on the notes, almost speaking but in perfect pitch and rhythm. As the song progresses, he starts putting more of his full voice in the song, but still with a certain lightness works nicely with Sharon’s accompaniment. And then, at last, leading to the full-out singing of the last verse. Don’t just take my word for it; the audience loved it too.

http://open.spotify.com/track/0kAddd7qjnk7Bdl3v1HxwK
When Joanna Loved Me, as well as the full MTV Unplugged album, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Steppin’ Out With My Baby

Today, we celebrate one of America’s greatest composers, Irving Berlin, who was born on May 11, 1888 in Temun, Russia as Israel Baline. His family emigrated to America in 1893 to escape the systemic persecution of Jews in Russia at that time. He started working as a singer at the age of 14 and was a singing waiter by 1906. In 1907, he wrote the lyrics for his first published song, Marie From Sunny Italy. His name was misspelled as “I. Berlin” on the sheet music, and from then on he was Irving Berlin. His first major hit came in 1911 with Alexander’s Ragtime Band. He was a self-taught pianist who never learned to read music and could only play in one key: F-sharp. Needless to say, this proved no obstacle to one of the greatest songwriting careers in American history.

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Berlin’s music has been a part of American life, from his wonderful film musicals such as Top Hat, Holiday Inn and Easter Parade to his hit Broadway shows such as Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me Madam to the songs that we have been singing for decades like There’s No Business Like Show Business, God Bless America, and perhaps the greatest Christmas song ever written, White Christmas.

In honor of Irving Berlin, the song of the day for Saturday, May 11, 2013 is Steppin’ Out With My Baby.

About This Song

Like many of Irving Berlin’s songs written for film, Steppin’ Out With My Baby was introduced by Fred Astaire. Berlin wrote the song for the 1948 Easter Parade, in which Astaire co-starred with Judy Garland.

About This Version

Today’s version is from Bennett’s 1994 MTV Unplugged concert. Bennett often sings Steppin’ Out With My Baby in concerts and features his quartet generously in those performances of this song. It seems to me that he has a great time singing this song, and we’re happy to provide this live version today.

http://open.spotify.com/track/31TTqEhhp9SK7qLNqW5EZs
Steppin’ Out With My Baby, as well as the full MTV Unplugged album, is available from iTunes.

And, since it’s Saturday, here’s Fred Astaire in another Berlin tune from Easter Parade: Drum Crazy, filmed in a toy store.