The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Maybe September

The song of the day for Tuesday, September 15, 2020, is “Maybe September.”

About This Song

“Maybe September” was composed by Percy Faith, with lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, for the 1965 movie The Oscar. The song is from the only movie that Tony Bennett acted in, where he played the good guy, an agent named Hymie Kelly. While the film received mixed reviews, this song is terrific and is beautifully sung by Tony Bennett.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Maybe September” in 1965 for The Movie Song Album, released in 1966. Bennett has said several times that this one of his favorites of the albums he’s made.

“Maybe September,” as well as The Movie Song Album, is available from Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: Blue Velvet

The song of the day for Tuesday, June 24, 2020, is “Blue Velvet.”

About Today

Last weekend I had the very great pleasure to watch actress Holland Taylor’s one-woman show (for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by A Leading Actress in a Play) about Ann Richards, the late former governor of Texas. Appropriately, it’s named ANN. One of the unexpected and pleasant surprises was when she recalls that she and her husband’s favorite song was Tony Bennett’s “Blue Velvet.” ANN is currently showing in the U.S. on the PBS program Great Performances. I heartily recommend it. It’s very funny–I laughed out loud a lot.

Ann and Holland: This one’s for you.

About This Song

“Blue Velvet” was written in 1950 by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris. While Bennett’s recording is most well-known, it’s also been recorded by Bobby Vinton and, more recently, by Tony Bennett and k.d. lang and Lana Del Rey.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Blue Velvet” on July 17, 1951; it was released as a single that year and features an arrangement by Percy Faith. It was one of the top 20 songs on Billboard. “Blue Velvet” is one of Bennett’s early recordings that are compiled on The Columbia Singles, Vol. 1 CD, available in his 2011 Complete Collection.

“Blue Velvet,” as well as all the singles collected on The Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, is available from Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: Lost in the Stars

The song of the day for Thursday, June 4, 2020, is “Lost in the Stars.”

About This Song

“Lost in the Stars” was written by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson for the 1949 musical of the same name, based on the 1948 novel by Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country. Set in South Africa in an era when apartheid seemed as if it would never end, the plot concerns a black priest whose son, in a robbery attempt, kills a white man who is a friend of his father. The priest sings this song at the end of the first act, in a complete crisis of faith.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Lost in the Stars” for the first time in 1956 for his second album, Tony. The arrangement was written by Percy Faith.

“Lost in the Stars,” as well as Tony, is available from iTunes.

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Tony Live! Rags to Riches

The song of the day for Sunday, February 23, 2020, is “Rags to Riches.”

About This Song

“Rags to Riches” was written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross in 1953. When Tony Bennett first heard “Rags to Riches,” he hated the song and was forced by Mitch Miller to record it. With a very nice arrangement by Percy Faith, the recording was a big hit for Bennett and earned him a gold record. Thankfully, Bennett grew to enjoy singing the song. Martin Scorcese used the 1953 recording in the opening of Goodfellas, which helped find a new audience for this song.

About This Version

Tony Bennett sang “Rags to Riches” at the Washington DC concert in 1962, as captured on Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962.

“Rags to Riches,” as well as Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Because of You

The song of the day for Thursday, January 23, 2020, is “Because of You.”

About This Song

“Because of You” was written in 1940 by Arthur Hammerstein and Dudley Wilkinson.

About This Version

It was Spring 1951. Tony had been told that he would need a real breakthrough recording or he might be dropped from his contract with Columbia. He was preparing for a recording session with Percy Faith. They had three songs planned, but need a fourth. Percy grabbed the sheet music for “Because of You” from the pile on his piano. And, well, the rest was history. After a slow start, “Because of You” was Bennett’s first song to hit #1 on the charts, thanks in large part to fans playing it on jukeboxes and calling radio stations to play that new song from Tony Bennett. It spent 10 weeks at the top of the charts and charted for 32 weeks and sold over a million copies.

Today, I’ve chosen his recording of this song with k. d. lang on the 2006 album Duets: An American Classic. I love the way Bennett’s and lang’s voice blend so beautifully in their duet recordings. This is one of the best of them.

“Because of You,” as well as Duets: An American Classic, is available from iTunes.

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