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 Monday, February 23, 2015 is “Maybe September.”

About This Song

“Maybe September” was composed by Percy Faith with lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. It is from the only movie that Tony Bennett acted in (so far), The Oscar, 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 and released it in January 1966 on The Movie Song Album. He also recorded the song again in 1976 for his second album with Bill Evans, Together Again.

About Today

I just finished watching this year’s Academy Awards and knew I had to feature Bennett’s song from The Oscar as the song of the day. Alas, I’ve never seen this movie and keep on hoping that it will turn up on television some day.

We were blown away tonight by Lady Gaga’s performance of the medley of songs from The Sound Of Music. When Julie Andrews came out and hugged her after she finished, we were so happy and thrilled for Lady. What an amazing talent she is. Will she be on Broadway next? I wouldn’t be surprised one bit!

Song from "The Oscar" (Maybe September)

Listen to Song from "The Oscar" (Maybe September) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1966


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

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Song of the Day: Maybe September

The song of the day for Saturday, September 13, 2014 is “Maybe September.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “Maybe September,” was written in 1965 for the movie The Oscar by Percy Faith with lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. The Oscar is the only movie that Bennett has acted in. He played one of the few good guys in the movie, 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. The song was arranged by Larry Wilcox and conducted by Johnny Mandel. This album is one of Bennett’s favorite of his albums and includes great Bennett hits including “The Shadow of Your Smile,” “Emily,” “Days of Wine and Roses” and “Smile.”

Song from "The Oscar" (Maybe September)

Listen to Song from "The Oscar" (Maybe September) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1966


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

Note: Yes, I know it’s Saturday and there’s no video. There will be one tomorrow!

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Song of the Day: Because of You

The song of the day for Friday, August 1, 2014 is “Because of You.”

About This Song

“Because of You” was written in 1940 by Dudley Wilkinson and Arthur Hammerstein (uncle to Oscar Hammerstein II). The song got its big start with the recording in 1951 by Tony Bennett. Other recordings that same year include those by Gloria DeHaven, Louis Armstrong and Johnny Desmond.

About This Version

This song was recorded at a major turning point in Tony Bennett’s early career. A year into his contract with Columbia Records, he was in danger in being cut from the label if he didn’t come up with a big, major hit and soon. Before the recording session on April 4, 1951, he met with his arranger Percy Faith. They needed a third song to round out a four-song effort. Faith pulled “Because of You” off of the pile and so it was recorded. Percy Faith gave Tony Bennett a great piece of advice: “Just relax. Use natural voice and sing the song.”

The song was not an instant hit and didn’t get a lot of radio play. But it was being played a lot on jukeboxes throughout America, and people began calling up their local radio stations asking for it to be played. On June 23, 1951, it reached #1 on Billboard’s pop chart and stayed on the chart for thirty-two weeks, ten of those weeks at #1.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4DTO96EvOW9JT6OIUNFpZW
“Because of You,” as well as all of the singles on The Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Because Of You

The song of the day for Monday, December 9, 2013 is “Because of You.”

About This Song

“Because of You” was written in 1940 by Arthur Hammerstein (uncle of Oscar Hammerstein II) and Dudley Wilkinson. The song languished until Tony Bennett recorded it in 1951. Other recordings include those by Gloria DeHaven, Louis Armstrong and Connie Francis.

About This Version

I absolutely love Tony Bennett’s recording of this song, which he recorded in 1951 and which also became a monster hit for him. It was arranged and conducted (and chosen) by Percy Faith. This recording will never grow old; it’s as relevant today as it was in 1951 and will remain so for decades to come. Faith’s orchestration is really superb; it could have been ruined easily with over-orchestrated strings, but instead remains fresh. I hope you enjoy listening today as much I will.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4DTO96EvOW9JT6OIUNFpZW
“Because of You,” as well as the other songs on The Columbia Singles, Volume 1, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Because of You

The song of the day for November 2, 2013 is “Because of You.”

About This Song

“Because Of You” was written in 1940 by Arthur Hammerstein (uncle to Oscar Hammerstein II) and Dudley Wilkinson. It wasn’t really popular or much recorded until after Tony Bennett’s recording in 1951. In that time period, the song was used in a movie called I Was An American Spy.

About This Version

Today’s version is the one-and-only original from 1951; arranged and conducted by Percy Faith. The story of how this song came to be recorded is quite wonderful. Tony Bennett had been singing with Columbia for a year and there was concern that he hadn’t really had a hit, at least since his first song recorded for the label: “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” In fact, he’d been warned by Percy Faith that if he didn’t have a hit soon, he might be released from his contract. Tony Bennett tells this story in his autobiography The Good Life:

I went into Percy’s office and he said, “In this next session you really have to deliver. We only have three songs ready, so we need another song.” I remember that he looked through a bunch of sheet music on his desk, grabbed a song, and said “Well, let’s do this one.” The song was ‘Because Of You.” I was doing a lot of dramatic singing on my early records like ‘Sing You Sinners” and ‘Boulevard,’ but Percy said to me, “Just relax, Use your natural voice and sing the song.” I took his advice.

And what great advice that was. The song got popular not on the radio, but on the jukeboxes, who then called the radio stations and requested the song. It reached #1 on the Billboard charts in June, 1951 and stayed on the chart for a remarkable thirty-two weeks, ten of them at #1. It was most definitely a hit.

I’ll go on the record as thanking Percy Faith for encouraging Tony Bennett to sing in his natural voice. Why mess with perfection? For Tony Bennett’s voice, then and now, is pure perfection.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4DTO96EvOW9JT6OIUNFpZW
“Because of You,” as well as the collected early singles by Tony Bennett on The Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes.

The Year of Tony Bennett would like to wish k.d. lang a very happy birthday. In honor of her birthday (and because it’s YouTube Saturday), we are pleased to present this video of k.d. and Tony singing their duet of “Because of You” from the album Duets: An American Classic; the video also includes portions of an interview with the duo by the late Phil Ramone.

Happy Birthday, k.d.!

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