The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Last Night When We Were Young

E.Y. “Yip” Harburg was born on April 8, 1896 in New York. He was one of the great American lyricist, working with composers including Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Jerome Kern, Jule Styne and Burton Lane.

Yip Harburg

In honor of his birthday, our song of the day is one of our favorites that he wrote with Harold Arlen, Last Night When We Were Young.

About This Song

Arlen and Harburg wrote Last Night When We Were Young in 1935. It was to be featured by Lawrence Tibbett as a solo number in the film Metropolitan, but that vocal version was cut from the film, though the melody was used as background music. Frank Sinatra’s recording of Last Night When We Were Young in his 1954 album In The Wee Small Hours is widely considered to be one of Sinatra’s masterpieces. The song was much-loved by Judy Garland as well.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded Last Night When We Were Young for his 1992 tribute album to Sinatra, Perfectly Frank. His is a great version of a great song.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1qgQmCZ3fUkG2dNSYI6OvN
Last Night When We Were Young, as well as the full Perfectly Frank album, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)

The song of the day for Monday, February 11, 2013 is One For My Baby (And One More For The Road).

About One For My Baby

This song was written for the 1943 Fred Astaire film, The Sky’s The Limit by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and was introduced by Astaire.

Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer
Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer

Harold Arlen considered this song one of his top two compositions (the other being Last Night When We Were Young). It’s not the standard 32-bar structure, but instead run 48 bars; Arlen sometimes called it one of his “tapeworms” because it kind of wanders along. The Mercer lyrics are some of his best. No stranger to bars, Mercer is said to have written the lyrics on a napkin while sitting at the bar  P.J. Clarke’s in New York.

About This Version

Tony Bennett has recorded this song several times in his career: as a single in 1956 and with John Mayer on Duets II in 2011. Two wonderful live performances have been recorded as well: his legendary 1962 Carnegie Hall Concert and the recently available 1964 Live At The Sahara: From This Moment On.

Today’s version is from his 1992 album, Perfectly Frank.

http://open.spotify.com/track/3dq31zC7KlxVhnFInGbQBd
One For My Baby, as well as the full Perfectly Frank album, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: I See Your Face Before Me

The Song of the Day for October 5, 2012 is I See Your Face Before Me.

About I See Your Face Before Me

I See Your Face Before Me was written in 1937 by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz for the musical Between the Devil. Frank Sinatra sang it on his amazing album, In the Wee Small Hours, released in 1955.

About This Version

I’ve been reading Jonathan Schwartz’s memoir of his childhood, All In Good Time. It’s not a happy book by any means, but it has encourage me to revisit the songs of Arthur Schwartz, who was a really wonderful songwriter.

Today’s version is from the 1992 Perfectly Frank.