The song of the day for Tuesday, January 27, 2015 is “All The Things You Are.”

About This Song

“All The Things You Are” was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein for the 1939 musical Very Warm For May. In American Popular Song, Alec Wilder considers it to be one of Kern’s finest songs and with good reason. It’s a beautiful tune and Hammerstein’s lyrics are excellent.

About This Version

Tony Bennett included “All The Things You Are” in his legendary 1962 concert at Carnegie Hall. This is not only one my own personal favorites from the recording of that concert, it is one of my favorite of all the songs that Tony Bennett has recorded.

About Today

The Year of Tony Bennett is pleased to honor the music of Jerome Kern, who was born on January 27, 1885 in New York City. He showed musical talent early in his life and was taught piano by his mother, an accomplished musician. He went on to study at the New York College of Music after high school. He worked as a rehearsal pianist and also as a song plugger. He began composing additions to musicals imported from London and also for silent movies. He was one of the founding members of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

He was a prolific composer for the Broadway stage in the 1910s and 1920s. In 1925, he began his long friendship and working relationship with Oscar Hammerstein II, with whom he wrote Show Boat. With the emergence of “talking pictures,” he began working in Hollywood and wrote for many musical films, including Roberta and Swing Time.

Kern died in 1945 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 60. He was inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 1970.

“All The Things You Are,” as well as Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall, Live 1962, is available at iTunes.