The song of the day for Wednesday, October 14, 2020, is “Just One Of Those Things.”
About This Song
Cole Porter wrote “Just One of Those Things” for the 1935 musical Jubilee. It’s one of Porter’s most popular songs and has been recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, and Frank Sinatra. Alec Wilder in “American Popular Song” spoke of the lyric as ‘a trip to the moon on gossamer wings’ and “that it seems impossible that it wasn’t sitting on his piano, waiting for Porter even before he wrote the lyric.” It has certain literary fame as well: Holden Caulfied, in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye likes the song and notes that even the “stinking band” in the hotel lounge “couldn’t ruin it entirely.”
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded “Just One Of Those Things” 63 years ago today–October 14, 1957, for the album The Beat of My Heart. The band was fantastic: Ralph Sharon (musical director and piano), Nat Adderly (trumpet), Al Cohn (tenor sax), Milt Hinton (bass), and Art Blakey (drums). It’s a wonderful recording.
“Just One Of Those Things,” as well as The Beat of My Heart, is available from Apple Music.